Alexandria Anderson

Gov. Andy Beshear gives a speech at the opening of the Warren County field office on Friday, July 14.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear greeted Bowling Green once again today at the opening of his Warren County governor’s race field office.

Supporters packed the field office, located at the corner of Fountain Square next to Morris Jewelers, to hear from Beshear and attend the canvassing launch, where they could volunteer to knock doors and speak with voters.

With the Kentucky governor’s race in full swing, Beshear and Republican nominee Daniel Cameron are placing some focus on winning Warren County, which houses Bowling Green, the third largest city in the state.

“It is incredible to be back in Warren County, the city of Bowling Green, the home of WKU and one of the fastest growing communities where we seem to announce new jobs every single week,” Beshear said.

In the 2019 governor’s election between Beshear and Republican nominee Matt Bevin, Beshear won Warren County by a slim margin of 3.2%. From the 2003 governor election to the 2019 election, Warren County has flipped between voting Democrat or Republican.

“We’re talking on a national level, Kentucky is often thought of as a deep red state,” William Carter, a Bowling Green resident, said. “In my lifetime, we’ve had two Republican governors […] we get locked out of a lot of national discourse. It’s incredible Beshear is here.”

During his speech, Beshear described accomplishments during his years as governor, including this year being Kentucky’s third best year for economic development and the largest budget surplus in the state’s history.

“I’m here to tell you we are likely in the midst of what will be our third best year for economic development,” Beshear said. “Just take a minute to think what that means to have our first, second and third best years back to back, or after we win this election, our fourth.”

Beshear also described low unemployment rates in the state and the milestone of the lowest monthly unemployment rate in Kentucky’s history two months ago. He also described the state’s largest budget surplus in its history, which Beshear will use to provide educators “the biggest raise they’ve seen in a long time.

“We posted the lowest annual unemployment rate in our history last year,” Beshear said. 

Michael Givner, a WKU sophomore journalism major, said Beshear’s reelection is vital to inputting anti-discrimination legislation and giving teachers pay raises.

“All these things that are successful, it needs to continue for a few years so he can continue to increase them,” Givner said. “[…] Our teachers deserve so much. Hatred is unwarranted, and preventing discrimination is essential. We need to continue to keep Beshear elected.”

Currently, the Kentucky Senate and House have Republican supermajorities, meaning they have enough votes to override any potential veto by the governor. In the 2022 state representative election, Republican nominee Kevin Jackson unseated Democrat Patti Minter in District 20, which holds Bowling Green and much of Warren County. 

“On the other side, what do you hear?” Beshear said. “You hear lies. You hear division. You hear anger. And you even hear people encouraging Kentuckians to break that golden rule. And even foster hate towards one another.”

Beshear said this will be a “tough race” and that voters should think about how to restore hope and not leave any part of Kentucky behind.

“That’s the Kentucky we’re talking about,” he said. “One that doesn’t move us to the right or the left but moves us forward, for every Kentucky family, regardless of party and regardless of where they live.”

He pushed for supporters to volunteer to knock more doors, make more phone calls and write more postcards than ever before.

“We need more effort than you ever put in,” Beshear said.

The 2023 election for governor and other statewide offices is Nov. 7.

Editor-in-chief Alexandria Anderson can be reached at [email protected].