Democrats saw a big win Tuesday with Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear winning reelection over Republican Daniel Cameron, the state’s attorney general.
The race was called for Beshear before 9 p.m. Tuesday, with Beshear leading Cameron by more than five points.
The Kentucky race was one of two tests for Democrats in these off-off-year elections on whether they can win in deep red southern states.
The other race – in Mississippi – saw Republican incumbent Gov. Tate Reeves fend off Elvis Presley’s second cousin, Brandon.
The winner of the Kentucky governor’s race has predicted which party will win the presidential race the following year for the past five election cycles.
Kentucky’s Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear gives a victory speech Tuesday night surrounded by his family members in Louisville
Republican gubernatorial candidate, Attorney General Daniel Cameron, was a history-making candidate for the GOP and would have been Kentucky’s first black governor
That’s welcome news for President Joe Biden, who while celebrating victories in Kentucky and Ohio Tuesday night, also received more dire poll numbers.
Beshear’s pathway to victory came thanks partially to the fact that he comes rom Kentucky political royalty.
His father is the former Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear.
He was first elected in 2019 – a race that predicted Biden’s 2020 win.
The race was expected to be close because he and Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman are the only Democrats currently elected statewide.
The state has two Republican senators – Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Rand Paul – and went for former President Donald Trump by around 26 points over Biden in the 2020 election.
Cameron, the state’s first black attorney general, would have made history as the Bluegrass State’s first black governor.
He was endorsed by Trump in late October.
Beshear has been popular in the state and held Biden – who isn’t well liked in Kentucky – at arm’s length.
During his victory speech Tuesday night in Louisville, Beshear pushed that his campaign had been apolitical.
‘Tonight Kentucky made a choice. A choice not to move to the right or to the left, but to move forward for every single family,’ the Democrat said. ‘A choice to reject Team R or Team D and to state that we are clearly one “Team Kentucky.”‘
He also pledged to be a governor ‘who serves all our people, regardless of your party and regardless of who you voted for.’
But he also pointed out that Kentucky’s voters chose Jack Harlow – a popular rapper who hit the campaign trail for Beshear ahead of Election Day – over Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Arkansas’ governor and Trump’s former White House press secretary, who campaigned for his rival, Cameron.
Elvis Presley’s second cousin, Brandon, and his wife Katelyn thanked supporters after his defeat in Tuesday’s poll
Mississippi’s Republican Governor Tate Reeves fended off Presley to retain his post
Beshear additionally noted that he fended off attacks from five super PACS, including those wielded by McConnell and Paul, the state’s GOP senators.
‘Just look at what we were up against!’ Beshear said. ‘All running ads full of hate and division. And you know what? We beat them all at the same time.’
Ahead of Election Day, Beshear told Fox News that the race had nothing to do with Biden’s performance.
‘The governor’s race has nothing to do with who’s in the White House. It has to do with what’s going on in your house. It has to do with bringing in good jobs. We’ve got the second and third-best years for wages in our history. It’s about expanding health care, so you don’t have to drive two hours or take two buses to see a doctor,’ Beshear told Fox.
Republicans had better luck in down-ticket races in the state, with Republican Russell Coleman winning the attorney general’s race over Democrat Pamela Stevenson.
Additionally, Republican Michael Adams beat Democrat Charles Wheatley in Kentucky’s secretary of state race.