LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The above video was published Wednesday, July 3.
A recent poll suggests Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear could perform well against former President Donald Trump if Beshear replaced current President Joe Biden on the ticket.
Gov. Beshear is considered one of the biggest names and brightest stars in the Democratic party and just won re-election last November. He defeated Republican Daniel Cameron by winning over 52% of the vote in a state Donald Trump carried in 2020 by 26 points.
Though 70% of Democrats polled said they had never heard of Beshear, many of them aren't opposed in voting for him, according to the new Reuters/Ipsos poll.
Despite the low name recognition, Beshear trailed Trump by only a narrow margin in the Reuters/Ipsos poll at 36% to 41%. For reference, both Trump and Biden garnered support from 40% of registered voters in the poll.
The same poll found that one in three Democrats think Biden should end his reelection bid after last week's presidential debate against Trump.
What does Beshear think about all this?
Gov. Beshear was included in a meeting Wednesday between President Biden and some fellow Democratic governors in Washington. According to CBS News, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul are also expected to attend in person.
Beshear was asked Monday about the prospect of becoming the nominee.
"It's flattering when people mention your name in something like that, but I think it's a reflection of all the good things going on in Kentucky," Beshear said. "Compared to the rest of the country, the temperature has been turned down here. Democrats and Republicans are all excited about the jobs we're creating, the investment we're seeing, record-low unemployment, record-low recidivism, decreases in our overdose deaths. Those are all really good things.
"So I think the rest of the country turns to us and says, 'How can a Democratic governor and a Republican general assembly create really good results?' I think the answer to that is everything is not partisan. People are tired of the clashes day in and day out. When they look at what we have done in Kentucky, they see a better future that's beyond the back and forth we see on the federal level."
Beshear also stated multiple times he will continue to support Biden as long as he is the nominee.
Could Democrats choose another candidate?
There is no evidence Biden plans to reconsider his run for a second term. A spokesman said Friday the president will not suspend his campaign.
It would be difficult for the party to choose another candidate, but not impossible.
Every state has already held its presidential primary. Democratic rules mandate that the delegates Biden won remain bound to support him at the party's upcoming national convention unless he tells them he’s leaving the race.
The conventions and their rules are controlled by the political parties. The Democratic National Committee could convene before the convention opens on Aug. 19 and change how things will work, but that isn't likely as long as Biden wants to continue seeking reelection.
The current rules read: “Delegates elected to the national convention pledged to a presidential candidate shall in all good conscience reflect the sentiments of those who elected them.”
If Biden opts to abandon his reelection campaign, Vice President Kamala Harris would likely join other top Democratic candidates looking to replace him. But that would probably create a scenario where she and others end up lobbying individual state delegations at the convention for their support.
That hasn't happened for Democrats since 1960, when John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson jockeyed for votes during that year’s Democratic convention in Los Angeles.
If Biden were to abruptly leave the race, conservative groups have suggested they will file lawsuits around the country, potentially questioning the legality of the Democratic candidate's name on the ballot.
But Elaine Kamarck, a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington, who wrote a book about the presidential nominating process and is also a member of the Democratic National Committee’s rulemaking arm, said that courts have consistently stayed out of political primaries as long as parties running them weren’t doing anything that would contradict other constitutional rights, such as voter suppression based on race.
“This is very clear constitutionally that this is in the party’s purview,” Kamarck said in an interview before the debate. “The business of nominating someone to represent a political party is the business of the political party.”
What has Beshear said about future political plans?
Beshear has been mostly non-committal about future political aspirations, although many experts and pundits believe he'll be in the mix to run for president in 2028.
In December, Beshear sat down with WHAS11 shortly after his re-election and was asked about his future.
"I don't have any plans beyond these next four years," he said. "It's the first time in my life where I don't know what's next. But I'm also not worried about it for the first time in my life. This is the job that I love. I can't imagine any of those others would be possibilities in the future, but the only way I would do it is if I felt I could make a some extra difference."
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