Democratic Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear looks set to pull off a big win in Letcher County, which former President Donald Trump won by nearly 60 points in 2020, as he fended off a challenge from Republican Daniel Cameron to secure a second term in office.
With more than 95 percent of the votes cast in Kentucky counted, Beshear had 53 percent of the vote to Cameron’s 47 percent, with the Associated Press calling the race for the Democratic incumbent.
Beshear’s victory looked particularly impressive in Letcher County, in the east of Kentucky, which voted for Trump by 79.1 percent of the vote versus 19.7 percent for Joe Biden in 2020. By contrast, in 2023 Beshear is leading in the county with 52 percent of the vote against 48 percent for Cameron, the Kentucky attorney general.
I’d rather have J. B. Pritzker from Illinois. I held my nose and voted from him in 2019 when it was him (democratic, white, male, billionaire) vs Rauner (republican, white, male, multi-hundred millionaire) and I have never been so pleased to be wrong about someone.
Pritzker has done an amazing job in Illinois dealing with the economic problems that have dogged Illinois by having balanced budgets every year and paying down a huge chunk of the state’s enormous debt which resulted in the first credit upgrades for the state in decades. He raised the minimum wage, legalized recreational marijuana, signed the SAFE-T act which eliminated cash bail in the state, signed a ban on assault weapons (which is of course being challenged), and he led the state through the Covid crisis as a reasonable grown up even though he had to drag the rural parts of the state kicking and screaming all the way. Frankly, I would hate to see Illinois lose him, but I truly believe he would make a great President.