“I'm Andy Beshear, I'm a proud Democratic governor,” said the Kentucky governor to cheers as he began an address to a group of several dozen attendees at a meeting this Wednesday of the AFL-CIO in Greenville.
Even though President Donald Trump is only six months into his second four-year term, Beshear was the second Democrat governor (and potential candidate for president in 2028) to pay such an early visit to the Upstate in as many weeks. California Governor Gavin Newsom addressed an enthusiastic crowd last Wednesday in Pickens during his two-day speaking tour of the Palmetto State..
“If you don't know me, I'm the guy who's won three straight races in deep red Kentucky,” said Beshear. “I'm the guy who beat Mitch McConnell's hand-picked candidate. I'm the guy who beat Donald Trump's hand-picked candidate.”
The 47-year old two-term governor, who often looked down at his notes as he spoke, pointed out that even though Trump, a Republican, won Kentucky by 30 points over Democrat candidate Kamela Harris, the Democrat Beshear won the state by five points. A narrower victory, yes, but still a victory.
How did the blue Democrat win in a red state? “By staying true to our values of compassion, of empathy, of human rights.” He told his union audience that he won with the help of organized labor.
Beshear offered several applause lines to the union attendees. He said he wants to fight for a better future for working people. He is “pro-job, pro-business, and pro-worker all at the same time.”
“I am proud to veto every anti-Union bill that comes across my desk,” he said, adding that he walked a picket line during his reelection.
“Because we increased labor participation in a state like Kentucky, we can do it nationally,” he said, perhaps hinting at a bid for national office. “We can make workplaces across the country safer, we can make it easier to join a union.”
President Donald Trump came under a lot of criticism by Beshear during his remarks. He said that Trump is “gutting the social safety net. He's weaponizing our National Guard, he's fraying our international alliances and he is decimating our intelligence community and our public health expertise.”
“Trump Republicans are decimating Medicaid and food assistance with the Big Ugly Bill,” he asserted, saying that it is anti-worker, anti-job and anti-health care and that it is a direct attack on rural America and Southerners.
“This is a betrayal of the people who voted for him,” he said, adding that “because of these very painful Medicaid cuts we're going to win in a lot of places people don't expect.”
Beshear continued, “That Big Ugly Bill pushed by President Trump is going to strip millions of Americans of (health) coverage that they desperately need to stay alive and to stay healthy with their families and what it's going to do to rural America is a betrayal, with hundreds of thousands of people directly losing their jobs and an impact to rural communities that's going to be absolutely devastating.”
In his further criticism of Trump, Beshear sounded like a champion of the blue collar worker. “Right now many Americans are struggling, they're struggling to pay their bills at the end of the week and at the end of the month, and this current Trump administration is only making it harder,” he said.
Beshear blamed Trump's tariffs for making things cost more at a time “when prices are already high.” He said that, with Trump, the nation is getting “chaos, incompetence and cruelty.” What they're doing in Washington is “just plain mean; is just plain wrong,” he added.
How will Democrats take back power? Beshear said that the actions of the Trump administration are “providing a huge opportunity for Democrats to go out and regain the trust of the American people.”
“But to win,” he added, “we've got to be more than just be against Donald Trump, we've got to be for the American people.” He said that Democrats need to “win back voters who have been increasingly skeptical of the Democratic brand.”
The Kentucky Democrat wants to “pull not just Democrats back together but hopefully pull Republicans and independents together too.” How? By staying focused on the everyday needs of Americans and giving people results, he said, adding, by “focusing on those everyday concerns that Americans have – their job, their next doctor's appointment, the roads and bridges that they drive, the school they drop their kids at and whether they feel safe in their communities,” said Beshear.
