Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who leads the Democratic Governors Association heading into the 2026 midterms, urged fellow Democrats Monday to concentrate gubernatorial campaigns on the everyday affordability concerns facing families, including housing and health care.
Beshear, speaking in an interview with The Associated Press from Frankfort, Kentucky, said Democrats looking to expand their hold on the nation’s governorships should focus on offering solutions for Americans stressed by high costs for essentials. He also said Democrats should be more forthcoming about how their values—including their faith—shape the policies they propose.
He said Democrats should “go on offense” against Republican President Donald Trump, characterizing Trump as having “absolutely no solutions” for the challenges families say they are facing. Beshear said the Democratic message should portray state leaders as a key line of defense in pushing back against what he described as sweeping Trump administration policies that are affecting people’s lives day to day.
Beshear also emphasized campaign messaging aimed at voters’ desire for connection, saying opening up can take multiple forms, including sharing the experience that motivated a person to seek office, discussing upbringing, or explaining how faith or values shape their views. He said he believes Americans are “craving authenticity right now” and “want to know you,” adding that Democrats are often strong on the “what” but do not talk enough about the “why.”
“I call that the ‘why,’” Beshear said, describing it as the real and important driver behind a candidate’s work. He said if a voter is going to cast a ballot for a candidate believing that person will make their life better, the voter should know what is driving the candidate “that is real and important to you.”
With three dozen gubernatorial races at stake in the November midterm elections, Beshear predicted his party will pick up more governorships in 2026. He said the strategy would focus on jobs, health care, housing, education, public safety and transportation.
The Republican Governors Association disputed that outlook, saying in a statement that Democrats will be on the defensive in 2026. In the statement, RGA Deputy Communications Director Kollin Crompton argued that “Republican-led states are more affordable and safer,” while Democrat-led states are in fiscal crisis, “more expensive” and “plagued by crime and homelessness,” and added that Democrats running at the gubernatorial level have “records they cannot defend.”
Beshear said Democratic gubernatorial candidates should frame their races as a defense of benefits that help people get by, arguing that electing Democratic governors helps residents through job creation and expands health care. He also said Democratic governors push back against what he described as overreach by the Trump administration.
He pointed to last year’s GOP-backed tax and spending legislation championed by Trump, saying Democratic candidates should be on offense against it. The AP report described the bill as delivering $4.5 trillion in tax breaks and making changes to safety net programs, with a trade-off that would cut more than $1 trillion over a decade from federal health care and food assistance, largely by imposing work requirements and shifting certain federal costs to states.
Beshear said every Democratic candidate should highlight what he described as clinics closing because of the cuts and the growing number of people using food banks. He said he thinks every Democratic candidate “ought to be standing in front of the clinic that is closed because of these cuts” and to talk about “how many more people are at a food bank because the food assistance is no longer there.” He added that he sees the issue as both economic affordability and “a case of just morality,” saying, “Who cares about you and who is making it that much harder just to survive?”
The interview also touched on immigration enforcement. Beshear condemned tactics used by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in carrying out Trump’s immigration crackdown, referencing protests that followed a fatal shooting of a woman by a federal immigration officer in Minneapolis.
Beshear said he believes the public thinks ICE is “going too far,” adding that he believes Americans also want “real border security” and that borders should matter. He said the difference lies in how enforcement is carried out, arguing that “how we do it reflects our humanity,” and that an “aggressive” approach is leading to “things like we saw in Minneapolis.”