I saw Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear address a Nebraska Democratic Party fundraiser on November 7. I was very impressed with what I saw and heard. Beshear’s superb remarks were interrupted numerous times by applause. He is a rare political talent. I would vote for him if the Nebraska primary was today.
Andy Beshear is governor of Kentucky and incoming chair of the Democratic Governors Association. He is actively exploring a 2028 presidential bid.
You will find excerpts from an editorial piece he wrote for the Washington Post on November 24. It is similar to his remarks in Omaha. Enjoy.
The Kentucky governor began by reviewing the Democrats’ big victories in the 2025 elections and critiquing Trump and MAGA’s failed policies.
And now for his positive message. It was very good.
“Tackling affordability is not enough. To truly lead again, Democrats must be the party of aspiration.
When I look at our country, what worries me is the widespread belief that the American Dream is unattainable, even dead. This is the same American Dream — the promise that if you work hard and play by the rules, you can get ahead — that has inspired generations and lifted America to great heights.
This concern transcends party lines. Families know how much their grocery and utility bills have gone up, and how unaffordable rent or the mortgage is getting. But they also know that the vacation they took as children has slipped out of reach.
Democrats should be the party that will make it possible to build a better life — one in which you’re not just making ends meet but setting your family up for long-term success.
When I first ran for governor in 2019, I narrowly won Henderson County. Since then, we’ve opened the cleanest, greenest recycled paper mill there, with 320 jobs that start at almost $40 an hour including benefits. This mill is in a former coal town that, like too many places in my state, had felt forgotten.
That paper mill resurrected the American Dream for 320 families. And in 2023, I won Henderson County by double digits.
That’s part of what Democrats can do to win in the areas that have been slipping away. Another is to start talking like normal human beings again. We’re not going to win the messaging battle if we say that Trump’s policies make people “food insecure.” No, they make people hungry. Kentucky was hit hard by the opioid epidemic. I didn’t lose a friends and acquaintances to “substance use disorder”; I lost them to addiction. Addiction is hard, it’s mean, and it kills people. So when people triumph over it, we should give them the credit they deserve by calling it what it is.
Finally, we have to start communicating our “why.” For me, it’s my faith. I vetoed the nastiest piece of anti-LGBTQ legislation in the country knowing full well that the Republicans in the Kentucky legislature passed it to use in an election year. But tens of millions of dollars of misleading attack ads against me didn’t work. Why? Because I gave Kentuckians the respect of explaining my veto — that I believe all children are children of God and that I didn’t think the legislature should be picking on vulnerable kids.
Democrats are good at explaining our “what.” Let’s get good at explaining our “why.”
That’s how we will win back the American people. We have to do the hard work of convincing American families that Democrats are the party committed to addressing their day-to-day concerns, that we believe in a brighter future for their children and that we will always give them straight talk. That we will do, in other words, what Donald Trump and the Republicans have shown they will not.”
His most impressive accomplishments as governor are as follows:
Made Kentucky the Electric Vehicle Battery Capital of the United States
Best 5-Year Period in State History for Economic Growth
Record Low Unemployment in Kentucky
Expanded Access to Healthcare for Over 400,000 Additional Kentuckians
Double Digit Wage Growth
Projected to Have Four Largest Budget Surpluses in Kentucky History
Led the Way on Passage and Decriminalization of Medical Cannabis
Restored Voting Rights for More Than 198,000 Kentuckians
Expanded Early Voting
Signed Income Tax Relief for Kentucky Families
“When Democrats win, we do what Republicans can’t — we govern well,” Beshear recently told CBS News.
The Democrats won big in the 2025 elections. There was a blue wave across the entire nation. Currently, the Democrats have a double digit lead in the race for Congress. We are the prohibitive favorites to win the House and the Senate is in play.
Trump and the MAGA Republicans are failing and have broken numerous promises. There is no reason to expect things to get better. Trump will get crazier and the economy will get worse. We are set up for big victories in 2026 and 2028.
If we do the work, we will win. Let’s be remembered as the generation that saved the country from fascism. Now let’s get to work!
Sources:
www.washingtonpost.com/…
governor.ky.gov/...
