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by WILL FOLKS
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On the heels of California governor Gavin Newsom‘s recent visit to South Carolina, another Democrat governor – and prospective 2028 presidential contender – is headed to the Palmetto State to work “First in the Nation” presidential primary voters.
Andy Beshear, second-term governor of Kentucky, will make four stops in South Carolina next week (July 16-17, 2025), per multiple reports. The 47-year-old Louisville native will visit Columbia, Charleston, Greenville and Georgetown, although an official itinerary for his tour has yet to be released.
Beshear spent four years as attorney general of Kentucky prior to being elected governor in 2019 – defeating incumbent Matt Bevin by just 0.4% of the vote. He won reelection in 2023 by 5.07% over Daniel Cameron, his successor as Kentucky’s top prosecutor.
Beshear has made no secret of his interest in a presidential bid.
“My family’s been through a lot, but I do not want to leave a broken country to my kids or anyone else’s,” he told CNN on Sunday (July 6, 2025), re-purposing a line he has used on several occasions in recent months. “I’m going to make sure we’re putting the country first, because my kids deserve to grow up in a country where they don’t have to turn on the news every morning, even when they’re on vacation, and say, ‘What the heck happened last night?’”
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“What I think is most important for 2028 is a candidate that can heal this country, that can bring people back together,” he said. “When I sit down, I’m going to think about whether I’m that candidate or whether someone else is that candidate.”
While Beshear can point to electoral successes and sky-high favorability ratings as governor of a red state (Donald Trump won Kentucky with 64.47% of the vote last fall), his moderate brand of Democrat politics doesn’t seem to be what the party is looking for at the moment.
Quite the opposite seems true, in fact…
According to an assemblage of national polls compiled by Race to the White House, Beshear’s 1.4% support among Democrat primary voters ranks behind every other named contender.
Former vice president Kamala Harris is the clear frontrunner with 24% support – followed by former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg (14.7%), Newsom (10.7%), congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (9.9%), senator Cory Booker of New Jersey (5.3%), Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro (5.1%), Minnesota governor Tim Walz (4.5%), Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer (3.4%), billionaire Mark Cuban (3.3%), congresswoman Jasmine Crockett of Texas (2.2%), senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts (2.0%), Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker (1.9%), senator Mark Kelly of Arizona (1.9%) and Maryland governor Wes Moore (1.5%).
Moore, incidentally, was recently the keynote speaker at the S.C. Democrat Party (SCDP)’s Blue Palmetto Dinner – an appearance which stoked division within the state and national party.
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South Carolina hasn’t voted blue in a presidential election since 1976 – and Democrats haven’t won a top-of-the-ticket statewide race this millennium. The Republican party – or what passes for “Republican” these days – nominally occupies every statewide office, both U.S. Senate seats, six of seven congressional districts and enjoys supermajority status in both chambers of the powerful S.C. General Assembly.
While the Palmetto State continues to “eschew the blue,” Democrats’ “First in the Nation” presidential primary remains a pivotal proving ground for the party’s aspiring standard-bearers.
South Carolina clinched the 2020 election for former president Joe Biden – and anointed his reelection bid last February after he elevated the state on Democrats’ presidential calendar.
Count on FITSNews to keep tabs on this emerging field as it continues to materialize… and count on us to do the same thing on the “Republican” side ahead of South Carolina’s equally important “First in the South” GOP presidential primary.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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1 comment
I love the quotes around “Republican”. You can spin whatever fantasy you want to spin, but the current Republican Party is exactly what you people want.
A group of sycophants who do whatever their dear leader tells them to do. Bending at the knee as fast as possible to make sure they stay in power, even if the power is some embarrassing version of doing what they are told by a bumbling fool. Don’t act like there’s some better version of this party out there.
You can bitch about Democrats all you want, but the fact that no matter what Trump does everybody lines up to pay tribute to him says a whole lot more about your party than the other one. It’s really pitiful.