Welcome Derby visitors. This is the annual handicap to Kentucky’s political horse in his 150th extravaganza of America’s oldest continuously held sporting event.
The political star of Derby’s television show is the governor for about 30 seconds during the trophy presentation. His name is Andy Beshear. It may sound familiar. He is currently in his second term, and his father Steve served two terms until 2015. This state is Republican, but they are Democratic. How is it?
As politics becomes more focused on social issues and the Republican Party’s success in this socially conservative state extends to state and local government, many Kentuckians remain traditionally Democratic voters. Like their parents and grandparents, they were willing or even willing to vote. And Republican leaders and voters had a difficult time selecting a governor.
Republican Ernie Fletcher was embroiled in a personnel scandal and lost to Democrat Steve Beshear, a veteran who understands the state, but in 2011, the Republican Party won what was perhaps the state’s least popular politician at the time, now the state Senate president. We got lucky again by drafting David Williams. A highly regarded circuit judge.
Al Cross (Twitter @ruralj) is a professor in the University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Media and director emeritus of the university’s Rural Journalism Institute. His opinions are his own and not those of the UK. He was the longest-serving political reporter for the Louisville Courier-Journal (1989-2004) and served as national president of the Society of Professional Journalists from 2001-2002. He was inducted into the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame in his 2010 year.Beshear was term-limited in 2015, but he helped elect his son as attorney general, and Republican Gov. Matt Bevin said teachers’ protests against Beshear led to child sexual abuse and drug use. I got lucky again. About half of Kentucky’s teachers are Republicans, and they made him pay. He lost by 0.37 percentage points.
Republicans thought Andy Beshear would be an easy choice in 2023, but voters appreciated his performance during the pandemic and gave him the lead. Then, an intensive campaign, a Supreme Court ruling on abortion, and the Kentucky Republican Party’s strict laws that all but ban abortions helped him win by 5 points.
For a limited time, Beshear is now looking beyond Kentucky. He has formed a political committee that supports moderate Democrats like himself and has been mentioned in speculation about a 2028 presidential run. He will serve his full term until December 2027, and is no longer competing for the seat of Sen. Mitch McConnell, who is retiring as Senate Republican leader, but will continue to represent Kentucky until 2026.
Beshear’s best bet now appears to be to challenge Sen. Rand Paul, who is running for office in 2028. Mr. Paul is more of a liberal than a Republican, and these days he has come to be defined as an isolationist, something he calls “informed neutrality.” A deficit hawk, he generally opposes foreign aid and more or less declared all-out war on Mr. McConnell on Ukraine after the ranking member announced he would not seek reelection as party leader.
The likely Republican candidate for McConnell’s seat is Daniel Cameron, an African-American protégé who served as attorney general and lost to Andy Beshear. Congressman Andy Barr, whose 6th Congressional District is centered around Lexington, voted to support Ukraine. Fourth District Representative Thomas Massie did not. Massey is cut from the same cloth as Paul, but he’s woven it into the political equivalent of a bold derby hat, most recently Georgia House Speaker Marjorie Taylor Greene’s House Speaker Mike Johnson. I am supporting a petition to oust him from the chair.
Other members of Kentucky’s delegation are less interested in performative politics. 1st District Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, is taking action after surprising then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy with the task of supporting the impeachment case against President Biden. It was way. Mr. Comer is a popular fundraiser and television personality, but he over-exaggerated and implied in an attempt to convey what Republican lawmakers wanted to hear. He says he wants to become governor in 2027. He lost to Bevin in the 2015 primary by 83 votes.
Louisville City Council member Morgan McGarvey is the only Democrat in the delegation. If his party takes control of the House, keep an eye on him. He was a very effective state Senate minority leader. A small portion of Louisville is represented by Brett Guthrie of the 2nd District, who could be elevated to chair the Energy and Commerce Committee, one of the House’s most powerful committees. There is. 5th District Rep. Hal Rogers represents much of Kentucky in the Appalachian region and is in his 44th year funneling federal money to the state. He is the chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee, the longest-serving current member of the House, and appears determined to remain in that position at age 86.
Closer to home, the Republican to watch in Derby when help is needed in Frankfort is Senate President Robert Stivers. He is arguably the state’s main policy maker, as he is the most powerful leader in the tightly Republican-controlled Legislature. But he, like many Republican legislative leaders in the South, is not one to push hot buttons. He is a traditional Republican close to McConnell and has distanced Kentucky Republicans from some of the right-wing excesses seen in other Republican-controlled chambers. He knows that while Kentucky is Republican, it still has Democratic roots.
