Black voters will be critical to the Democratic Party’s success in the upcoming midterms and in the 2028 presidential election, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear told Michigan Chronicle in an exclusive interview Saturday at the Michigan Democratic Party Convention in Detroit.
“I believe that Black voters are going to be absolutely critical in ’26 and ’28 and that means the Democratic Party can’t take them for granted,” Beshear said. “I believe that a candidate like me — well, a governor like me — who will never be able to feel the pain of discrimination, will never be able to feel the pain of discrimination, will never be able to feel the scars left by the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow, needs to make sure he’s always surrounded by the right leaders. Thankfully, I have a lot of those guides in Kentucky.”
The 2023 governor’s race between Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, a Black Republican, and Beshear, who is white, was an inflection point across the country.
Cameron, who was defeated by Beshear in 2019 and in 2023, was the state’s top attorney who chose not to prosecute the officers who fatally shot Breonna Taylor, an EMT who had recently moved to Kentucky from Michigan.
“I was proud to be able to stand next to Breonna’s mom, Tamika Palmer, as we signed limits on no knock warrants in Kentucky,” Beshear said. “I know how important that was to Tamika to honor her daughter and the fact that Kentucky came together in a bipartisan way to pass that was special.”
Beshear said the legislation doesn’t make up for the los of a life that should still be here, but said passing Breonna’s law was a step in the right direction.
The Kentucky governor is one of several governors floated as a potential presidential candidate in 2028, along with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. He told Michigan Chronicle that his rising national profile can be very helpful for the people of Kentucky.
“Gretchen Whitmer’s profile is like that because she is an amazing governor, an amazing person and an amazing friend,” Beshear said. “I’ve found that it’s really helpful that the next economic development project is calling you instead of you calling them. That you have a seat at the national table, you work for the people of your state, that when you are consulted on things that no one ever called you on before, when you call a member of Congress, they pick up. When you call a member of the federal administration, they pick up. I think Gretchen Whitmer has used it very well for the people in Michigan.”
Beshear took pictures with delegates at a ticketed reception after his on stage remarks during the luncheon.
He told Democrats during his speech ahead of former Vice President Kamala Harris’ remarks that the party needs to “talk like normal people again,” using an example of calling inmates “justice involved population” under the guise of sensitivity.
“If we want to be the party of the people, we’ve got to talk like we are people,” he said.
