Beshear elected Kentucky Governor

On Nov. 5, the Kentucky Gubernatorial Elections ended with Democratic candidate and Attorney General Andy Beshear winning the election by slim margins over incumbent Republican governor, Matt Bevin, and many Boone County teachers had strong opinions about this event.

Beshear won the election by about 5,000 votes over Bevin, mostly winning in suburban and city areas such as Louisville and Covington, while rural areas supported Bevin.

Northern Kentucky was a deciding factor in this election; Campbell and Kenton counties voted Beshear, while Boone County just barely had a majority vote for Bevin.           Bevin refused to concede the election to Beshear, calling the race too close to concede; the next day, he called for a recount of the votes.

Bevin would finally concede the race on Nov. 14.

“We’re going to have a change in the governorship based on the vote of the people,” Bevin said to reporters.

The Kentucky Education Association and the Kentucky Educators’ Political Action Committee publicly expressed their support for Beshear; he thanked them for all their support during the election and stated that education would be a priority in Kentucky.

“From now on, the doors of your state Capitol will always be open, we will treat each other with dignity and respect,” Beshear said.

Why should students of Boone County High School care about a new person leading the state?

History teacher Randy Miller spoke about why students should care about the election and how it will impact them.

Miller said that students here should care about the election because most will be old enough to vote in the next four years.

It will also affect their future in almost every aspect, such as taxes, he said.

Miller claims that Beshear will help teachers keep their jobs and make education a higher priority, which will help the future of Kentucky education.

“Beshear will pay teachers more, and protect their pensions,” Miller said.

“This will help young teachers stay in the profession and help recruit more college students to become teachers, thus protecting our future,” Miller said.

He also said that Andy Beshear will be the best fit for the school district and Kentucky, saying that Bevin’s choices, such as firing respected officials and bring in his friends showed he was “all about the money and not Kentucky,” and that Bevin was just a “mannerless, money grubbing, jerk.”

English teacher Kelly Read is with the Boone County Education Association, he spoke about what Beshear has already done for Kentucky compared to what Bevin has done.

“I met with Andy Beshear a couple times in the past three years,” Read said. “He has fought for the rights of teachers and our inviolable contract, but he has also fought for the people of Kentucky when it comes to issues like the opioid crisis and the Black Jewel miners.”

Like what Miller said, Read also agrees that Bevin was not a good governor for Kentucky.

“Matt Bevin has called teachers names and has attempted to lead through force rather than compromise,” Read said. “Beshear was the obvious choice for public teacher and public employees in general.”

Andy Beshear will be sworn into office to serve as the 63rd Governor of Kentucky on Dec. 10.