Incumbent Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, defying the deep conservativism of his state of Kentucky and equally deep unpopularity of President Joe Biden, won reelection to a second term Tuesday, beating Republican Daniel Cameron.
With 75% of results in, Beshear was leading Cameron, 52%-48%. NBC called the race for Beshear soon after polls closed, reflecting a surprisingly strong showing for Beshear in a race that was excruciatingly close in the last week of the campaign.
Beshear had barely eked out a victory in 2019 in Kentucky, and Cameron – a charismatic, Republican state attorney general who was the first Black candidate to be a major party nominee for Kentucky governor – was considered a formidable challenger.
But the popular Beshear hung on, overperforming in liberal and conservative counties alike from his 2019 run against then-incumbent GOP Gov. Matt Bevin. His win undercuts Democratic worries that Biden, with low approval ratings nationally and in key states, will bring down other Democratic candidates.
Cameron, a protege of Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, is a darling of social conservatives and repeatedly attacked Beshear for his support for abortion and LGBTQ rights.
But Beshear, capitalizing on a national pushback after the Supreme Court undid guaranteed abortion rights in June 2022, put Cameron on the defensive.
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Abortion in Kentucky is banned after a “trigger law” took effect with the Supreme Court decision. The ban allows abortion only when the pregnant woman’s life is imperiled or if she faces the risk of a disabling injury by continuing the pregnancy.
“My opponent’s position would give a rapist more rights than their victim,” Beshear said during a debate against Cameron in October. “We need to change this law.”
Beshear ran a powerful ad featuring the first-person account of “Hadley,” who was raped by her stepfather and became pregnant at age 12.
“This is to you, Daniel Cameron: To tell a 12-year-old girl she should have the baby of her stepfather who raped her is unthinkable. I’m speaking out because women and girls need to have options. Daniel Cameron would give us none,” the young woman says in the ad.
Cameron amended his anti-abortion position to include exceptions for rape and incest, but that argument appeared not to sway Kentucky voters. A year ago, Kentucky voters defeated a referendum that would have explicitly denied the state constitutional right to an abortion.
Beshear, the son of a former governor, has a 60% approval rating, according to tracking by Morning Consult. Cameron sought to tie him to a much less popular politician – Biden, who lost the state to former President Donald Trump by 26 percentage points in 2020.
“It is crazy to have a governor here in Kentucky who would openly endorse Joe Biden for president,” Cameron said at a pre-election rally this week.
