Democrat Andy Beshear defeats Trump-endorsed Daniel Cameron for Kentucky governor

Gov. Andy Beshear has won the Kentucky governor’s race, beating his Trump-endorsed challenger, Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron, to secure a second term.

Major news outlets declared Beshear the winner just before 9 p.m. in a race that will have national political implications. Beshear was leading Cameron by more than five percentage points late Tuesday night, according to unofficial results.

The 45-year-old Beshear, son of former Kentucky governor Steve Beshear, is the first Democratic governor to win reelection in the commonwealth since 2011, when his father accomplished the same feat.

In one of the nation’s most expensive political campaigns, where nearly $74 million was raised and spent, Beshear maintained a high level of popularity in his first term as governor despite being a Democrat in Kentucky’s increasingly Republican-leaning political climate.

In his re-election pitch to voters, Beshear touted his moderate views, an “economy on fire,” support for public education and leadership during times of crisis, including the COVID-19 global pandemic, devastating tornadoes and horrific floods that ravaged parts of Eastern Kentucky.

Tuesday night in Louisville, Beshear said in a speech his victory was proof a positive campaign can win overpower partisanship.

“It was a victory that sends a loud and clear message: A message that candidates should run for something and not against someone, that candidate should show vision and not sow division, and a clear statement that anger politics should end right here and right now,” Beshear said.

Though Beshear did not mention Cameron by name, his reference to “anger politics” hinted at the tactics of Cameron and several political action committees that were supporting the Republican candidate.

“Well, that didn’t turn out exactly how I wanted it to,” Cameron said after taking the stage at the Downtown Louisville Marriott, where he and other Republicans held their election night party.

Cameron said he called Beshear before taking the stage to congratulate him.

“I know from his perspective, and all of our perspectives, that we all want the same thing for our future generations,” Cameron said. “We want a better commonwealth, one in which it can ultimately be a shining city on a hill, a model and example for the rest of the nation to follow.”

In its final weeks, the campaign turned ugly. Cameron, 37, criticized Kentucky’s development trends under Beshear’s watch, saying that the Democrat was exaggerating the vitality of the state’s economy.

He also repeatedly linked Beshear to President Joe Biden, who is deeply unpopular in the commonwealth. Kentucky overwhelmingly supported Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential race, beating Biden by nearly a 26-point margin.

Beshear blunted Cameron’s strategy and painted himself as being above the partisan fray. He touted his bipartisan manner and his commitment to “Team Kentucky” instead of specific political parties.

‘“My opponent is trying to nationalize the race because he knows if it’s me against him, he will not win,” Beshear said a little more than a week before Election Day. “So, he’s trying to confuse people, to make them think this is the race for president. It’s not. This is about us. It’s about Kentucky.”

On stage, Beshear jabbed that Cameron bringing in Arkansas Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders to support his run didn’t have quite the same impact as Beshear appearing with a popular Louisville rapper.

“Kentucky made a choice. A choice not to move to the right or to the left, but to move forward for every single family. A choice to reject ‘Team R’ or ‘Team D’ and to state clearly that we are one Team Kentucky — a choice of Jack Harlow over Sarah Huckabee Sanders,” Beshear said.

National chatter will likely increase with Beshear’s win, as President Biden’s approval rating and poll numbers have tanked to all-time lows a year out from the next presidential election. It was not a surprise Biden did not come to Kentucky to campaign for Beshear.

Tuesday’s results in Kentucky could provide a playbook for Democratic candidates in other parts of the country, experts say. Several national outlets have profiled Beshear’s feel-good strategy on infrastructure and the economy while hitting his opponent who focused so much energy and campaign dollars on Biden.

Though political winds are always subject to change, Beshear explicitly ruled out getting called up to Washington during his second term in an interview with the Herald-Leader. Some in Kentucky and Washington have speculated he could position himself as a presidential or vice presidential candidate in 2028.

‘A positive vision and lifting people up’

Democratic Governors Association Chair Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey said the DGA invested “a new record of over $19 million in Kentucky” to support Beshear’s win.

“Gov. Beshear’s victory tonight also makes clear that voters across party lines want strong Democratic leaders who focus on a positive vision and lifting people up - instead of the division and anger we too often see from the other side,” Murphy said in a statement.

Chris Hartman, executive director of the Kentucky-based LGBTQ rights group the Fairness Campaign, said Kentuckians re-elected their most pro-equality governor ever.

“Tonight is a resounding victory for LGBTQ Kentuckians, and especially transgender kids, who were forced to bear the brunt of attacks not just from the Kentucky General Assembly, but also by Daniel Cameron, who sought to score cheap political points with anti-trans attack ads and harmful rhetoric,” Hartman said.

“It didn’t work. Let this be a lesson for all Kentucky politicians — you don’t gain anything by attacking Kentucky’s trans kids.

Leave trans kids alone and focus on the real problems facing our commonwealth, just like Gov. Andy Beshear.”

The Kentucky Education Association put out a statement saying its members “once again made the difference in bringing an electoral victory to Gov. Andy Beshear, a champion for public education.”

“Public schools and public educators are the heart and soul of our communities. Gov. Beshear and the people of Kentucky understand that,” KEA President Eddie Campbell said in the statement. “This victory serves notice that Kentuckians value our public schools and strongly support our public school educators.”

Experts are split about what a second Beshear term will immediately mean for Kentucky.

While the governor scored legislative wins on legalizing forms of gaming and medical marijuana in his first term, Republican state legislators have been adamant about not aligning with the governor on much going forward.

Some also say they don’t like him, citing the governor “taking credit” for GOP-led initiatives like cutting the income tax.

“There’s no incentive or reason for us to work with him… He doesn’t deserve an opportunity for reparation, especially after the campaign. He’s taken credit for all our good work, including some things he vetoed,” Senate Majority Leader Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, told the Herald-Leader before Tuesday’s results.

Campaign defined by abortion rights, crisis leadership, education

Beshear’s campaign hit Cameron hard on the issue of abortion, airing multiple ads calling out the attorney general’s record of defending the state’s ban, which does not allow exceptions for victims of rape and incest. Recent polling suggested that the ban is highly unpopular among Kentucky voters.

Since announcing his re-election effort, Beshear has raised nearly $19 million, which allowed him to dramatically outspend Cameron.

A series of disasters and tragedies in the past four years have earned Beshear a reputation as the “consoler in chief” with many Kentuckians.

The early days of the Beshear administration were quickly consumed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which reported its first case in Kentucky in early 2020, just three months after his inauguration.

An outbreak of tornadoes killed dozens of people across West and South Central Kentucky in December 2021, and historic flooding in Eastern Kentucky in July 2022 claimed dozens more lives.

And in April 2023, a gunman killed five people at a downtown Louisville bank branch, including one of Beshear’s closest friends and the chair of his 2019 inauguration committee, Tommy Elliott.

These crises have, in large part, defined the governor’s term. They also afforded him significant air time on Kentuckians’ televisions, as many in the state felt comforted by Beshear’s frequent and encouraging press conferences.

The son of former Gov. Steve Beshear, who held the office from 2007 to 2015, the younger Beshear served one term as Kentucky attorney general from 2015 to 2019 prior to becoming governor.

Beshear narrowly ousted unpopular Republican incumbent Matt Bevin in 2019 by just over 5,000 votes – less than half of a percentage point.

Beshear tapped public school educator Jacqueline Coleman as his running mate for the 2019 campaign, a strategic move as Bevin had frequently angered teachers during his term in office.

When Beshear-Coleman won in 2019, they were the only Democrats on the statewide ballot to do so. The other five constitutional offices were all resoundingly won by Republicans.

During campaign season, Beshear’s strongest call for policy change had to do with education. He and Coleman proposed an 11% across-the-board raise for school employees as well as the implementation of universal pre-K in Kentucky.

So far, the legislature has denied Beshear much of his education agenda and has not signaled any more openness to working with the governor on the issue.

Before Election Day, Beshear and Coleman have argued that a political victory would signal the need for change on this front.