Donald Trump’s victory was a wrecking ball for the Democratic Party, but a boon for Democratic Governor Andy Beshear.
Had Kamala Harris been elected, Beshear’s presidential ambitions would have been delayed beyond 2028 – not a good thing for a governor whose term ends in December 2027. The national lifespan of a former Democratic governor in a Republican state is not very long.
Today, Beshear is among his party’s top hopes for the presidency in 2028, when Trump cannot run again. And no Democratic president will try to persuade him to run in 2026 for the Senate, a position that does not suit his executive personality. He committed to serve his mandate.
Andy Beshear’s chances in the 2028 presidential race
Some Kentucky professionals remain skeptical of Beshear’s chances for president. Democratic consultant Jared Smith told me, “I just don’t know if he has the stature to be at the top of the ticket nationally because we need to get the blue wall back,” i.e. Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, which Trump took back this time. month.
Notice:Why the 2026 vote should go smoothly in Jefferson County after Election Day delays
But familiarity can breed contempt. Former U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, a Louisville Democrat with good national connections, said Beshear is now “on everyone’s lists” for president — because he was on Harris’ short list for the post. vice president, that he campaigned for her and headlined Democratic events across the country. some for the political action committee he formed nearly a year ago.
“He made a huge impression during the campaign,” Yarmuth said. “It seems to me that although Andy is popular here, he is regarded even more impressively throughout the country.”
Assessing Beshear’s potential opposition, liberal Yarmuth said Govs. Pennsylvania’s Gavin Newsom and Josh Shapiro are too “coastal,” and although Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has superb political skills, Yarmuth said the country is a generation away from putting a same-sex couple in the White House.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is well-positioned to take up the blue wall, but her gender has excluded her from the process of selecting Harris’ running mates, and her campaign work has been largely limited to her own state. Meanwhile, Beshear was building his stature. His profile is one of four featured on the Democratic Governors Association website, and he made it. a post-election article for the New York Times.
What’s next for Béshear?
Beshear’s next opportunity to boost his stature could be the Democratic National Committee’s election of a new chairman to replace Jamie Harrison, who has announced he will resign. In 1972, after George McGovern lost 49 states, his DNC chairwoman wanted to stay, but governors led by Wendell Ford of Kentucky had him ousted in favor of Robert Strauss, who became one of the greatest friends and Ford’s strengths when he entered the Senate.
“Beshear has enormous potential. . . . That’s a path he could focus on,” said Paul Patton, governor from 1995 to 2003, who led the Southern, Democratic and National Governors’ Associations.
Beshear has strength in the DNC thanks to Kentucky congressman Jack Dulworth of Louisville, who serves on the group’s executive, budget and finance committees. The executive group meets on December 13 and the full committee is expected to meet in January. Dulworth said electing a new president “is going to be very important because it’s going to be a direct communication with our base,” and that “a moderate” is needed to help win back voters who have abandoned the party this month. But don’t look for Beshear to seek office, a place to make more enemies than friends.
Trump’s radical agenda and Democratic leadership vacuum
Dulworth and other Democrats hope to regain ground as Trump implements perhaps the most radical agenda of any president since Franklin D. Roosevelt. That, along with the Democratic leadership vacuum, could play into Beshear’s hands, especially if Trump appointees make a mockery of basic public health policy. Beshear solidified his popularity in Kentucky by following experts’ advice during the pandemic.
Notice:Agree with them or not, we should wish the Trump-Vance administration success
Beshear took advantage of Republicans going too far. After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, citing a near-total ban on abortion in Kentucky, became the first Democrat to win a major election by running in favor of abortion – emphasizing the need for exceptions to the ban but mentioning rarely that he was in favor of restoration. by Roé.
One of Beshear’s vulnerabilities could be his overridden veto of a bill banning transgender women from playing women’s sports. This year, Republicans used the issue of sports, and the ability of federal prisoners to get free gender transition surgeries (a Trump policy), to position Harris and other Democrats as outside the mainstream – and they didn’t seem to realize the damage it was causing. do to them.
Beshear is not that kind of Democrat. He was elected three times in a Trump state, the first time as attorney general when Trump was leading in Republican polls. Beshear knows the type of voters his party needs to win back and knows how to speak kindly about his faith in a way that can resonate with millions of Americans, as another Southern governor did years ago. at 50 years old. His name was Jimmy Carter.
Al Cross is professor emeritus of journalism at the University of Kentucky. He was the longest-serving political writer for the Louisville Courier Journal (1989-2004) and national president of the Society of Professional Journalists in 2001-02. He joined the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame in 2010. The NkyTribune hosts his comments, which are offered to other publications with appropriate credit.