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Tags: kentucky | andy beshear | democrat | reelected | daniel cameron | gop | governor

Dem Ky. Gov. Beshear Reelected Over Trump-Backed Cameron

By    |   Tuesday, 07 November 2023 10:54 PM EST

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear was successful Tuesday in convincing voters in his deep Republican state to look past the foibles of the national Democratic Party and President Joe Biden and elect him to a second term.

"To my fellow Kentuckians: Thank you," Beshear, 45, posted on X. "This is our chance to turn these four years of progress into decades of prosperity for your kids and mine. Let's make it happen together."

Beshear became the first Democrat incumbent governor to win reelection since 2011, when his father, Steve Beshear, did the same. Andy Beshear defeated Republican state Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who was backed by former President Donald Trump.

Newsmax declared Beshear the winner shortly before 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. With 88% of the precincts counted, Beshear had 53.1% of the vote compared to 46.9% for Cameron.

"Well, that didn't turn out exactly how I wanted it to," Cameron said after taking the stage at the Downtown Louisville Marriott, where he and other Republicans held their election night party, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Cameron said he called Beshear before taking the stage to congratulate him.

"I know from his perspective, and all of our perspectives, that we all want the same thing for our future generations," Cameron said. "We want a better commonwealth, one in which it can ultimately be a shining city on a hill, a model and example for the rest of the nation to follow."

Cameron, the state's first Black attorney general, was trying to become the first Black Republican elected governor in the U.S. Cameron was hoping the backing of Trump, who carried Kentucky by almost 30 points (62.5%-32.7%) in 2016 and nearly 26 points (62.1%-36.2%) in 2020, could elevate him into the governorship.

Entering Tuesday, Republicans held every statewide office in Kentucky except governor, and the party has veto-proof majorities in both chambers of the General Assembly. Also, Republicans hold five of six U.S. House seats and both U.S. Senate seats.

Republicans continued their stranglehold on state offices by easily winning races for attorney general (Russell Coleman), secretary of state (Michael Adams), Agriculture Commissioner (Jonathan Shell), Treasurer (Mark Metcalf), and Auditor (Allison Ball).

Each won by significant margins, but the down-ballot success could not carry over to the governor's race.

Beshear, who was Kentucky's attorney general before Cameron, campaigned on guiding the state to record high economic development and historically low unemployment during his term, adding the state is poised for more growth. He pushed back against his challenger's efforts to turn the election into a referendum on Biden, at one point dismissing party affiliation as a box to be checked off.

"This attorney general knows that if this race is about me versus him, that you know who I am, and how I've led, and how I've shown up every day," Beshear said during one of their debates.

Although much of Beshear's first term was dominated by his response to a series of natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic, his reelection campaign often focused on the dire warnings about the future of abortion rights. He portrayed Cameron as too extreme on the issue, pointing to his support for the state's abortion ban, which lacks exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest. The General Assembly overrode Beshear's veto of the law.

Michael Katz

Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.

© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.


Politics
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear was successful Tuesday in convincing voters in his deep Republican state to look past the foibles of the national Democratic Party and President Joe Biden and elect him to a second term.
kentucky, andy beshear, democrat, reelected, daniel cameron, gop, governor, vote, abortion
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2023-54-07
Tuesday, 07 November 2023 10:54 PM
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