Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear to headline Iowa Dems’ event amid VP speculation

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear will headline at the Iowa Democratic Party's Liberty and Justice Celebration Saturday. (Photo by John Sommers II/Getty Images)

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat brought up as a potential running mate for Vice President Kamala Harris, will be speaking Saturday at the Iowa Democratic Party’s Liberty and Justice Celebration.

Beshear was announced as the headline speaker for the annual IDP event in June, weeks before major changes came to the Democrats’ 2024 presidential nomination process. On Sunday, President Joe Biden announced he was dropping out of the presidential race and endorsed Harris to take his place as the 2024 Democratic nominee.

While delegates pledged to Biden, who overwhelmingly won state nominating contests, for the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this August are not obligated to support Harris, most Democratic delegates and party members have unified behind the vice president becoming the party nominee. In Iowa, DNC delegates unanimously decided Monday to back Harris.

Unofficial delegate trackers say that as of Tuesday morning, Harris has won enough support from delegates to cinch the nomination.

Though Harris’ place at the top of the ticket looks likely, who will join her as a running mate remains up in the air. CNN reported that several Democratic elected officials from across the country, including Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer have been asked to submit financial, family and personal information as the Harris campaign makes its decision on a vice president pick.

Beshear is one of the candidates on the shortlist. The Kentucky Democrat was first elected in 2019, defeating Republican incumbent Gov. Matt Bevin with 49.2% of the vote. A year later, former President Donald Trump won Kentucky with 62.1% to Biden’s 36.2% in the 2020 presidential election.

In the years since, Beshear has been floated as a candidate for national office — and a potential 2028 presidential candidate — as Democrats seek to gain ground in conservative states.

Speaking on MSNBC’s Morning Joe Monday, Beshear did not directly answer questions about joining Harris as a running mate, but said he would be open to discussing the possibility.

“I think if somebody calls you on that, what you do is, is at least listen,” Beshear said. “And I want the American people to know what a Kentuckian is and what they look like. Because let me just tell you that J.D. Vance ain’t from here.”

J.D. Vance, the freshman GOP Ohio senator, was selected as Trump’s 2024 running mate at the July Republican National Convention. Before taking office, Vance gained national attention for his 2020 book “Hillbilly Elegy,” that describes his and his family’s experience with rural poverty in Appalachia. Vance writes about Appalachian culture when discussing his mother’s family from Breathitt County, Kentucky, in the book.

Beshear criticized Vance’s portrayal of Kentuckians during his MSNBC interview.

“The nerve that he has to call the people of Kentucky — of Eastern Kentucky — ‘lazy,'” Beshear said. “Listen, these are the hardworking coal miners that powered the Industrial Revolution, that created the strongest middle class the world has ever seen, powered us through two world wars. We should be thanking them, not calling them lazy.”

IDP Chair Rita Hart said in a Tuesday interview that Iowa Democrats had been excited to host Beshear before there was any discussion of him as a potential vice presidential candidate. Hart said Beshear is a good example of “a Democratic governor who has been successful in a Republican state, that’s really a good message for us here in Iowa on how we can be successful.”

“Now, when he’s being considered as a possible vice president candidate, that just has really put a whole other level of excitement to the evening,” Hart said. “So we’re excited to see what Governor Beshear has to say. But I would tell you that I think everybody is pretty open minded, and (Iowans want) to know more about any of the candidates that could possibly be a pick for Kamala Harris as a candidate.”

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