The punditry on Democratic Kentucky governor Andy Beshear’s re-election on Tuesday in his race against Republican attorney general Daniel Cameron has focused a lot on blaming Cameron for his ties to Mitch McConnell or Donald Trump or his support for the state’s pro-life law.

The McConnell/Trump arguments don’t make any sense at all because both men are popular in Kentucky. Beshear did hit Cameron hard for supporting the state’s law that protects life from conception, particularly over its lack of a rape exception, so that argument is plausible as a factor contributing to Cameron’s defeat.

But the best explanation for Beshear’s re-election is his unique strength in Kentucky that pre-dated the Dobbs decision.

Andy Beshear is the son of Steve Beshear, who served as governor of Kentucky from 2007 to 2015.

In 2015, when Republican Matt Bevin won the governor’s race by 9 points, Andy Beshear was elected as the state’s attorney general by 0.2 points.

In 2019, Beshear beat the incumbent Republican governor, Bevin, by 0.4 points while Republican Daniel Cameron was elected attorney general by 16 points.

In 2023, Governor Beshear beat attorney general Cameron by 5 points. At the same time, the Republican attorney general candidate won by 16 points.

Given Beshear’s ability to run more than 16 points ahead of the Democrat down ballot in 2019, it is not especially surprising that, after four years of incumbency, he was able to run 21 points of the down-ballot Democrat in 2023.

Again, the abortion issue was probably a contributing factor in the race, but if the abortion issue were decisive for a given voter, why would he cast a ballot for the pro-life attorney general candidate and against the pro-life gubernatorial candidate?

QOSHE - The Unique Strength of Andy Beshear in Kentucky - John Mccormack
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The Unique Strength of Andy Beshear in Kentucky

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08.11.2023

The punditry on Democratic Kentucky governor Andy Beshear’s re-election on Tuesday in his race against Republican attorney general Daniel Cameron has focused a lot on blaming Cameron for his ties to Mitch McConnell or Donald Trump or his support for the state’s pro-life law.

The McConnell/Trump arguments don’t make any sense at all because both men are popular in Kentucky. Beshear did hit Cameron hard for supporting the state’s law that........

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