‘This is our chance.’ Gov. Beshear urges unity in his second inaugural address

Kentuckians must come together in unity during a time of angry division around the rest of the world, Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear said Tuesday as he started his second and final four-year term.

In his inaugural speech delivered outside the state Capitol, Beshear reminded the hundreds who had gathered and a TV audience of the challenges the state overcame during his first term — namely, a global pandemic and natural disasters — and of Kentucky’s state motto, “United we stand, divided we fall.”

“In the last four years, we have faced our own tests. Each we have met with love, compassion and empathy,” Beshear said.

But “poisonous and toxic” politics are turning Americans against each other, he warned.

“What is supposed to be an exchange of ideas has devolved into grievances and attacks. Some appear to think it’s just a game, that no target is off limits, no lie is too hurtful,” he said.

“We see strategies and commercials meant to make one American — one Kentuckian — an enemy of another, trying to accuse them of horrible things in order to dehumanize them, so as to somehow justify anger, even hate, turning people against their neighbors just to have one more elected official with a certain letter behind their name.”

“I ran for office to leave a better world for my children, for all of our children,” Beshear said. “And this is our chance — Kentucky’s chance — to be the difference, to be both an economic and moral leader of this country.”

Kentucky re-elected Beshear, 46, to a second term last month with 52.5 percent of 1.3 million votes cast. His challenger was Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron.

Beshear is the third governor in Kentucky history to win two consecutive terms, following fellow Democrats Paul Patton (1995-2003) and his own father, Steve Beshear (2007-2015). Kentucky’s constitution was amended in 1992 to allow governors to succeed themselves.

“You need eight years to do this job,” Patton told KET on Tuesday during its coverage of the inaugural parade. It takes one term to really understand the powers of the governor’s office and another to accomplish your agenda, the former governor said.

A lawyer by trade and heir to a popular last name in Kentucky Democratic politics, Andrew Graham Beshear practiced at the Louisville firm of Stites & Harbison before his election in 2015 to a term as attorney general.

He successfully ran for governor in 2019, ousting Republican incumbent Matt Bevin.

Beshear and Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman, a former high school basketball coach and assistant principal, were the only Democrats elected statewide last month. As they did four years ago, Republicans swept all of Kentucky’s down-ballot races, for attorney general, secretary of state and the other constitutional offices.

Coleman made history Tuesday as the first woman to take the oath of office twice as lieutenant governor.

Coleman noted the Capitol behind her contained statues of great, but imperfect Kentuckians, such as Abraham Lincoln, who brought “people together through the toughest of times,” Henry Clay, who could work to find “common ground on the biggest issues of the day,” and education pioneer Nettie Depp, the first woman to receive a statue in the Capitol.

“The symbolism on these grounds is important, and so are the lessons we draw from it,” Coleman said.

“But it is just as important what you don’t see here today. There is an empty space in the rotunda where the statue of Jefferson Davis once stood. That is because we not only installed the capitol’s first female statue, we also removed one that represented division.

“Of course, removing a statue doesn’t change history. But we can all agree that every Kentuckian – young and old, male and female, all colors, and all faiths — deserve to feel that they belong, if this is truly to be the ‘People’s House,’” Coleman said.

Pandemic, disasters define first term

Beshear will continue to face adversarial Republican super-majorities in command of the General Assembly when lawmakers returns to Frankfort on Jan. 2 for the 2024 session.

With their veto-proof numbers, GOP lawmakers can write the next two-year state budget and pass conservative legislation with little input from the governor.

In his first term, Beshear crafted a reputation for compassionate pragmatism. He led the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, some of it controversial, including the temporary closure of schools, businesses and other public places to curb the spread of the deadly virus; masking in public; and mass vaccination programs.

He also oversaw state emergency assistance to Western and Eastern Kentucky after deadly and hugely destructive tornadoes and flooding, respectively.

On the brighter side, Beshear has boasted of $28.5 billion in economic development investments in Kentucky over the past four years, which are supposed to create tens of thousands of jobs as they come to fruition.

Perhaps most notable is the massive electric vehicle battery plant under construction in Hardin County by Ford Motor Co. and SK, set to employ 5,000 people.

Not too far away in Warren County, Envision AESC announced plans to open a factory that employs 2,000 people building electric vehicle battery cells.

Beshear expanded the state Medicaid program to include dental, vision and hearing coverage, and he championed the legalization of medical marijuana and sports betting, all over the opposition of some legislators.

Some battles, though, he lost. Earlier this year, he vetoed a Republican bill — Senate Bill 150 — aimed at restricting access to gender-affirming health care for transgender youth and limiting discussion about sexual orientation and gender identity in public schools.

“My faith teaches me that all children are children of God,” Beshear said in his veto message.

The legislature overrode his veto.

That veto would become a prominent and defining issue of the 2023 campaign, with Cameron and his conservative allies repeatedly hitting the governor for refusing to protect women’s sports from “biological males” and saving kids from “transgender surgeries.”

But Beshear out-raised and out-spent Cameron by millions and pushed back on that narrative, including in an ad of his own.

The incumbent also benefited from a record-breaking investment from the Democratic Governors Association, which spent more than $20 million to support his bid for re-election.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who was chosen earlier this month to serve as the new chair of that governors group, was in attendance Tuesday.

‘We will not meet hate with hate’

In Tuesday’s speech, Beshear checked off the now-familiar list of challenges and successes of his first term, as he frequently did during his re-election campaign this year.

But much of his address was devoted to a plea for compassion, tolerance and unity.

“Together, we will not meet hate with hate, or anger with anger, or even frustration with frustration,” Beshear said.

“Instead, we will continue with the same love, empathy and compassion that has guided us through so much. For me, these values are grounded in my faith. It teaches me to love my neighbor as myself. To not judge, lest I be judged. That what I do to the least of thee, I do to He.”

“My faith teaches me that all human beings deserve true dignity and opportunity,” he said, “and that we can come together simply by acknowledging that our faith and values call us to be better. And for me, remembering that my savior could have been the Prince of Power, but chose to be the Prince of Peace.”

Tuesday’s public inauguration also featured a performance from Lawrence County native and singer-songwriter Tyler Childers, who performed his song “Universal Sound,” and Kentucky Poet Laureate Silas House, who recited an original piece called “Those Who Carry Us.”

Beshear was sworn in at midnight in a private ceremony.

‘Need for greater conversation’

How will these next four years play out?

That’s uncertain. With a GOP-led legislature whose leadership often ignores the governor, it’s unclear what big-ticket legislative item Beshear could get passed.

Bob Babbage, a Democrat who held the posts of state auditor and secretary of state in 1990s, said that the legislative and executive branches need a relationship reset.

“There is a significant need for a much greater conversation and relationship between the executive leadership and the legislative leadership… The big three need to sit down for dinner – governor, (Senate) president and (House) speaker – and just begin a new dialogue and new relationship. I pray that’s the case.”

Sen. Robin Webb, D-Grayson, said that infrastructure investments are one area to look for common ground.

“You have to have infrastructure to sustain and attract economic growth. The need for infrastructure is something we all can agree on, regardless of party, in Kentucky,” Webb said.

On one of Coleman’s top priorities, universal pre-K, Webb was hopeful but less sure of support from the General Assembly.

Regardless of how the relationship with the legislature turns out, key collaborators with the executive branch wished for a harmonious next four years as they milled about the Capitol rotunda after the ceremony.

Even though Commissioner of Agriculture Ryan Quarles ran a second-place GOP gubernatorial primary campaign targeted at bringing Beshear down, the now-incoming president of the embattled Kentucky Community and Technical College System hopes to develop a good rapport with the governor.

Quarles said that he hoped to get the support of both the governor and the General Assembly as they contemplate their budget proposals.

“If we want to get more Kentuckians working again, we need to make sure that we adequately fund the most impactful higher education entity in Kentucky. That’s our community and technical college system,” Quarles said.

Frankfort Mayor Layne Wilkerson said he’s looking forward to working with the governor on downtown redevelopment, redevelopment of area near the Kentucky River and road projects.

“We’ve established a great relationship with Team Kentucky. We’re working with him (Beshear) on a lot of strategic investments in the city of Frankfort where governor and his team are very supportive. Now that he’s in for another four years, we’re excited,” Wilkerson said.