Democrat Andy Beshear wins reelection as Kentucky Governor

Added a couple of qualifiers
Incumbent Democrat Governor wins re-election in a hard red state in which his opponent was endorsed by the state's Republican establishment and the still very popular Republican former president.

 

A hard red state where 8 of the last 10 governors have been Democrats. Kentucky has never cared that much about outside endorsements. This is nothing new.

 

It is two things. One where they get their information, and two, tribal affiliation and tribe approval. Some start as reasonable republicans but if you don’t want to be a democrat and want to belong you end up following the crazies down the rabbit hole, or at least always making excuses for them. There were 1 or 2 I enjoyed debating but beyond that it got personal really quickly.

 

I would suggest that reasonably well adjusted, reasonably happy people don't act like that. We are largely and generally products of our childhood, especially the first few years. Most of us don't exit childhood frustrated and angry. Those that do are the ones who cause all the trouble. That can be Clarence Thomas or the guy frothing at the mouth and cursing at a transgender person.

 

KY is hard Red. You’d think a Democrat governor would have to go hat in hand to initiate policy.

But it hardly made a difference when, in 2020, Beshear turned KY into a Covid prison.

The difference between KY and next door neighbor TN was striking.

In traveling from NC to OH, June 2020, Gatlinburg, TN was teeming with life. Nary a mask in sight.

By contrast, KY was dead and the hotel we stayed in had all the ambience of an ICU ward.

 

Maybe. But the desire to be accepted among the tribe and validate prior pre-conceived notions is very strong, and those who will actually rebel against are the exception, not the rule, at least by my observation.

 

He had name recognition too. He was the incumbent and His dad was governor a few years back. Also, only my impression, but he seemed to stay away from hot political issues of the day.

 

Yes, his father was a popular 2 term governor here.

 

I'm sure you're right in many cases, but Trump is so far outside the norm, such a despicable human being, that casting aside all values and propriety to support him seems more than tribal instinct, which I agree is a very real phenomenon for all of us. It seems a letting loose of pent up frustration and anger.

 

Part of the Beshear campaign strategy was linking Cameron to Bevin.

 

The human mind and belief systems are very malleable. If you go against the tribe, you face complete rejection. Adam Kinzinger writes that his former co pilot from Iraq wrote him and says he was embarrassed to have served with him. Kinzinger went to a relative’s house with extended and family and somebody sent a telegram or Fed x or something to that house to Kinzinger telling him how he has betrayed them.

The politicians who have called him out are all gone.