Andy Beshear

Andy Beshear

Democratic Party

Governor of Kentucky

Tenure

2019 - Present

Term ends

2027

Years in position

4

Predecessor

Matt Bevin

Prior offices

Attorney General of Kentucky

Successor: Daniel Cameron

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Compensation

Base salary

$152,181

Elections and appointments

Last elected

November 7, 2023

Education

High school

Henry Clay High School

Bachelor's

Vanderbilt University

Law

University of Virginia School of Law

Personal

Profession

Attorney

Contact

Official website

Official Facebook

Official Twitter

Official Instagram

Official YouTube

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Campaign Instagram

Campaign YouTube

Andy Beshear (Democratic Party) is the Governor of Kentucky. He assumed office on December 10, 2019. His current term ends on December 7, 2027.

Beshear (Democratic Party) ran for re-election for Governor of Kentucky. He won in the general election on November 7, 2023.

Beshear previously served as the attorney general of Kentucky from 2016 to 2019. He was one of two Democrats to win statewide office in the 2015 Kentucky state executive official elections. The other was Alison Lundergan Grimes, who was elected Kentucky secretary of state.

Beshear is the son of former Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear (D), who served from 2007 to 2015.

Biography

Beshear was born in Louisville, Kentucky, on November 29, 1977. Beshear's father, Steve Beshear (D), was the 61st governor of Kentucky. Andy Beshear received his B.A. magna cum laude from Vanderbilt University and J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law. After graduating from law school, he worked at a law firm in Washington, D.C. Prior to being elected to public office, Beshear was a partner at Stites & Harbison, where he specialized in consumer and nonprofit law.

Elections

2023

See also: Kentucky gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2023

General election

General election for Governor of Kentucky

Incumbent Andy Beshear defeated Daniel Cameron and Brian Fishback in the general election for Governor of Kentucky on November 7, 2023.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Andy Beshear (D)	52.5	694,482
		Daniel Cameron (R)	47.5	627,457
		Brian Fishback (Independent) (Write-in)	0.0	83

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,322,022
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Governor of Kentucky

Incumbent Andy Beshear defeated Geoff M. Young and Peppy Martin in the Democratic primary for Governor of Kentucky on May 16, 2023.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Andy Beshear	91.3	176,589
		Geoff M. Young	5.1	9,865
		Peppy Martin	3.6	6,913

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 193,367
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Governor of Kentucky

The following candidates ran in the Republican primary for Governor of Kentucky on May 16, 2023.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Daniel Cameron	47.7	144,576
		Ryan Quarles	21.7	65,718
		Kelly Knight Craft	17.2	52,170
		Eric Deters	5.8	17,464
		Mike Harmon	2.6	7,797
		Alan Keck	2.4	7,317
		David Cooper	0.8	2,282
		Jacob Clark	0.6	1,900
		Robbie Smith	0.5	1,388
		Bob DeVore	0.3	931
		Johnny Ray Rice	0.2	726
		Denny Ormerod	0.2	696

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 302,965
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Savannah Maddox (R)

Endorsements

Beshear received the following endorsements. To send us additional endorsements, click here.

• Floyd County Sheriff John Hunt
• Nelson County Sheriff Ramon Pineiroa
• Hardin County Sheriff John Ward
• Kentucky AFL-CIO
• Kentucky Professional Fire Fighters
• Fairness PAC
• United Mine Workers of America - Coal Miners Political Action Committee

2019

See also: Kentucky gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2019

General election

General election for Governor of Kentucky

Andy Beshear defeated incumbent Matt Bevin and John Hicks in the general election for Governor of Kentucky on November 5, 2019.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Andy Beshear (D)	49.2	709,890
		Matt Bevin (R)	48.8	704,754
		John Hicks (L)	2.0	28,433
		Other/Write-in votes	0.0	46

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,443,123 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Governor of Kentucky

Andy Beshear defeated Rocky Adkins, Adam Edelen, and Geoff M. Young in the Democratic primary for Governor of Kentucky on May 21, 2019.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Andy Beshear	37.9	149,448
		Rocky Adkins	31.9	125,981
		Adam Edelen	27.9	110,161
		Geoff M. Young	2.3	8,923

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 394,513
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Governor of Kentucky

Incumbent Matt Bevin defeated Robert Goforth, William Woods, and Ike Lawrence in the Republican primary for Governor of Kentucky on May 21, 2019.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Matt Bevin	52.3	136,069
		Robert Goforth	38.9	101,345
		William Woods	5.5	14,440
		Ike Lawrence	3.2	8,412

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 260,266
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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2015

See also: Kentucky Attorney General election, 2015

Democrat Andy Beshear defeated Republican opponent, Whitney Westerfield, by 0.2 percentage points. Beshear was one of two Democrats to win statewide office in the 2015 Kentucky state executive official elections.

Attorney General, 2015
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Whitney Westerfield	49.9%	477,735
	Democrat	Andy Beshear	50.1%	479,929
Total Votes				957,664
Election results via Kentucky Secretary of State

There was no Democratic primary in 2015 as only Beshear filed to run for the office.

Campaign themes

2023

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Andy Beshear did not complete Ballotpedia's 2023 Candidate Connection survey.

Andy Beshear did not complete Ballotpedia's 2019 Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign website

“	Strengthening Public Education I believe in a Kentucky where we fully fund every public school and make sure every child has a shot at the American dream—regardless of zip code or family income. It’s a disgrace that some of our kids read from ten-year-old text books held together with duct tape. I’m proud to be the only candidate with an active educator on the ticket in Jacqueline Coleman. Strong public schools will help us attract companies who want to invest in Kentucky and allow our children to pursue their dreams without having to move away. Affordable Health Care Health care is a basic human right. All Kentuckians, no matter where they live or how much they earn, deserve access to affordable health care. I’m currently fighting against a federal court ruling which would eliminate mandatory coverage for pre-existing conditions and could eliminate health coverage for 1.3 million Kentuckians — costing Kentucky in both money and lives. Also, on my first day as governor, I will halt Governor Bevin’s effort to throw thousands of families off the Medicaid program. Good-Paying Jobs Under Matt Bevin, Kentucky is near the bottom in the nation for job and wage growth. I will work every day to bring good-paying jobs that enable our hardworking men and women to raise their families. My vision for growing our economy doesn’t depend on massive give-aways for wealthy out-of-state CEOs like we’ve seen from Matt Bevin. We should be investing in our workforce and focusing on the areas in which Kentucky is uniquely positioned to lead, like agritech, automation, data analytics and healthcare. Pensions We’ve made a promise to our teachers, police officers, firefighters and other public employees that they’ll be able to retire with dignity, and under my watch, Kentucky will keep that promise. When this governor tried to slash pensions, I went to the Supreme Court and personally argued for the promised pensions of more than 200,000 teachers, police officers, firefighters, EMS, social workers and nearly all city and county employees in Kentucky. Our public servants go to work everyday to keep our communities safe, educate tomorrow’s leaders—our children—or put themselves in harm’s way. The least we can do is protect the promised pension benefits they have paid into during their years of service. Honesty and Openness I believe that all candidates for governor and lieutenant governor must embrace full transparency. That’s why I became the first sitting Kentucky attorney general to release my taxes outside of an election year. I have released my tax returns for three straight years— including my 2018 returns in February—and Jacqueline has released her 2017 and 2018 returns. As governor, I will fight corruption in state government by requiring all statewide officeholders to release their tax returns, banning state contractors from giving gifts to public officials and instituting term limits for state legislators. College Affordability For far too many Kentuckians, a college education is financially out of reach. And crushing student loans are burying many of those who do go to college under a mountain of debt. As attorney general, I’ve fought against unscrupulous for-profit colleges and secured over $5 million in restitution or debt relief for Kentucky students. And I stopped Matt Bevin when he tried to illegally cut the budgets of our universities and community colleges. As governor, I’ll fight to lower the costs of attending Kentucky’s public universities and community and technical colleges. Criminal Justice Reform In my first week as governor, I’ll sign an executive order that automatically restores voting rights for Kentuckians with felony convictions who have completed their sentences. I’m also committed to rooting out the bias and discrimination that exists in our criminal justice system, which leads to disproportionately high incarceration rates for people of color. I will continue to work to ensure that people suffering from addiction are sent to treatment instead of jail, while ensuring that drug traffickers receive appropriate punishment. Diversity and Inclusiveness I believe that our state government works best when people with a wide range of voices and backgrounds have a seat at the table. I’m proud to lead an AG’s office in which more than 60% of the leadership positions are held by women or people of color. As governor, my office and my cabinet will reflect the growing diversity of our great state. Energy Climate change is real, and Kentucky needs an all-the-above energy policy that includes renewables and clean-coal technology. At the same time, one of the biggest challenges our Kentucky families face, especially in the eastern part of the state, is that their energy bills go up year after year, while good jobs are hard to find and wages remain flat. Kentucky families shouldn’t have to choose between putting food on the table and paying their utility bills. Unfortunately, that’s a decision many families have to make. As attorney general over the last three years, my office has opposed dozens of utility bill hikes, and has helped save Kentucky families nearly $1.2 billion. Equal Pay It’s wrong and absurd that women in Kentucky make significantly less than men for doing the same job. As the father of both a son and a daughter, this is personal for me. Kentuckians should not be paid different amounts just because of their sex. This is common sense and as governor I’ll work to eliminate this pay gap. Expanded Gaming Kentucky can’t afford to fall behind our neighboring states who are moving forward with the rest of the country on expanded gaming. We lose out on hundreds of millions of dollars a year. As governor, I will work to legalize sports betting, casinos, fantasy sports and prepare for online poker, and use the revenue from these activities as a dedicated funding stream for our public pension system. Job Training We must prepare our workforce for the 21st century in jobs well-suited for Kentucky in fields like agritech, automation, data analytics and healthcare; we can build an economy and workforce for the future. In a global economy, it’s vitally important that skills training continue after high school. As governor, I’ll promote apprenticeship training and work to ensure that Kentuckians can afford community college, technical school or college. In order to attract businesses to our state, we need an educated and highly-trained workforce. Labor' I oppose so-called Right-To-Work (for less) laws that undermine workers’ rights, and every year as governor, I will support a bill to repeal this law and reinstate the prevailing wage law. Right-To-Work (for less) results in lower wages and fewer benefits for working families. Unlike this governor, who is dismissive of the struggles facing working families, I understand that our economy is stronger when working families make a truly living wage. As governor, my labor secretary will be a card-carrying union member. Marriage Equality I support the right of all Kentuckians to marry the person they love. Discrimination is wrong and it’s time to turn the page on a governor who seeks to divide us and demean those he disagrees with. Medical Marijuana' I support placing medical marijuana legalization on the ballot as a constitutional amendment and would vote in its favor. I would vote for it because I’ve seen the impact opioids have had on every Kentucky community. So many Kentucky families have seen a loved one fall into addiction, and their lives have been devastated. If medical marijuana is an alternative and gives people the chance to get pain relief without being subjected to opioids, I think it’s something we’ve got to explore. Reproductive Rights I support the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v Wade. Women should be able to make their own reproductive healthcare decisions without interference from the government. I’ve repeatedly stood up to the legislature when they’ve tried to unconstitutionally undermine women’s rights, and I’ll continue to stand with Kentucky’s women as governor. Opioids We lose 30 Kentuckians a week to the drug epidemic. Our state has been devastated by this crisis. I’m the most aggressive attorney general in the nation fighting opioid manufacturers and distributors in court. I’ve kept all nine lawsuits in Kentucky, because these companies should have to show up in the communities they’ve ravaged and explain themselves. So far, we’ve directed $9.5 million in settlements to 16 treatment centers and programs across the state. This is a fight I will continue every single day as governor. Voting Rights' I believe that our democracy is strongest when more Kentuckians are involved in the process. As Attorney General, I launched a voting rights unit to protect and fight for every Kentuckian’s right to vote. I also support the automatic restoration of voting rights for Kentuckians with a non-violent felony who have completed their sentences, and will sign an executive order doing so. We should implement automatic voter registration and make it easier for all voters to vote by absentee ballot.	”
—Beshear/Coleman 2019

Notable endorsements

See also: Ballotpedia: Our approach to covering endorsements

This section displays endorsements this individual made in elections within Ballotpedia's coverage and endorsements scopes.

Notable ballot measure endorsements by Andy Beshear

Measure	Position	Outcome
Kentucky Allow State Funding for Non-Public Education Amendment (2024)  source	Oppose	On the ballot
Kentucky Constitutional Amendment 1, Changes to Legislative Session End Dates and Special Sessions Measure (2022)  source	Oppose	Defeated

Campaign finance summary

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Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

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Andy Beshear campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2023*	Governor of Kentucky	Won general	$25,609,504	$0
Grand total			$25,609,504	$0
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete

Noteworthy events

Lawsuits filled as attorney general

Click [show] to view information about lawsuits Beshear filed against Gov. Matt Bevin (R)

Lawsuit over modifications to education board memberships On June 2, 2017, Gov. Bevin signed an executive order that made modifications to several of the state's education-related boards. The order modified the structure and membership of three existing state educational boards, abolished five more boards and reestablished them under new guidelines, and created a new Charter Schools Advisory Council. In a press release announcing the order, Bevin cited the need to enforce Senate Bill 1, which had revised the state's educational standards, and House Bill 520, which implemented a charter school system. On June 5, Bevin began enacting the order by appointing four non-voting advisers to the Kentucky Board of Education. On June 7, 2017, Attorney General Beshear threatened legal action if the executive order was not rescinded in seven days. In his statement, Beshear argued that Bevin "cannot ignore laws passed by the General Assembly that create independent boards, lay out their structure and set mandatory terms for their members. Put simply, he cannot rewrite laws he does not like through executive orders." In response, Bevin's office stated that the executive order had its basis in a law that "has been used by Democratic and Republican governors to reorganize executive branch agencies 357 times since 1992, including 103 times by (former) Gov. Steve Beshear." On the June 14 deadline, Bevin sent Beshear a letter informing him of the governor's intention to revise the executive order by June 16, which led Beshear to announce a temporary halt to any legal challenge to the order. On June 16, Bevin issued an updated executive order, which amended several of the provisions in the original order. Beshear filed a lawsuit in Franklin Circuit Court against the new order on June 20, 2017, and argued that it still exceeded the governor's authority. In November 2017, Franklin County Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate ruled that Bevin's modifications to the education boards were legal, since they were temporary and made while the state legislature was out of session. Wingate also ruled that a part of Bevin's executive order related to the Education Professional Standards board was unconstitutional, since it required teachers to appeal disciplinary decisions to the state board of education instead of the state court system. Lawsuits over boards of trustees abolishments On June 22, 2016, Attorney General Beshear announced his intent to sue Gov. Bevin regarding Bevin's executive orders that reorganized the boards of trustees of the Kentucky Retirement Systems, the state's pension agency, and the University of Louisville. In the weeks prior, Bevin had abolished the Kentucky Retirement Systems board and created a new board in its place containing four new members in addition to the original 13 members. He also abolished the University of Louisville board, ousting four board members responsible for the university's nonprofit foundation. Beshear denounced the actions and sought a temporary restraining order to halt the changes from taking effect; he planned to file the motion as part of a pre-existing lawsuit filed by four current and former members of the Kentucky Retirement Systems board of trustees. Bevin asserted at a press conference that he had authority over the boards of state-controlled agencies. Franklin County Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd approved a temporary injunction against Bevin's removal of the Kentucky Retirement Systems board chairman, Thomas Elliott, on August 22, 2016, but he also ruled that Bevin did have the authority to reorganize the board. The decision reinstated Elliott as chair pending a final court decision on the matter. Judge Shepherd dismissed Beshear's lawsuit in January 2018 after the state legislature ratified the Kentucky Retirement Systems changes in 2017. Beshear also sued Bevin in 2016 regarding the University of Louisville board of trustees. As in the Kentucky Retirement Systems lawsuit, Beshear alleged that Bevin did not have the authority to abolish the board. Judge Shepherd approved a temporary injunction against Bevin's actions on July 29. "The record here is devoid of any legal or factual precedent for a Governor to abolish and recreate an entire board of trustees of a public university," wrote Shepherd in the opinion. In response to the injunction, Bevin said, "The circuit court ignored binding precedent from the Kentucky Court of Appeals, the plain language of the statute at issue, and a recent opinion from the Office of the Attorney General, that the Governor has authority to propose and temporarily implement the reorganization of the University of Louisville Board of Trustees." On September 28, 2017, the Kentucky Supreme Court dismissed Beshear's lawsuit after the state legislature ratified Bevin's modifications to the board's structure and granted the governor the power to make similar modifications to the structure of university boards in the future. Lawsuit over education budget cuts Beshear filed a civil suit against Bevin on April 11, 2016, which claimed that budget cuts made by Bevin violated the Kentucky Constitution's distribution of powers article. Bevin had announced a 2 percent budget cut to state colleges and universities on April 1, which took effect immediately. Beshear called the decision illegal and asked the court to order Bevin to release the funds. After his election in 2015, Bevin proposed budget cuts for state agencies in order to address the state pension fund's unfunded liabilities. The pension fund had $30 billion in unfunded liabilities as of January 2016. "We cannot move forward unless we address the crippling debt that faces this state," the governor said in his 2016 State of the State address. On May 19, 2016, Franklin County Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate ruled against Beshear. His decision stated that the constitution did not prevent Bevin from instructing colleges to spend less money, as he did in the executive order, but did prevent him from altering the funding they receive. Beshear appealed the ruling and on September 22, 2016, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled that Bevin did not have the authority to control the budgets of public colleges and universities without the legislature’s approval. This reversed the lower court's decision.

Ballot measure activity

The following table details Beshear's ballot measure stances available on Ballotpedia:

Ballot measure support and opposition for Andy Beshear
Ballot measure	Year	Position	Status
Kentucky Constitutional Amendment 1, Changes to Legislative Session End Dates and Special Sessions Measure (2022)	2022	Opposed	d Defeated

Personal

Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.

Beshear and his wife, Britainy, have two children.

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Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by Matt Bevin (R)	Governor of Kentucky 2019-Present	Succeeded by -
Preceded by -	Attorney General of Kentucky 2016-2019	Succeeded by Daniel Cameron (R)