12 Reasons Governor Andy Beshear Should Be Our Next Vice President

By LEO Weekly on Wed, Jul 24, 2024 at 3:47 pm

Photo: Governor Andy Beshear's Instagram page

Gov. Andy Beshear won the race for re-election in Nov. 2023. Could the vice presidency be his next win?

Kentucky's Governor Andy Beshear had vetting materials requested from Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign. This means that he is officially under consideration for the role of vice president in her presidential campaign.

Beshear has experienced a successful public career. With a term as Kentucky's Attorney General, and now in his second term as Kentucky's governor, Beshear has shown that he can win in deep red country. This doesn't mean that Kentucky would flip blue, but Beshear's popularity would certainly be an asset to the Harris team as he proves that it is possible to find some common ground through profound and big disagreements.

Here are 12 reasons Gov. Andy Beshear would be an absolutely amazing pick for vice president of the United States.

This opinion piece was originally published by CityBeat's sister paper, LEO Weekly.

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Photo: Tkayne, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

1. He's Already Beaten Two Trump-Backed Candidates

Beshear's got a great track record already, having beaten out Daniel Cameron and Matt Bevins in a primarily red state. In the last gubernatorial election, Beshear defeated Daniel Cameron with support from 53% of voters, racking up 693,370 votes to Cameron's 626,196 total.

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Photo: Timothy D. Easley | AP Photo

2. He Can Bridge the Party Divide

From the time Beshear was voted to be governor in 2019 up until last year, his numbers have only trended upward. That’s not normal nowadays. For example, President Joe Biden has seen his numbers steadily decrease as time has passed during his presidency. Normally, people sour on their candidates after they’ve seen them in office, and in a red state, that rings true even louder. Even at the height of his popularity, Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona only had a 51% polling differential against his Republican counterpart Bake Masters. For Beshear, he consistently stayed nearly 10 percentage points ahead of his Republican counterpart Cameron, and in the latest polling, he is still one of the most popular Democrats in the country at a 65% approval rating, which is the second-highest in the nation just behind Phil Scott from Vermont, a deeply blue state.

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3. He Can Hold His Own Against Any Opponent

During the 2023 governor’s race, Beshear came out swinging fast against his Trump-backed opponent while never losing what made him Kentucky’s favorite Democrat. In a deeply red state with a legislature breathing down his neck, the incumbent still went toe-to-toe with Daniel Cameron, formerly the attorney general of the Commonwealth, a position Beshear himself held for years before starting his first term as governor in 2019. In debate after debate, Cameron attacked Beshear on his stances on abortion. However, when push came to shove, it was Cameron on the backfoot as Beshear asked the Republican to tell Kentuckians that abortion ought to be legalized in the case of rape or incest, something that a vast majority of Republican voters sympathize with in polling from PORES.

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Photo: AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley

4. He's Not Mitch McConnell

And that's that on that.

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5. He Gets Results

Andy keeps his receipts. He’s working in a very red state. If he didn’t bring results to the people of Kentucky, he’d be gone like Matt Bevin and Daniel Cameron. He is part of the team bringing the West Louisville hospital to a majority African American area, the first in over 150 years.

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6. He Has a Track Record of Economic Growth

Thanks to Beshear, Kentucky’s been among the top three states in per capita economic development for the last two years in a row. In 2023, Kentucky ranked No. 3, and in 2022 it ranked No. 2.

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7. He Can Deliver a Verbal TKO with Ease

Gov. Andy Beshear is great with a verbal takedown. We’ve all seen what he did to J.D. Vance, but remember what he did to Daniel Cameron? You don’t, well we do, and this video by Meidas Touch Network shows you how he ended Cameron’s political career in Kentucky. Beshear makes it clear he can handle anyone in a debate.

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8. He's Not Full of Empty Rhetoric

His rhetoric isn’t empty. He says what he means and means what he says. He never compromises his principles to appeal to the other side. He just has an honest appeal. He speaks to people in an obvious and conscientious way. Just look at the praise from wildly right-wing Republican state house representative Savannah Maddox. She told the Lexington Herald-Leader, “Andy Beshear has succeeded at projecting the likable, relatable image of a family man. And he’s a Democratic governor in a state with an overwhelming majority of Republicans at every level of government. That speaks to his ability to garner crossover votes without turning off his base.”

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Photo: Giselle Rhoden

9. He Plays by the Rules

No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, it’s widely known in Kentucky that Andy Beshear plays by the rules, even when they are stacked against him. In nearly every case where Beshear did not agree with a law that was passed by a supermajority Kentucky House and Senate (Senate Bill 150, Senate Bill 6, House Bill 9), he vetoed it, and they were passed anyway. It’s the matter of the fact that in all these cases and more, Beshear did not try to cheat the system. The same can’t be said for far-right conservatives, who are currently attempting to overthrow the Republic in place of a new monarchy.

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Photo: Governor Andy Beshear's Facebook Page

11. He Has a Good Track Record Overseas

Beshear took only a few days to get deals done with foreign leaders, which is something anyone with half a brain would know is vital to a VP’s success in office. If Harris wants any chance of contending on the world stage, she’ll need strong backup from someone like Beshear. He doesn’t bully, but he doesn’t waver either. Like Roosevelt said, “Speak softly, and carry a big stick.” With just the weight of one Southern, Midwest state behind him, Beshear has made deals with the likes of Japan and South Korea, two economic world heavyweights, without breaking a sweat. Now imagine if Beshear had the totality of the United States behind him as he brokered deals with even greater powers in the E.U. and in China. That’s the kind of VP I’m looking for if I’m Harris.

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10. He was the Best Pandemic Dad

Gov. Beshear was the best pandemic dad in America. His updates were well-watched and he made tough choices during the pandemic but helped keep Kentuckians from having worse outcomes than could have been possible without his leadership. Listening to Beshear's updates and memorials during the pandemic made it very clear that his decisions were made because of the risks to others.

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Photo: Derby City Sisters Facebook

12. He Supports Trans Rights

Andy Beshear is one of the only white Christian men in politics who follows what his book preaches when it comes to taking care of marginalized groups, especially those in the LGBTQ+ community. Beshear has championed trans rights in Kentucky for years, even when it wasn’t the popular thing to do in a deeply conservative state, like when he punched back at a state senator for mocking him for taking a photo with the Derby City Sisters, a drag queen group dedicated to helping LGBTQ+ youth. He’s also vetoed many laws pertaining to transgender people in Kentucky, even if he’s been overruled by the supermajority in the Kentucky House and Senate.

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Photo: Governor Andy Beshear's Instagram Page

Bonus: He Has a Cute Dog

He has a really cute dog named Winnie who makes frequent appearances on his Instagram, and, from the looks of it, this adorable pup both loves and trusts Papa Andy, which says a lot. After all, whether Republican or Democrat, can't we all agree that dogs are the best judges of character?

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