Governor Beshear says his re-election in Kentucky shows how Democrats can overcome America’s political divisions
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Fresh from it Certain victory in Kentucky is a Republican-leaning stateGovernor. Andy Bashir Democrats can overcome America’s deep divisions by trying to “lead with empathy” and improve the lives of the people who elect them, he said Wednesday.
After a bitter campaign against the state’s GOP attorney general Daniel CameronThe governor stressed the message of working for the benefit of the voters who brought them to office. Beshear said in his victory speech on Tuesday evening that his re-election sent a “clear message” that the “politics of anger” must end.
In his first interview since seeking a second term, the Democrat spoke at length about how to defuse such tactics and cited his own campaign as an example.
“You look at all the different things they did in this campaign, from trying to demonize groups of people to many different attacks, trying to find the bogeyman,” Beshear told The Associated Press.
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The best solution, he said, is to “show leadership in a different way, in a way that puts love above hate, is non-judgmental so we won’t be judged, and tries to lead with empathy and realize that this is not a game.” . “This is people’s lives.”
Beshear, who avoided discussing national politics during the campaign, deflected questions about Democratic President Joe Biden and said he was confident Biden would be the party’s nominee in 2024.
“I’m pretty sure this will be a rematch from before,” Beshear said, referring to the 2020 contest, when Biden defeated then-President Donald Trump.
The governor evaded a question about Trump, and did not hold him directly responsible for the state of the country’s politics, but rather spread the blame everywhere.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear responds to a question during his first interview after being re-elected in the Kentucky gubernatorial race in the state reception room at the Kentucky State Capitol in Frankfort, Ky., Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023. Beshear defeated Attorney General Daniel Cameron to retain the governor’s office. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)
“I think what we’ve seen for a very long time, even before President Trump started running, is that people have been running elections around winning at all costs,” Beshear said. “We shouldn’t have an election that divides the American people. You should have an election that brings them together. Because the election itself is not the end result. It’s supposed to be a beginning. It’s supposed to be about service, about improving the lives of our families, our commonwealth, and our country.”
Beshear mocked the political climate in Washington, saying people in the nation’s capital are obsessed with “the number of Rs to Ds in a given room.”
“It’s supposed to be about what you can do for people.”
This article originally appeared on apnews.com
