Gov. Andy Beshear (D-KY) inked a deal with broadcast company SiriusXM on Thursday, expanding his podcast’s reach to a national platform as he considers a 2028 presidential run.
The Andy Beshear Podcast had previously been independently produced by the governor’s team since April, but the deal with SiriusXM gives the red state Democratic governor access to the platform’s 33 million subscribers. His first podcast under Sirius, an interview with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), will be released on Sept. 10. As part of the deal, Beshear will also host a series of live shows where he will answer questions from national callers.
The deal comes as Beshear has taken a backseat in the public feuds between President Donald Trump and top contenders for the 2028 Democratic Presidential ticket over National Guard deployments and redistricting. Beshear, who sits as the Democratic governor of a state that Trump won by over 30 points in the 2024 presidential race, has launched his name back into the media cycle with the deal.
Beshear said Tuesday he will “talk about” a 2028 presidential run with his family after the 2026 gubernatorial elections. He made the comments on the popular Kentucky podcast Interrupted with Kentucky Sports Radio host Matt Jones.
“I’m still going next year on the head of the Democratic Governors Association, and so my job there is to win as many of those races and to change the map, and then at that point, you know, I’ll sit down with my family and we’ll talk about it,” Beshear said. “As I sit here today, I’m committed to not leaving a broken country to my kids or anyone else’s. And so what I’ll look at is whether, you know, I’m the candidate that can heal this country, that can bring it back together, or whether that’s someone else. Because what’s most important to me is a positive future for this country.”
Beshear told Jones that he believes he could win a national race and win in swing states.
“Well, you ask anybody in my seat whether they can win something, we’ll always think the answer is yes. Yeah. But I think what people are craving right now is someone who is committed to helping them in their everyday life,” he said.
With the podcast announcement, Beshear joins Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) as 2028 Democratic potentials who have podcasts of their own. Newsom has a podcast deal with iHeartRadio. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) previously hosted a podcast called Lift Every Voice, though no episodes have been released since 2019. Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg also had a podcast called The Deciding Decade about the 2020s, but hasn’t released an episode since 2020.
Other top Democratic contenders such as Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL), Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI), Gov. Wes Moore (D-MD), and Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) do not have podcasts themselves, but have appeared on several. Moore appeared on Beshear’s podcast in June.
The podcast craze among politicians follows the resounding success that Trump’s podcast appearances had in his win in the 2024 election. Trump made appearances on the podcasts of creators such as Joe Rogan, Theo Von, and Andrew Schulz during his campaign. Former Vice President Kamala Harris also went on Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy and The Howard Stern Show.
Cooper’s podcast deal, like Beshear’s, is also with SiriusXM.
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Beshear told Jones he is focused now on traveling the country and speaking to Americans about “common sense, common ground” issues. He pointed to housing affordability, healthcare and prescription costs, and keeping the American dream alive as some of the most important kitchen table issues to Americans and his agenda.
“I think I’m someone that’s always focused on those nonpartisan day-to-day issues. And, by the way, I think that’s the reason both we have a President Trump and [New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran] Mamdani won that primary — I think it’s that they convinced the last group of undecided voters that they were more focused on those everyday issues than their opponent,” Beshear said.