65 Facts About Andy Beshear

Andrew Graham Beshear is an American attorney and politician serving as the 63rd governor of Kentucky since 2019.

Andy Beshear is the son of former Kentucky governor Steve Beshear.

Andy Beshear was raised in Lexington and graduated from Henry Clay High School.

Andy Beshear then attended the University of Virginia School of Law, receiving a Juris Doctor in 2003.

Andy Beshear represented the developers of the Bluegrass Pipeline, which would have transported natural gas liquid through Kentucky.

Andy Beshear represented the Indian company UFlex, which sought $20 million in tax breaks from his father's administration, drawing criticism from ethics watchdogs over a potential conflict of interest.

In November 2013, Andy Beshear announced his candidacy in the 2015 election for Attorney General of Kentucky, to succeed Democrat Jack Conway, who could not run for reelection, due to term limits.

Andy Beshear sued Governor Matt Bevin several times over what he argued was Bevin's abuse of executive powers during Andy Beshear's tenure as attorney general and while he was campaigning against Bevin for governor.

Also in 2016, the Kentucky Supreme Court unanimously sided with Bevin when Andy Beshear sued him on the grounds that Bevin lacked the authority to overhaul the University of Louisville's board of trustees.

In 2017, the Kentucky Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit Andy Beshear brought against Bevin, holding that Bevin had the power to temporarily reshape boards while the legislature is out of session; Bevin called Andy Beshear's lawsuit a "shameful waste of taxpayer resources".

In October 2019, Andy Beshear filed nine lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies for their alleged involvement in fueling Kentucky's opioid epidemic.

Andy Beshear resigned from the attorney general's office on December 10,2019, before his inauguration as governor the same day.

On July 9,2018, Andy Beshear declared his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for governor of Kentucky in the 2019 election.

Andy Beshear chose Jacqueline Coleman, a nonprofit president, assistant principal, and former state house candidate, as his running mate.

Andy Beshear narrowly carried the historically heavily Republican suburban counties of Campbell and Kenton in Northern Kentucky, as well as several historically Democratic rural counties in Eastern Kentucky that had swung heavily Republican in recent elections.

On October 1,2021, Andy Beshear declared his candidacy for reelection as governor in the 2023 election.

On November 7,2023, Andy Beshear defeated Republican nominee Daniel Cameron by a vote of 694,482 to 627,457 in the 2023 Kentucky gubernatorial election, winning reelection to a second term.

Andy Beshear's victory has been attributed to his broad popularity among Democrats and independents, as well as approximately half of Republicans in the state.

Andy Beshear's critics suggested that the appointments undermined the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990, which sought to insulate the board from political influence; the Board had increasingly been the focus of political battles in the years preceding 2019.

On December 12,2019, Andy Beshear signed an executive order restoring voting rights to 180,315 Kentuckians, who he said were disproportionately African American who had been convicted of nonviolent felonies.

In June 2020, Andy Beshear promised to provide free health care to all African-American residents of Kentucky who need it in an attempt to resolve health care inequities that came to light during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On November 18,2020, as the state's COVID-19 cases continued to increase, Andy Beshear ordered Kentucky's public and private schools to halt in-person learning on November 23 with in-person classes to resume in January 2021.

Danville Christian Academy, joined by Attorney General Daniel Cameron, filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, claiming that Andy Beshear's order violated the First Amendment by prohibiting religious organizations to educate children in accordance with their faith.

In March 2021, Andy Beshear vetoed all or part of 27 bills that the Kentucky legislature had passed.

In December 2021, Andy Beshear led the emergency response to a tornado outbreak in western Kentucky, which devastated the town of Mayfield and killed more than 70 people, making it the deadliest in the state's history.

In July 2022, torrential rain caused severe flooding across Kentucky's Appalachia region and led to the deaths of over 25 people; Andy Beshear worked with the federal government to coordinate search and rescue missions as President Biden declared a federal disaster to direct relief money to the state.

In 2024, Andy Beshear created a political action committee to raise money for candidates in the 2024 United States elections who "push back against this national trend of anger politics and division".

On March 19,2025, the Associated Press reported that Andy Beshear was concerned about federal agencies' ability to function correctly following the Trump administration's efforts to shrink the federal government.

Andy Beshear said, "the solution is to improve its performance, not to destroy it", and that indiscriminate firings of thousands of government employees from areas providing services citizens depend upon is a failure to care for the American people.

Andy Beshear was endorsed by Reproductive Freedom for All, an abortion-rights group, and is supported by Planned Parenthood.

In 2021, Andy Beshear allowed a born-alive bill to become law without his signature, requiring doctors to provide medical care for any infant born alive, including those born alive due to a failed abortion procedure.

On March 25,2020, Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency over the COVID-19 pandemic.

Andy Beshear encouraged business owners to require customers to wear face coverings while indoors.

Andy Beshear banned "mass gatherings" including protests but not normal gatherings at shopping malls and libraries; constitutional law professor Floyd Abrams and lawyer John Langford opined that Beshear's order was inappropriate as it violated public protests' special protected status under the First Amendment.

Andy Beshear was criticized for not calling the Kentucky General Assembly into a special session in order to work with state representatives to better address the needs of their constituents during the pandemic.

In late November 2020, Andy Beshear imposed new restrictions to further slow the spread of COVID-19, including closing all indoor service for restaurants and bars, restricting in-person learning at schools, limiting occupancy at gyms, and limiting social gatherings.

House Speaker David Osborne and Senate President Robert Stivers criticized Andy Beshear for failing to consult the legislature before making his decisions.

Andy Beshear's targeted closures were criticized after it was discovered that state and local authorities were unable to establish contact tracing as it relates to certain types of businesses listed in his restrictions.

Andy Beshear signed an executive order completely restoring the voting rights, and right to hold public office, of 180,315 Kentuckians who had been convicted of nonviolent felonies.

Andy Beshear has restored rights to more felons than any other governor in American history.

In March 2021, Andy Beshear signed a law that allows judges to decide whether to transfer minors 14 and older to adult court if they are charged with a crime involving a firearm.

Also in March 2021, after the Kentucky legislature passed a bill to make it a crime to cause $500 or more damage to a rental property, Andy Beshear vetoed the bill.

Andy Beshear is of the view that possession of cannabis should never result in incarceration.

In November 2022, Andy Beshear signed an executive order to allow medical marijuana possession and to regulate delta-8-THC.

In 2019, Andy Beshear pledged to bring more advanced manufacturing jobs and health care jobs to Kentucky, to offset job losses due to the decline of coal.

In June 2021, Andy Beshear signed an executive order to allow college athletes to receive name, image, and likeness compensation.

In 2019, Andy Beshear pledged to include a $2,000 pay raise for all Kentucky teachers in his budgets.

Andy Beshear has proposed such a pay raise in his budgets, but the Kentucky legislature has not included such raises in the budgets it passed.

Andy Beshear opposes school choice programs, saying that 2024 Kentucky Amendment 2 meant "less money in public schools".

Andy Beshear supports legalizing casino gambling, sports betting, fantasy sports betting, and online poker betting in Kentucky.

Andy Beshear proclaimed March 2020 Responsible Gambling Awareness Month in Kentucky.

On March 31,2023, Andy Beshear signed House Bill 551 into law, legalizing sports betting in Kentucky.

Andy Beshear said he would not support an assault weapons ban.

Andy Beshear said he would instead support a red flag law authorizing courts to allow police to temporarily confiscate firearms from people a judge deemed a danger to themselves or others.

Andy Beshear criticized Bevin for trying to roll back the state's Medicaid expansion.

Andy Beshear said that he believes healthcare is a "human right".

In December 2019, Andy Beshear told President Donald Trump's administration that he planned to have Kentucky continue to accept refugees under the US immigration program.

Andy Beshear hoped to fund the bridge by conventional means, not tolling, but was unsure whether the state in fact had the funds to do that.

Andy Beshear said he believed the project would provide economic benefits to Western Kentucky.

Andy Beshear was the first sitting governor of Kentucky to attend a rally staged by the Fairness Campaign, and he supports banning the practice of conversion therapy for LGBTQ youth.

In March 2023, Andy Beshear vetoed a bill that would create new regulations and restrictions for transgender youth, including a ban on gender-affirming care; the Republican-dominated legislature overrode his veto.

Andy Beshear showed support for a group of drag queens he took a selfie with and strongly defended his actions when criticized by Republicans.

Andy Beshear has sought to fund the state's pension system, which has accumulated $24 billion in debt since 2000, the most of any state in the country.

Andy Beshear opposed pension cuts made by Bevin, and said he wants to guarantee all workers pensions when they retire.

Andy Beshear ran unopposed in the 2015 Democratic primary for Kentucky attorney general.