It is tough to be a Democratic governor in a state considered to be \u201cRed,\u201d and it just got tougher for Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.<\/p>\n
The governor has been popular enough in his state that he is considered one of the top picks for the Democratic Party\u2019s presidential nomination for 2028, having defeated his Republican opponent, incumbent Republican Gov. Matt Bevin, in 2019 with a total of 709,890 votes, which was 49.20 percent of the vote.<\/p>\n
In 2023, he defeated his GOP challenger, Attorney General Daniel Cameron, by around 67,174 votes, which was approximately five percentage points.<\/p>\n
However, President Donald Trump won the state in the 2016 presidential election with 1,202,971 votes, accounting for 62.52% of the total.<\/p>\n
And his support has grown, garnering 1,326,646 Kentucky votes in the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to former President Joe Biden, and 1,337,494 votes in the 2024 presidential election, accounting for 64.47 percent of the state\u2019s votes.<\/p>\n
That may be one of the reasons that State Sen. Robin Webb has switched her party from Democrat to Republican, Fox News reported.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst and foremost, I\u2019m a mother, a rancher and a lawyer with deep personal and professional roots in Kentucky\u2019s coal country,\u201d the former Democrat said. \u201cAs the Democratic Party continues its lurch to the left and its hyperfocus on policies that hurt the workforce and economic development in my region, I no longer feel it represents my values.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has become untenable and counterproductive to the best interests of my constituents for me to remain a Democrat,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile it\u2019s clich\u00e9, it\u2019s true: I didn\u2019t leave the party \u2014 the party left me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
It is a tough hit for the Democratic Party in the state as Webb is from a rural area of Kentucky, which has been a stronghold for the blue party because of its union ties and coal mining industry.<\/p>\n
The news was celebrated by Robert Benvenuti, Chairman of the Republican Party of Kentucky.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike countless other Kentuckians, [Webb] has recognized that the policies and objectives of today\u2019s\u00a0Democratic Party\u00a0are simply not what they once were, and do not align with the vast majority of Kentuckians,\u201d\u00a0he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always respected that [Webb] approached issues in a very thoughtful and commonsense manner, and that she never failed to keenly focus on what was best for her constituents,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is my pleasure to welcome Sen. Robin Webb to the Republican Party.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the state\u2019s Democratic Party lashed out at Webb, saying that she is \u201cnot a Democrat,\u201d which may not be the burn they think it is.<\/p>\n
\u201cSenator Webb has chosen to join a political party that is currently working around the clock to take health care away from over a million Kentuckians, wipe out our rural hospitals, take food off the table of Kentucky families, and take resources away from our public schools,\u201d Kentucky Democratic Party Chair Colmon Elridge said to Fox News Digital. \u201cIf those are her priorities, then we agree: she isn\u2019t a Democrat.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for Beshear, he said that he would consider a campaign to become the Democratic Party\u2019s presidential nominee in the next election, The Daily Beast reported.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019d asked me a couple of years ago if this is something I\u2019d consider, I probably wouldn\u2019t have. But I don\u2019t want to leave a broken country to my kids. And so, if I\u2019m somebody that can bring this nation together and hopefully find some common ground, it\u2019s something I\u2019ll consider,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The governor started his own podcast this year in which he is taking a moderate stance.<\/p>\n
\u201cFar too much of what we see out there tries to put us in a box,\u201d he said in the first episode. \u201cIt tries to make everything D or R, red or blue, left or right, and we know the world\u2019s so much more complicated than that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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