Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, is projected to win reelection to a second term in office Tuesday, defeating Republican challenger Daniel Cameron, the state’s attorney general, according to the NBC News Decision Desk.
Beshear, 45, led the Trump-backed Cameron, 37, for most the campaign, but late polling showed the candidates in a dead heat.
Beshear is broadly popular with voters, with a 60% approval rating, despite governing as a Democrat in a socially conservative state where voters overwhelmingly backed former President Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020.
Things are not looking good for Republicans next year.
I know, right? These results from OH and VA are giving me some very cautious optimism, but not letting my guard down.
Oh yeah, we still need to fight like hell. But they’re too entrenched to do a re-think at this point. Their base is too crazy. They’ve dug their hole and we have to make sure voters know what they want to do. When voters hear about it, they clearly don’t like it.
I’m in suburban Philadelphia, normally a GOP stronghold that counterbalances the deep blue city, especially in municipal elections. Democrats are running the table for school boards and judges. It’s very encouraging.
Last night shows me that the NYTime poll about Trump leading everywhere is wildly untrue
I would rather you look at that poll as being a message that those of us who are NOT insane, should not rest. We need to keep pushing for competent people in positions of power in our government.
That is going to take you, me, and everyone that wants the above to vote in every single election from now on.
It’s because polling is still done over the phone. The only people I know who pick up unknown numbers are over 60.
We had all kinds of explanations for the polls in 2016, too. This is not over but it’s not going to be a walk in the park.
Most people are not paying attention if there isn’t an election in their state. When we get closer and they realize Trump and a GOP driven national abortion ban is on the menu, polls will hopefully change. Hopefully.
I wonder how they are conducting those polls.
Most likely cold-calling/robo-calling. Nobody under the age of 45 answers random phone calls
I’m 44 and dont pick up strange numbers for the most part, so thank you for including me in your sample
Careful to not conflate Trump’s personal popularity and ability to get voters to the polls with other Republicans, even those blessed by Cheeto himself
Biden is, unfortunately, uniquely disliked compared to other Dems. He was buoyed by young voters, who are especially fickle and the most likely to stay home. I remain both worried and uncertain.
It’s seeming (according to data I’ve seen in recent articles) to be that midterms are becoming more favorable to dems due to higher education voter gap between parties. Low engagement voters are the voters who like trump, and they’re the ones that show up more general elections, than in mid terms currently.
So, I’m happy about last night, but I’m cautious to take it as a sign of what to expect next year.
As a Kentuckian, I’m very (pleasantly) surprised by this result. Sure, we’ve historically preferred a democratic governor, but I thought in the post Trump era that wouldn’t matter. I was sure that the only reason Beshear beat Bevin in 2019 was because of all the shit Bevin pulled with teacher’s pensions. Anyways, exciting stuff!
It honestly shocks me that KY keeps on electing R senators while putting in D governors. Is it a turnout thing?
I think it’s primarily education. Public education is a big issue in eastern Kentucky in part because it’s a big employer and in part because our grandparents pushed it as a way to escape the mines. In contrast with most of the rest of the South churches in eastern Kentucky, especially the Old Regular Baptists, have a strong history of supporting public education. The elementary school I went to was donated by my grandparent’s congregation. Both of the Republican governors elected in my lifetime had their political careers ended by attacking education and educators.
I also think pandemic politics was at best a wash in this election. Our older and middle aged voters remember or grew up being told about family members that were severely affected or killed by diseases we vaccinate against now. Eastern Kentucky still has serious issues accessing medical care and takes childhood vaccination seriously. Vaccine denial didn’t land here like it did elsewhere. On top of that Kentucky did much better under Beshear than the surrounding states that had more conservative governors and more conservative pandemic policies. The pandemic policies and his Team Kentucky updates are what originally made Beshear one of the most popular governors in the US. He went into the election with an in-state approval rating of about 60%.
I don’t think so, the state leans red in everything else. In this same election, every other statewide election (including secretary of state and attorney general) went to the republican candidate by a ratio of like 60-40. I think Beshear’s just popular.
MA has done the same shit, and they lean ever further to the left. I’m not entirely convinced it’s a turnout thing, maybe more of a “balancing things out” kind of deal.
The party who won the KY Gov has won the next Presidential each of the last 5 elections.
Doesn’t mean anything but kinda makes you go 👀
Yesterdays results across the board definitely have me doubting the recent Trump vs Biden polling numbers even more than I already did.
Republicans are in the “find out” phase
His star will continue to rise. Democrats have quite a bench assembling on the national stage.
Besides Louisville and Lexington, the two biggest cities in Kentucky, every single county voted majority Republican. Kentucky still has a very long way to go.
Edit: well, at the time I posted this the results clearly showed only two counties that went blue. Now that I’ve checked all my negative down votes and all these comments, I see now that with more results in this is clearly not the case. Sorry folks.
I still stand by my statement, not enough blue counties!
Not true. Plenty of other counties voted for Beshear than Jefferson and Fayette. Check out the election map
Beshear won a collection of Appalachian counties and 2 of the 3 counties in the Cincinnati metro. The eastern counties were the difference between the Governor’s race and the rest of the races on the ballot. Here’s the election page from a local TV station with a really nice interface. Tap the individual counties for county level vote totals.
https://www.wlwt.com/article/ohio-election-results-november-2023-issue-one/45688445
KY voters have historically preferred a Democrat as governor, so much so that no Republican has ever won two terms and only a couple even made it across the finish line. I think the prevailing wisdom is a naive notion of balance of power, but most voters don’t seem to realize the state legislature can override executive veto with a simple majority.
It’s actually a lot bluer than expected, he even won in some very red western KY counties.
