On campaign and official stops, the Gospel of Andy Beshear is shared

From daily updates on the COVID-19 pandemic to a barrage of campaign ads, Gov. Andy Beshear has been a near-constant presence in Kentuckians’ lives since assuming office in 2019.

In several months leading up to his re-election effort against Republican nominee Attorney General Daniel Cameron, Beshear has crisscrossed the commonwealth: Breaking ground on developments, handing out oversized checks to announce state funding and lots of speaking engagements from Pikeville to Paducah.

Most of his visits around the state have been in an official capacity.

Compared to Cameron, Beshear has made far fewer campaign stops, but the lines between actions as governor and as someone campaigning to be re-elected as governor are sometimes blurred. It’s frustrated many conservatives to see Beshear handing out checks allocated by the GOP-led legislature and co-opting an old campaign slogan, “Team Kentucky,” for license plates and other state signage.

But the act of bringing good news to a community – grabbing shovels at a groundbreaking, speaking on the dais and shaking countless hands – is part of the job.

It’s also a great opportunity for a candidate like Beshear to preach to voters about how well the state is doing under his tenure. Beshear’s done that in both his official stops and in a recent flurry of campaign bus tour events in the days leading up to the election.

In a tight race where every vote is critical, here’s a glimpse of Beshear at work on the campaign trail.

Lexington, Sept. 28

Up the stairs and past the free computer area, a crowd of educators and dedicated Democrats broke the quiet of the main branch of the Lexington Public Library.

The setting was fitting for Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman, a former educator who is Beshear’s top surrogate on the campaign trail for education issues.

In a callback to 2018’s mass teacher protests – which were spurred on by a proposed pension reform bill, dubbed the “sewer bill,” backed by former Republican governor Matt Bevin – several educators decked out in red crammed into an auxiliary room at the library.

Coleman stoked their energy by connecting the fervor of that moment to this election, where Cameron’s running mate Sen. Robby Mills, R-Henderson, was an advocate for that controversial bill.

“I know it’s 2023, but this is basically them dusting off Matt Bevin’s old playbook,” Coleman said.

“When you pick someone (as your running mate) who is an architect of the sewer bill, someone who is anti-public education, anti-worker, you’re sending a message about exactly how you’re going to operate not only in your campaign, but also in an administration.”

Though Cameron has taken pains to make amends with the public education community after Bevin’s contentious term, Coleman isn’t buying it. Others shouldn’t either, she said.

“It’s going to take a whole lot more than an apology tour to undo the damage that has been done by these folks,” Coleman said.

Murray, Oct. 12

On a sunny October afternoon in the far southwestern corner of Kentucky, Beshear stood behind a portable podium on a stretch of freshly paved highway.

He was celebrating the opening of a long-awaited, 5.6-mile, four-lane stretch of U.S. Highway 641 in Calloway County, stretching from Murray to the Tennessee line. He highlighted all the other infrastructure projects the state has taken on, connecting those to the good economic news Kentucky’s received in recent years.

“It’s the first time in my lifetime that all our surrounding states are looking at us saying, ‘How are you doing it?’ And please look back at him and say, ‘We’re not telling you,’” Beshear joked.

Lori Charlton is mayor of the tiny town of Hazel, right on the Tennessee line, where the Kentucky side of the project ends. Though the US Census last counted 390 residents there, she’s got an updated total.

“The last count I had was 320 people – no, 319. One couple split up and one of ‘em moved to Murray, so it’s 319,” Charlton said.

She said she thought Beshear had done an “excellent” job in office and remarked at how much it meant for him to visit a place seen by many as far-flung.

“It just shows a lot that someone in his position cares enough to come down here,” Charlton said.

Frankfort, Oct. 26

“Border security is national security.”

It’s an oft-repeated catchphrase in American politics, but not one heard frequently from Democrats like Beshear.

Yet, that’s just the message Beshear delivered in an official appearance in the state Capitol rotunda just 12 days before election, honoring the more than 750 Kentucky Guardsmen who’ve supported the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection agents in Texas and other border states.

The stop was representative of a key part of Beshear’s political affect: moderation. While Beshear has not strayed too far from basic Democratic policy norms, his office and his campaign also have stressed his conservative aspects.

“We know that those who try to move these dangerous drugs across our Southwest border into our country must be stopped. That’s why I’m proud that our guard members stepped up to serve, and Kentucky was asked to support this initiative,” Beshear said.

The appearance generated a handful of stories from local outlets. Afterwards, Beshear gave awards to several guard members and handed out Team Kentucky-branded coins to all guardsmen.

Louisville, Oct. 29

In 2019, Beshear won Jefferson County, the state’s most populous county by far, by around 99,000 votes. He won the whole state by 5,086 votes.

Many experts agree: Juicing turnout there again is vital for a Beshear victory.

Beshear reaffirmed that in a bus tour stop at the campaign’s field office in the heart of the progressive Highlands neighborhood.

“In 2019, we came together, we shocked the world, and Louisville helped us beat Matt Bevin. In nine days, Louisville’s gonna help us beat Daniel Cameron, too,” Beshear said.

To help gin up excitement, Third Congressional District Rep. Morgan McGarvey, D-KY, gave a speech framing Beshear as a safeguard against disaster and extremism.

“We know what our governor and lieutenant governor meant to us – they’re our coaches that kept us safe through incredibly trying times, natural disasters and COVID, right here in Kentucky,” he said. “They’re the ones making sure that our teachers and kids are protected, not targeted by extremists.”

Richmond, Oct. 30

“I used to be somebody,” former governor Steve Beshear told a crowd of more than 100 crammed into Dreaming Creek Brewery in downtown Richmond.

“Now, I’m just the father of somebody, and I like that even better,” the elder Beshear said in reference to his son.

While Steve Beshear has been somewhat involved, the current governor’s re-election campaign has been all about “Andy.” Gone are the days of “Daddy’s boy” jeers now that Beshear the younger has four years of a gubernatorial record under his belt.

Yet his message in Richmond was not so unlike his father’s response to former GOP president Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech in 2016, which admonished Trump for using the politics of division.

“From the other side you’re hearing division, anger, even encouragement for you to violate that golden rule: for one Kentuckian to hate another,” Andy Beshear said.

“If we can send one message to the rest of the country, it’s that anger politics should end right here and right now.”

Frankfort Bureau Chief Tessa Duvall contributed to this report.