Why Kentucky’s Gov. Andy Beshear was passed over to be Kamala Harris’ running mate

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear made a valiant effort to position himself to be Kamala Harris’ running mate in a truncated campaign for the nation’s No. 2 job. But on Tuesday morning, the Democratic nominee selected Tim Walz, the governor from Minnesota.

The Harris camp confirmed her selection around 10:30 a.m., saying on social media: “As a governor, a coach, a teacher and a veteran, (Walz has) delivered for working families, like his. It’s great to have him on the team.”

The Walz selection was less a reflection on Kentucky’s governor and more an ice-cold calculation on the precise competitive turf that will determine the 2024 election, very likely by just tens of thousands of votes in a handful of swing states, especially in the Midwest.

While Beshear was eyed as a genial, polished political talent by Harris’ team and easily fit the moderate white-guy profile it was looking for, he was always going to come from Kentucky, which hasn’t voted for a Democratic presidential ticket in 28 years.

Nearly all of the contenders he was up against came from electorally prized states: Arizona, North Carolina, Minnesota and Pennsylvania. It was Harris’ first big decision in a modern national political era where purple-colored geography marked by an even split of Republicans and Democrats is king.

And Kentucky is piping red, clearly Donald Trump country.

Walz’s selection means that barring any last-minute changes, the battle for the White House is set: The Democratic Harris-Walz ticket will square-off against Republican former President Donald Trump and JD Vance, the Ohio senator Trump chose to be his VP.

It’s already shaping up to be one of the nastiest, most expensive and momentous presidential races in American history.

Numerous pivotal issues are at stake, including the economy, a potential war in the Middle East, NATO’s future, relationships with European allies, abortion rights, climate change, future Supreme Court judges, race relations and the incendiary divisions between Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and progressive that have defined America’s political landscape the past decade.

Harris and the 60-year-old Walz, a forrmer social studies high school teacher and football coach, are to make their first public appearance together Tuesday night during a Philadelphia campaign rally.

But even as his audition fell short, the exercise solidified Beshear’s prospects for a political career beyond the Kentucky governorship, raised his profile among national Democrats and donors and positioned the 46-year-old to potentially become part of a future Harris administration if she beats Trump in November.

Far before President Joe Biden upended the 2024 election with his July 21 decision to withdraw from the race, Beshear’s name was being bandied about as a next-gen Democrat who could appear on a national ticket.

Few expected the opportunity would arrive so quickly, spinning into motion on a summer Sunday afternoon in late July.

While Beshear said he received one of the first phone calls from Harris after Biden made his announcement, neither he nor his team ever chose to officially confirm his vice presidential vetting.

Instead, Beshear took his public case to television, the medium in which he deepened a bond with Kentucky families during the coronavirus pandemic, dispensing developments through daily broadcasts.

He noticeably withheld his formal endorsement of Harris until the Monday morning after Biden bestowed his blessing on his No. 2, saving it for MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” which draws an audience of elite Democratic insiders in the country’s power centers and grassroots progressives everywhere in between.

When he was teed up with the predictable query about possibly joining the Harris ticket, Beshear sharpened his daggers for Vance, proving himself to be a reliable attack agent against Trump’s selection for VP.

“I want the American people to know what a Kentuckian is and what they look like. Because let me just tell you that JD Vance ain’t from here,” Beshear said.

It was the beginning of Beshear’s seemingly gleeful attempt at showcasing his bare knuckles – and how he could land them on Vance, Trump’s running mate who quickly sought to claim Kentucky working-class roots.

A day later, Beshear popped up on CNN in prime time to toss more blows at the GOP ticket that were clearly premeditated.

“He’s fake,” Beshear said of Vance. “The problem with JD Vance is he has no conviction, but I guess his running mate has 34.”

The message was less than subtle: This red-state governor knows just how to chop down Trump’s ticketmate.

During a news conference in Kentucky, Beshear propped up an apology to Diet Mountain Dew as a way to remind people of Vance’s affinity for the soda, as stated during a recent rally.

His crisply delivered blasts lit up social media, generated enthusiasm among Democrats and forced the newly entrenched Harris hierarchy to look closer at Beshear. It would earn him an interview with the Harris vetting team as the process careened to a close.

But Beshear’s rivals were also out there tossing spears landing with comparable panache.

Walz, a second-term governor of Minnesota, attained virality simply for branding Republicans as “weird.” And Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro was widely lauded for his rhetorical chops as he campaigned through his home state alongside Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

As polling on the presidential race churned and Harris rode a mini-bump during her roll-out week, the reality of the electoral map remained stark. The Democrats’ must-win states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin were dead heats, with Arizona and Georgia tantalizingly within reach.

Beshear continued to take his case on the road, hitting a previously scheduled stop in Iowa on July 27 before landing in a deep-red county in Georgia the next morning. The president of the Georgia Young Democrats handed Beshear a makeshift “Harris-Beshear” button.

From the back of a pickup in Forsyth County, Beshear coyly shared his credentials that helped him defeat two Trump-endorsed GOP candidates in 2019 and 2023.

That corner of metro Georgia is one of the South’s most conservative areas, but Beshear energetically shared his support for Harris.

“She is tough and she is smart, and that’s going to make her a good president,” the governor said to a crowd of about 500.

Then, he was off to Oklahoma City Aug. 1 to raise thousands for Democrats in another deep red state like Kentucky.

He was in Chicago Monday for another fundraiser, part of a campaign blitz that once again elevated Beshear’s national profile. His record in Kentucky and his easy demeanor on the trail earned him fans.

“Two names really resonate high with our union,” Shawn Fain, the president of the United Auto Workers, told CNN on July 31. “The top name, it was Andy Beshear.”

But even those who had reason to like Beshear found an electoral reason to bypass him.

“Andy Beshear, I knew his daddy. His daddy was governor and I like Andy,” said Roy Barnes, a former Democratic governor of Georgia on the podcast “Politically Georgia.”

At the same time, Beshear’s stock was falling among the gamblers who fuel political prediction markets, like PredictIt, where you can place money on the big political questions in campaigns.

Shares stacked on Beshear tumbled by half in the week since Harris announced her campaign, leaving him as a dark horse contender in the final days and far behind Shapiro.

Nonetheless, he still proved himself to be a useful attack dog in places that are usually thorny for Democrats, like in Forsyth County.

The Harris campaign will almost certainly continue to rely on Beshear to carry their flag as a surrogate into red state settings that are instinctively hostile to the current administration and its vice presidential accomplice.

It would make sense to see Beshear return to Georgia, as well as touch base in North Carolina and Virginia before voting is over to help bring regionally familiar working-class voters back into the Democratic column.

A Reuters poll earlier this month found that 70% of Democrats nationwide had never heard of Beshear.

That number is sure to be lower now.

John Yarmuth: Gov. Beshear tops potential VP shortlist as Biden weighs 2024 candidacy