‘We’ll see’: Gov. Beshear speaks on possible presidential run; addresses President Trump’s budget
By Curadhan Powell
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FRANKFORT, Kentucky (WLKY) — Gov. Andy Beshear appeared on ‘Meet The Press’ Sunday morning to discuss President Trump’s recently approved budget, the current state of politics, and the latest on whether or not he might consider a run at the White House.
At the end of the interview, Beshear was asked about his future after his second term as Kentucky’s governor ends.
“What I’m doing right now is trying to be a reasonable voice out there that hopefully doesn’t just bring Democrats back together, but Democrats, Republicans and independents,” said Beshear. “You know, this country has gotten far too, too partisan, too much us versus them. If we can focus on the core issues that lift up every single American, then we can actually move, not right or left, but forward as a country. There ain’t no such thing as a red job or a blue job. A job is just good for all Americans.”
When pressed further and asked directly if he was considering a run for president, Beshear was more direct.
“You know, we’ll see. I would have never considered this a couple years ago, but I will not leave a broken country to my kids or to anyone else’s,” said Beshear. “And so if I’m somebody that, at that point, I believe that I can heal the country, then I’ll take a look at it.”
Beshear also spoke on the following topics.
On Trump’s economic policy, Beshear was pointed and direct in his criticism.
He accused the president of placing tariffs on countries that he doesn’t like and said Kentuckians largely voted for Trump looking for financial relief instead of the possibility of increased prices.
“It is chaos. It is increasing costs,” said Beshear. “You know, the people of Kentucky, many of them voted for Donald Trump because they thought he’d make paying the bills a little bit easier at the end of the week, and he’s just making it harder. I’m seeing small businesses lay people off because of the tariffs on the raw materials that they get. And then, Americans put things together and sell them from that.”
He also brought up how the tariffs could impact Kentucky at the world’s largest Toyota manufacturing facility in Georgetown.
On the budget’s cuts to Medicaid and how many Americans want work requirements for people to qualify, Beshear questioned the motive behind such policy.
“The medical work requirements are a ruse. What they’re doing is they’re doubling the paperwork on everyone, not just able-bodied adults, but everyone,” said Beshear. “What they’re hoping is, sadly, is that parents with a special needs child, who are really busy, don’t check a box, people who are helping their parents or grandparents with their long-term care needs, don’t check a box. And then, they kicked off their coverage for six months or more.”
He also touched upon a familiar talking point on the budget that rural hospitals would disappear and impact thousands of Kentuckians.
“In my state, we’re looking at 200,000 people projected to lose their coverage. 20,000 health care workers are going to get fired because of this bill, and 35 rural hospitals, each the second largest employer in their county, may close.”
Current state of politics in America Beshear took a more middle approach with his thoughts on the state of the Democratic Party and current politics.
“What I think is that we ought to be, Democrats, Republicans, et cetera, accountable for everything we do,” said Beshear. “We serve the American people. And so, we should be judged by not only our actions but our results. But in the end, it’s this political football that we see going back and forth, where a win for one is a loss for another. What we’ve got to get to is a place where we put the people first and we focus on jobs, infrastructure, public safety, public education and healthcare, and make sure all the distractions are pushed to the side.”
When asked about the recent deadly flooding in Texas, Beshear recalled how hard Kentucky was hit by flooding in 2022 and expressed the need to learn from tragedy in order to be better prepared for future disasters.
“What’s most important is that we put these families first and that we make sure that we learn from this,” said Beshear. “When we got hit in 2022 and lost 45 Kentuckians, we asked every question after. We didn’t shy from anything. We said, ‘When this occurs next time, how do we do better? How do we save five more people, 10 more people?’
He said in 2025, during the two large flood events so far, over 1,000 people were saved in the first 24 hours each time.
“So, what I hope happens is people embrace the questions because the questions don’t have to be a political football and shouldn’t be,” said Beshear. “It’s, ‘How do we do better? How do we save more lives? How do we get a better weather forecast? Do we have enough people at the National Weather Service? Can we deploy faster than we did this time?’ All of those things are legitimate, if we put the people first and we say, ‘We know this is going to happen again. Let’s make sure that every time we respond, it’s the very best response we’ve ever seen.’”
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