Seth McLaughlin | July 14, 2025

(The Washington Times) — Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is not shying from the prospect of running for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028.

Mr. Beshear has been raising his profile in the wake of the disastrous election cycle for his party last fall, and this week he plans to make a swing through the early primary state of South Carolina.

“We’ll see,” Mr. Beshear said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” about a possible presidential run. “I would have never considered this a couple of years ago, but I will not leave a broken country to my kids or to anyone else’s.”

The focus on the 2028 primary race is growing as the field of likely contenders starts to test-drive their messages across the nation.

Mr. Beshear is among several Democratic governors who are thought to be considering runs. The list includes Govs. Gavin Newsom of California, J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Newsom, who has been locked in a pitched battle with President Trump over his immigration enforcement efforts, scored a slew of headlines last week during a swing through South Carolina.

The jury is out on whether Mr. Beshear, a second-term red state governor with a moderate image, can forge a winning coalition in a Democratic primary race where liberal activists play such an oversized role.

He has been making more regular appearances on national news networks, and he has been a vocal critic of the “big beautiful bill” that Mr. Trump recently signed into law.

Mr. Beshear says the new law is devastating rural areas of Kentucky, hurting local economies and making it harder for people to get health care.

The governor says it has created an opening for Democrats to bring voters back into the fold who might have left the party.

“What I’m doing right now is trying to be a reasonable voice out there that hopefully doesn’t just bring Democrats back together, but Democrats, Republicans, and independents,” Mr. Beshear said. “You know, this country has gotten far too partisan, too much ‘us versus them.’”

“If we can focus on the core issues that lift up every single American, then we can actually move, not right or left, but forward as a country,” he said.

Mr. Beshear is slated to speak at an AFL-CIO event in Greenville and at the Georgetown County Democratic Party Dinner.

South Carolina has traditionally hosted the first-in-the-South primary.