It really looks like Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear is about to win another four years leading his state, which is known for leaning Republican.
Recent polling done by Hart Research Associates in cooperation with the Beshear campaign finds the incumbent Democrat in the lead by eight percentage points, with 52 percent of the support compared to 44 percent for Republican challenger Daniel Cameron, who’s the state’s attorney general. And even if Beshear doesn’t quite nab that margin, a poll done by co/efficient in collaboration with a Republican political action committee (PAC) called Bluegrass Freedom Action still found him leading, though this time by just two percentage points — which is less, but still enough for a win! Winning again would put Beshear in the category of state leaders like Laura Kelly, a Democrat currently serving as governor in GOP-leaning Kansas.
The Kentucky race for governor will culminate next month, unlike the many races that will instead have their election day next year. Also next month will be Election Day in the ongoing race for governor in Mississippi, where Democratic contender Brandon Presley — who’s related to the late singer with the same last name — is challenging Republican incumbent Tate Reeves, who became known for opposition alongside other GOP governors to stricter protective measures against COVID-19. Polling in that state suggests Presley will have a path to the governorship more difficult than Beshear’s.
In the Kentucky race, flashpoint issues have included abortion and school vouchers, the latter of which refers to a program in which funding normally meant for public schools can be used to support individual students’ private school educations. Beshear doesn’t support this approach, expressing concerns about impacts on public schools, which in some areas are the main local schooling option. Beshear has also pressured Cameron over his support for the abortion rules currently in place in Kentucky, which — by the hand of their GOP legislature — do not include exceptions even for rape and incest. Cameron has gone only as far as saying he’d support adding such exceptions if presented with such a plan by the legislature.
