That go-everywhere approach, even Republican critics acknowledge, helps burnish his reputation as both an executive and empathizer. A former state attorney general - whose father, also a Democrat, was governor from 2007-2015 - Beshear has emphasized his work helping Kentucky recover from a string of natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic while shrugging off nationalized labels. Andy Beshear, a Democrat who beat Republican predecessor Matt Bevin by only about 5,000 votes in 2019, enters his reelection without Bevin's unpopularity and with broad name recognition and a platform divorced from national debates and focused on local issues.Īfter four years in office, according to strategists, Beshear doesn't have some of Bevin's liabilities as a candidate. Shane Baker at a rally.Kentucky's gubernatorial race later this year is set to serve as a stress test for Democrats' ability to survive in GOP-dominated states, local operatives and observers say - as the party's hold on the Senate and White House relies on 2024 contests in similarly red and purple swaths of the country.įirst-term Gov. “We cannot allow people to continue down the path of fantasy, to where they’re going to end up 10, 20, 30 years down the road and find themselves miserable from decisions that they made when they were young,” said Republican Rep. Research shows such regret is rare, however. “If it passes, the restricted access to gender-affirming health care, I think trans kids will die because of that,” the 17-year-old student said, expressing a persistent concern among the bill’s critics that the restrictions could lead to an increase in teen suicides.īill supporters assembled to defend the measure, saying it protects trans children from undertaking gender-affirming treatments they might regret as adults. The sign read: “Our blood is on your hands.” In praising the veto override, David Walls, executive director of The Family Foundation, said the bill puts “policy in alignment with the truth that every child is created as a male or female and deserves to be loved, treated with dignity and accepted for who they really are.”Īctivists on both sides of the impassioned debate gathered at the statehouse to make competing appeals before lawmakers took up the transgender bill following an extended break.Īt a rally that drew hundreds of transgender-rights supporters, trans teenager Sun Pacyga held up a sign summing up a grim review of the Republican legislation. We will not lose in court,” said Chris Hartman, executive director of the Fairness Campaign, an LGBTQ+ advocacy organization. “While we lost the battle in the legislature, our defeat is temporary. The American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky reaffirmed that it intends to “take this fight to the courts” to try to preserve access to health care options for young transgender people. The debate about the transgender bill will likely spill over into this year’s gubernatorial campaign, with Beshear’s veto drawing GOP condemnation as he seeks reelection to a second term. Sarah Stalker declared: “Kentucky will be on the wrong side of history” by enacting the measure. The bill’s opponents framed the issue as a civil-rights fight. “I think it’s unfortunate that it reached that level and certainly they were given, as I’ve been told since then, multiple opportunities to either quiet their chants or to leave voluntarily,” Osborne said. Republican House Speaker David Osborne later said it was a decision by state police to remove and arrest protesters. Officers gave each person “the option to leave without any enforcement action or be placed under arrest,” said Capt. Nineteen people were arrested and charged with third-degree criminal trespassing, Kentucky State Police said.
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