As Democrats search for a path back to the White House after their 2024 defeat, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is making an argument few potential 2028 contenders can: A Democrat can still win and govern successfully in Trump country.
Beshear has frequently taken aim at Vice President JD Vance, considered the GOP front-runner in 2028, stoking speculation the Kentucky governor is preparing to run for president. His increased travel schedule since the start of 2025 has also raised eyebrows.
On Friday, Beshear is set to headline the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party’s 14th annual Humphrey-Mondale Dinner. On Saturday, he will jet over to Colorado to deliver the keynote address at the state Democratic Party’s annual fundraising dinner. And last weekend, Beshear and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), another potential 2028 candidate, attended the South Carolina Democratic Party’s convention and Rep. Jim Clyburn’s (D-SC) annual fish fry fundraiser.
“I haven’t ruled it out,” Beshear told NBC News’s Meet the Press of a potential 2028 run. “But I haven’t sat down and had that conversation with my family. I’m trying to fire up Democrats to be a voice of reason in the chaos. It is so important that we win right now.”
Beshear’s emergence comes as Democrats remain divided over how to respond to President Donald Trump’s political dominance and the party’s disappointing 2024 performance. Some Democrats have embraced a more confrontational style embodied by figures such as Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA), while others argue the party must rebuild support among working-class and rural voters who have drifted toward Republicans.
Beshear’s success in Kentucky has made him one of the most prominent advocates of the latter approach.
“Now, there’s also the perception that he’s too nice,” said Dallas Jones, a political strategist based in Texas. “And Democrats want a fighter … and that’s the playbook that Newsom’s doing.”
Beshear has tried to change that perception. He’s posted videos explicitly saying, “I wouldn’t mistake kindness for weakness. I have gone up against a Republican incumbent governor in Kentucky who was Donald Trump before Donald Trump. And I am the one still standing.”
Beshear is a twice-elected Democratic governor in Kentucky, a state Trump carried by more than 25 points in each of his three presidential campaigns. His ability to win statewide and maintain strong approval ratings in one of the country’s reddest states has become the centerpiece of his argument that Democrats can regain ground with voters who have increasingly abandoned the party.
The Democratic Party has hemorrhaged rural support over the last 25 years. Republicans held a 25-point voter registration advantage in rural counties as of 2024, according to data from Pew Research Center. The issue reached a head during the 2024 election, when Trump won rural areas by 30 points.
For many Democrats, that decline has become one of the party’s most pressing political problems. Republicans have steadily expanded their margins in small towns and rural communities over the last two decades, helping transform once-competitive states into reliable GOP territory and complicating Democrats’ path to an Electoral College majority.
People who have seen Beshear up close say he’s got the charm and authenticity to resonate with those voters.
“I call it the Friday Night Lights charm that he has,” Democratic strategist Michael Ceraso said of Beshear. “He has this sort of like ‘aw-shucks’ kindness to him combined with an intelligence that I can see the electorate really enjoying.”
Kate deGruyter, senior director of communications at Third Way, said Beshear could very easily dominate the “moderate lane in a Democratic primary.”
“The thing that the Democratic voters are going to care most about is who can win and who can win in purple and red states that are going to shape this race. And he’s got a very strong case to make about that,” deGruyter said.
A recent Emerson College poll showed Beshear pulling in 9% support among likely Democratic primary voters behind former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg at 18%, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) at 16%, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) at 11%, Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) at 10%, and former Vice President Kamala Harris at 10%.
History might be on Beshear’s side, however, even if polling is not. Democrats point to former President Jimmy Carter’s 1976 campaign, which defeated incumbent President Gerald Ford, as well as former President Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign, which defeated incumbent President George H.W. Bush, as examples of southern governors rescuing the party.
“He doesn’t have the baggage that’s weighing down most of the Democratic bench, heading into 2028,” said Jones. “Look, we broke losing streaks in the past by nominating southern governors.”
BESHEAR TOUTS SOUTHERN DEMOCRATIC REVIVAL AS PARTY SEARCHES FOR 2028 MESSAGE
The South could take on more importance for Democrats in 2028 given the Supreme Court’s Louisiana v. Callais ruling, which weakened the Voting Rights Act and opened the door for the redrawing of majority-minority congressional seats.
“The South is doing away with minority-majority districts that will compel some Democratic voters in the primary to say, ‘Hey, if we can get a southern Democrat in, that will help us at least get a foothold in these southern states,’ and to try to build from that,” said Douglas Wilson, a Democratic strategist based in Charlotte, North Carolina.