Matthew Griswold Bevin is an American businessman and politician who served as the 62nd governor of Kentucky, from 2015 to 2019.
97 Facts About Matt Bevin
2.
Matt Bevin was the third Republican elected Kentucky governor since World War II, after Ernie Fletcher and Louie Nunn.
3.
Matt Bevin became wealthy in the investment business and moved to Louisville, Kentucky, in 1999.
4.
Matt Bevin was president of Bevin Brothers Manufacturing Company, one of the last remaining American bell foundries.
5.
In 2013, Matt Bevin announced he would challenge Kentucky's senior US Senator, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, in the 2014 Republican primary.
6.
Matt Bevin then defeated the state's attorney general, Democratic nominee Jack Conway, in the general election.
7.
Matt Bevin attempted to reverse Kentucky's Medicaid expansion and to reduce teacher pensions.
8.
Matt Bevin lost his re-election campaign to Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear in a close race.
9.
Matt Bevin was widely criticized for pardoning hundreds of criminals in his last days in office, including several people convicted of serious violent crimes and a relative of a contributor to his campaign.
10.
Matt Bevin grew up in the rural town of Shelburne, New Hampshire, in a small farmhouse heated by wood-fired stoves.
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Matt Bevin's father worked at a wood mill, and his mother worked part-time in a hospital admissions department.
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At age six, Matt Bevin made money by packaging and selling seeds to his neighbors.
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Matt Bevin paid his tuition through a combination of financial aid and wages from an on-campus dishwashing job and various summer jobs.
14.
Matt Bevin earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in East Asian Studies in 1989.
15.
Matt Bevin later commented that the area reminded him of where he grew up, and that if he had a chance to raise a family there, he would like to do so.
16.
Matt Bevin was assigned to the 25th Field Artillery Regiment of the Army's 5th Mechanized Infantry Division at Fort Polk in Louisiana.
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Matt Bevin was handling more than $1 billion in investments when Bevin sold it to Munder Capital Management of Michigan in 2011.
18.
In 2008, Matt Bevin took over management of the struggling Matt Bevin Brothers Manufacturing Company of East Hampton, Connecticut.
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Collectively, the Bevins decided that Matt was the only family member with the business acumen and financial wherewithal to keep the company solvent.
20.
Matt Bevin is a partner at Waycross Partners, an investment management firm in Louisville, Kentucky.
21.
Matt Bevin said that in 2011, Mitch McConnell recruited him to challenge incumbent Democrat John Yarmuth to represent Kentucky's 3rd congressional district in 2012.
22.
McConnell's chief of staff said Matt Bevin requested the meeting and McConnell never asked Matt Bevin to enter the race.
23.
On July 24,2013, Matt Bevin announced that he would challenge McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader and a five-term incumbent, in the 2014 Republican primary because he did not believe that McConnell was conservative enough.
24.
McConnell launched ads accusing Matt Bevin of taking taxpayer bailouts, citing his acceptance of state grants to rebuild Matt Bevin Brothers.
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Matt Bevin responded with ads accusing McConnell of voting for higher taxes, government bailouts, increases in the debt ceiling, and confirmation of liberal judicial nominees.
26.
McConnell's next ad featured Matt Bevin telling an audience "I have no tax delinquency problem, nor have I ever," then claimed his businesses had failed to pay taxes eight times and Matt Bevin was late on a tax payment on his $1.2 million vacation home in Greenwood, Maine, in 2007.
27.
Town records show that the taxes were paid by February 2009, and Matt Bevin had paid them on-time every year before and after 2007.
28.
McConnell's campaign then launched another ad, based on a story published by BuzzFeed, claiming Matt Bevin had failed to disclose a federal tax lien when applying for the state grant to rebuild his family business, which could be a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail and a $2,000 fine under Connecticut law.
29.
Matt Bevin said that he had been paying the lien in $5,000 installments prior to the fire that destroyed the business, a condition he said was allowed by the grant application, but after the fire, the Internal Revenue Service suspended the payments.
30.
Lexington Herald-Leader columnist Sam Youngman speculated that McConnell's pivot back to Matt Bevin was a proxy war against Tea Party fundraising groups, hoping that a decisive win over their chosen candidate in the primary would hamper the groups' fundraising in future elections.
31.
Matt Bevin's proposed alternatives included allowing insurance providers to compete across state lines, capping damages awarded for pain and suffering, allowing individuals to purchase health insurance with pre-tax earnings, and providing federal block grants to states to allow them to cover individuals with pre-existing conditions.
32.
Matt Bevin opposed tax increases and the allocation of federal earmarks.
33.
Matt Bevin called for massive spending cuts in the federal bureaucracy, specifically the Department of Education and the Veterans Administration, and for reforming eligibility requirements for entitlement programs, including raising age requirements, imposing means tests, and ending federal benefits to illegal immigrants.
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Matt Bevin opposed US intervention in the Syrian Civil War and the disbursement of foreign aid to countries that deny basic freedoms to their citizens or are guilty of human rights violations.
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Matt Bevin opposed federal agribusiness subsidies and warantless federal surveillance and called for simplifying the child adoption process.
36.
Matt Bevin complained that McConnell refused to speak at any Lincoln Day events around the state if Matt Bevin was invited to speak at the event.
37.
Matt Bevin was endorsed by FreedomWorks and conservative talk radio hosts Mark Levin and Glenn Beck.
38.
In February 2014, Politico reported that in October 2008, Matt Bevin had signed a report for his investment fund that praised the federal Troubled Asset Relief Program and the government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
39.
Later, Matt Bevin added that he had not physically signed the letter, but that his signature was added to the document digitally.
40.
The Herald-Leader further noted that Matt Bevin had not signed some previous investor letters.
41.
Matt Bevin proposed a flat income tax and opposed an increase in the federal minimum wage.
42.
Matt Bevin appeared onstage with McConnell on a few occasions during the general election campaign but steadfastly refused to explicitly endorse him.
43.
In June 2014, WKMS reported that Matt Bevin had remained politically active in the aftermath of his defeat by McConnell, and an email to his followers calling on Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear, a Democrat, to denounce new carbon regulations issued by the EPA fueled speculation that Matt Bevin would seek the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 2015.
44.
On January 27,2015, the last day for candidates to file, Matt Bevin announced he would seek the Republican nomination for governor.
45.
The National Journal predicted that Matt Bevin would draw support away from Comer, the early front-runner, who had been appealing to Tea Party groups and already secured Congressman Massie's endorsement.
46.
Matt Bevin made a $200,000 combined television and radio ad buy to defend himself against the ads and began a telephone survey that touted his conservative credentials while highlighting Heiner's past positions on issues such as gun control before asking how these statements affect the person's view of each candidate.
47.
Heiner said the survey was a negative push poll, but Matt Bevin insisted it was a legitimate poll.
48.
Matt Bevin declared that Heiner's alleged connection to the Comer accusations had "disqualified [Heiner] from being the GOP nominee for governor".
49.
Matt Bevin deleted all posts from his Twitter feed prior to February 2015, including several critical of McConnell.
50.
The Kentucky Democratic Party attempted to play up the fractures in the Republican Party over Matt Bevin's candidacy, launching a web site featuring fellow Republicans' criticisms of Matt Bevin, drawn mostly from his primary race against McConnell.
51.
Matt Bevin responded with a web site tying Conway to President Barack Obama, who was very unpopular in Kentucky, saying that Conway would support environmental regulations that harm the coal industry and support the Affordable Care Act, which was unpopular in the state, despite its nationally praised insurance exchange.
52.
Matt Bevin repeated his call to eliminate the inheritance tax and added that the state should "aim for" the elimination of corporate taxes.
53.
Matt Bevin called for the elimination of many of Kentucky's $10 billion in "tax expenditures", which he called "Frankfort-speak for loopholes".
54.
Matt Bevin said he was "appalled that one in four Kentuckians now get their health insurance from Medicaid".
55.
Matt Bevin then advocated modifying the state's Medicaid system to require those insured by Medicaid to contribute small premiums or co-payments, citing a system similar to Indiana's.
56.
Matt Bevin criticized Beshear for not calling a special legislative session to seek a means of accommodating the clerks' objections.
57.
On September 8,2015, Matt Bevin met with Davis in the jail and later attended a rally organized by Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee celebrating her subsequent release.
58.
In total, Keith estimated that Matt Bevin had paid about $1,800 in penalties for late tax payments.
59.
Matt Bevin became irritated with Keith's reporting and refused to answer questions from him at subsequent press conferences; he did not buy ads on WAVE, despite running ads on Louisville's other three network broadcast stations.
60.
The Associated Press' Adam Beam eventually reported that Matt Bevin had paid his taxes late on 30 different occasions.
61.
Matt Bevin was only the third Republican elected governor of Kentucky since World War II, and running mate Jenean Hampton became the first African-American elected to any statewide office in Kentucky.
62.
On June 1,2018, McConnell urged Matt Bevin to run for reelection, and on January 25,2019, Matt Bevin announced that he would run for a second term, choosing State Senator Ralph Alvarado as his running mate over current Lieutenant Governor Jenean Hampton.
63.
Matt Bevin was renominated by the Republican Party of Kentucky in a primary election on May 21,2019, as its candidate for governor in 2019, while Kentucky's outgoing Attorney General Andy Beshear, son of Matt Bevin's predecessor Steve Beshear, won the Democratic nomination.
64.
Matt Bevin refused to concede, citing what he called "irregularities" and referring to a "process"; court approval would be needed for a full recount, and Kentucky's election recount law does not appear to apply for gubernatorial elections.
65.
Matt Bevin was sworn into a four-year term as Kentucky Governor on December 8,2015.
66.
Matt Bevin set the dates of the special elections to fill the seats of Tilley and Pullin, as well as those formerly held by newly elected Auditor Mike Harmon and newly elected Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles, for March 8,2016.
67.
In December 2015, Matt Bevin announced that the state would not renew an advertising contract for kynect.
68.
Matt Bevin declared both 2016 and 2017 the Year of the Bible in Kentucky.
69.
In July 2018, after a federal judge rejected his plan to overhaul the program, Matt Bevin cut Medicaid dental and vision coverage for up to 460,000 Kentuckians.
70.
In January 2016, Matt Bevin's administration sent a cease and desist letter to Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky ordering it to stop performing abortions at its clinic in Louisville because it did not have the required license.
71.
Two weeks after filing suit against Planned Parenthood, Matt Bevin sued EMW Women's Clinic in Lexington, claiming that it was an unlicensed abortion facility.
72.
On January 26,2016, Matt Bevin delivered a budget address to the General Assembly detailing his two-year budget proposal.
73.
Public colleges and universities were not exempt from the cuts, and Matt Bevin called for a gradual move to performance-based funding for higher education, with all higher education funding tied to performance by 2020.
74.
House Speaker Greg Stumbo argued that Matt Bevin did not have the authority to order such reductions without legislative approval, but Senate President Robert Stivers defended Matt Bevin's action, saying it amounted to simply not spending money that was previously allocated.
75.
Matt Bevin later compromised with the state's public college and university presidents to reduce the cuts to 2 percent, but Attorney General Andy Beshear sued to stop the cuts entirely.
76.
In May 2016, a Franklin Circuit Court judge ruled Matt Bevin did have the authority to make the cuts.
77.
On March 7,2016, Matt Bevin released a video on social media claiming that House Democrats were not following through on their obligations to help craft the state budget.
78.
Legislators responded with a photo and statements that while Matt Bevin was producing his film designed to chastise them, House leaders were in fact in committee meetings working out details of a budget proposal while Speaker Stumbo suggested the Governor was either unfamiliar with the legislative process, or intended to deceive people.
79.
Matt Bevin signed the budget, but used his line-item veto to strip funding for the scholarship program in the first year of the biennium, saying the guidelines were poorly written and should be revised before implementing the program in 2017.
80.
At the September 2016 Family Research Council Action Values Voter Summit in Washington, DC, where Republican presidential and vice presidential candidates Donald Trump and Mike Pence spoke, Matt Bevin "both lamented and called for revolution and bloodshed to 'redeem' what [would] be lost" if Hillary Clinton were to be victorious in the 2016 presidential election, according to one source.
81.
Later, Matt Bevin asserted that his violent metaphors referred to military sacrifice.
82.
On January 9,2017, Matt Bevin signed the two abortion bills.
83.
On March 16,2017, Matt Bevin signed SB 17 into law, intended to "protect religious expression in public schools" by barring school districts from regulating student organizations in ways such as requiring them to accept LGBT people as members.
84.
On March 27,2017, Matt Bevin vetoed a bill that would have allowed a judge to order mentally disabled people to undergo outpatient treatment if they could not recognize their condition and if they had a history of hospitalization, due to his concerns over its effects of individual liberty.
85.
Matt Bevin signed another bill authorizing Bible classes in June 2017.
86.
In July 2017, Matt Bevin had the Kentucky Capitol building cleaned, choosing to use private funds as payment.
87.
In February 2018, following the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting and the Marshall County High School shooting in Kentucky, Matt Bevin declared that it was time to discuss what "should not be allowed in the United States as it relates to the things being put in the hands of our young people".
88.
In March 2018, Matt Bevin sparked some controversy among local teachers' associations when he criticized their protesting of a pension reform bill as "selfish and shortsighted".
89.
On January 29,2019, Matt Bevin stated that school closings for January 30 were a "sign America was soft".
90.
Matt Bevin received criticism, including from NBC weather forecaster Al Roker, who referred to Bevin as a "nitwit governor" the next day.
91.
Matt Bevin defended his comments and attacked the Lexington Herald-Leader and Courier Journal, and WKYT as "clowns", referring to a comment by Barack Obama in 2009 about Washington DC coming to a halt after a dusting of snow when Chicago would not have canceled school.
92.
On March 11,2019, Matt Bevin signed a bill into law removing the permit requirement to carry a concealed firearm in the state, becoming the 16th state to enact such legislation after South Dakota and Oklahoma had done it earlier in the year.
93.
On March 16,2019, Matt Bevin signed into law a bill banning abortions after the heartbeat is detected, though a federal judge blocked the bill a few hours later.
94.
On March 26,2019, Matt Bevin signed a bill that required public universities to protect free speech rights by banning them from disinviting speakers.
95.
On July 12,2019, Matt Bevin announced his support for a proposed bill to ban sanctuary cities in Kentucky.
96.
In 2011, Matt Bevin took all of his children out of school for a year for a 26,000-mile tour of the United States, visiting sites of educational or historical interest, including the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, where Martin Luther King, Jr.
97.
The eleven-member Matt Bevin family is the largest to inhabit the mansion since it was constructed in 1914.