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To understand Andy Besheartwo-term Democratic governor of Kentucky and a potential choice for the vice-presidential candidate in the coming days, it will be useful to know something about his father.
That would be Steve Beshearwho was a two-term Democratic governor of Kentucky just four years before his son won the commonwealth’s top political office.
Much of what Andy knows about politics he learned from Steve.
“Dad and I are very close, as you can see. I always say I have two jobs: to be the best governor I can be and to be the best Governor Beshear,” said Andy Beshear in March 2024 when appearing with his father at an event sponsored by the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health.
“I will follow any advice he gives at any time,” he continued. “That doesn’t mean I’ll always follow that, but having someone who’s been there — having someone you can share your ideas with — and having the humility to know that you don’t know everything, I think that makes us better.”
Among the lessons taught:
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Even in a conservative state like Kentucky, voters will support a Democrat with a genial “oh, what a shame” attitude.
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Be lucky enough to face a hated Republican incumbent, like the Beshears did with Ernesto Fletcher It is Matt Bevinin 2007 and 2019, respectively.
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Define yourself as someone who protects people through good policies and authentic interactions.
Steve Beshear, now 79, was Kentucky’s 61st governor from 2007 to 2015. Before that, he represented Lexington in the state House of Representatives from 1974 to 1980, was attorney general from 1980 to 1983 and served as lieutenant governor from 1983 to 1987.
He is best remembered today for his 2014 decision expanding Medicaid coverage to about 400,000 adults, many of whom had low-income jobs that did not provide health insurance. The number of Kentuckians without health insurance dropped from 14.3% to 5.4% in just a few years.
Steve Beshear was able to expand Medicaid, a federal and state health care program for the poor and disabled, thanks to tens of millions of federal dollars provided by Democratic President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act.
The association with Obama made the decision so controversial in Kentucky that Bevin, who succeeded Steve Beshear, spent the next four years trying to revoke expansion, only to be thwarted in court.
“The Affordable Care Act became known as Obamacare,” recalled Steve Beshear in a recent interview with the Herald-Leader.
“And President Obama had about a 30% approval rating in Kentucky at that time. So I had several political advisors who said, ‘Don’t touch this with a 10-foot pole, because it will ruin any political opportunities you might have for the future,'” he said.
“But I looked at it and I felt — you know, this was probably the only opportunity we would have in Kentucky to provide quality, affordable health care to all Kentuckians,” he said.
“When you look at our health statistics, it’s obvious because we are one of the worst states in the country from a health status standpoint. You pick any disease or chronic condition and we ranked 48th, 49th or 50th, no matter what it was.”
Steve Beshear was also praised during his eight years in office for trying to spare K-12 schools from the hundreds of millions of dollars in budget cuts he had to make in state government due to declining revenues at the time.
In 2011, the National Education Association awarded the elder Beshear the award for America’s Greatest Education Governor. He won statewide support for his re-election from grateful teachers and their families, a constituency that later transferred its political allegiance to his son.
Hoping to prevent further cuts, Steve Beshear lobbied the General Assembly in 2008 for legalized casino games in Kentucky. He said he could raise $500 million a year in state revenue without new taxes.
Lawmakers didn’t agree, but Beshear continued to argue that many of the public services threatened by rounds of budget cuts were essential to Kentuckians.
“My philosophy has always been, on a basic level, trying to figure out the right thing to do and then trying to figure out how you can survive and still do it in a state that sometimes isn’t as progressive as you’d like,” he said. the Herald-Leader.
Andy Beshear was a young Louisville lawyer at his father’s old firm, Stites & Harbison. He worked on Steve Beshear’s campaigns and was part of his informal “kitchen cabinet” of advisers, the elder Beshear said.
By the time Andy Beshear began campaigning for office, he had already absorbed those lessons about public service, his father said.
The younger Beshear was elected attorney general in 2015 and became governor in 2019.
His father’s political machine, including donors and some key aides such as cabinet secretaries J. Michael Brown and Larry Hayes, came to help his son in his early years.
This was usually a big advantage, but not always.
Tim Longmeyer, a longtime member of the Democratic Party who served as Steve’s personnel secretary, became Andy’s deputy attorney general. Then he was convicted of bribery in a case involving a Frankfurt lobbyist and sentenced to prison.
Running for governor, Andy Beshear campaigned on expanding gambling like his father, including legal sports betting and casinos. He got the sports betting in 2023. Although Kentucky has never authorized casino gaming, it does allow electronic gaming very similar to slot machines on horse racing tracks.
The young governor Beshear also tried to direct large sums to schools, proposing teacher pay raises and early childhood education, like his father. But the General Assembly – now controlled by Republican supermajorities – tends to ignore the Democratic governor’s budget priorities. They thwarted his legislative efforts.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, just months into Andy Beshear’s first term, he—like most governors—imposed a series of unpopular restrictions to contain the spread of the virus. He required masks in public places and temporarily closed businesses, schools and churches where crowds had reportedly gathered.
But he also held daily televised news conferences to explain the state’s actions using plain language, updating Kentuckians on the number of people infected and killed by the virus. He became even more of a celebrity than governors usually are.
And he coined the unifying name “Team Kentucky,” which later became his political slogan.
Even when voters didn’t agree with him during the pandemic, they generally concluded that Andy Beshear was trying to save lives, his father said.
“People saw a person who had the courage to step up and do what they thought was best for them,” Steve Beshear said. “While some of them may not have agreed, they saw him as a genuine, empathetic person who cared about them and made these decisions in their best interests.”
“They liked him because he was putting his own political future at risk to take care of them. I think that was evident loud and clear. And that’s why today he’s one of the most popular politicians Kentucky has ever seen.”
Steve Beshear has not speculated on what role Andy Beshear might play on the Democratic presidential ticket this year or in the future. But he said he understands why his son seems attractive to many people at this time, when national politics have become so toxic.
“Right now, there are people who feel it is legitimate to hate other people because of their religion, their color, their nationality or whatever. And many politicians are encouraging this just to get votes,” he said. “This is wrong and dangerous for the preservation of our democracy.”
His son refused to follow that playbook, the former governor added.
“He is determined to maintain the decency and dignity that the political world should have, and to reach out and work with people who feel different than he does – to work to find common ground where you can work to move our state and our country forward.” advance.”
