FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said Wednesday that Democrats should be thinking less about partisan politics and more about meeting people's everyday needs as they chart a comeback strategy after last month's crushing election losses.
Beshear, who has won three statewide elections in deeply red Kentucky and has been mentioned as a potential contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028, said the party should work on things like good-paying jobs, health care, schools, roads and bridges and public safety.
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Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear talks about the gains in the economic growth f the state during the past year in Frankfort, Ky., Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear talks about the gains in the economic growth f the state during the past year in Frankfort, Ky., Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear talks about the gains in the economic growth f the state during the past year in Frankfort, Ky., Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear talks about the gains in the economic growth f the state during the past year in Frankfort, Ky., Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear talks about the gains in the economic growth f the state during the past year in Frankfort, Ky., Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear talks about the gains in the economic growth f the state during the past year in Frankfort, Ky., Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)
“These are the core areas the American people need help on, and that’s where we as Democrats should be, but that’s where every Republican should be, too,” Beshear said during a sit-down interview at the Kentucky Capitol. “And just imagine, if we spent most of our time working on all that, we’d argue a lot less. And the American people would be a lot better off.”
Beshear, who was recently chosen as chair-elect of the Democratic Governors Association for 2026, when a majority of states will elect governors, said he hoped to be “a reasonable, common-sense, common-ground voice” for the party. That should overshadow talk of whether the party should shift more to the political right, left or center, he said.
“The Democratic Party needs to stay laser focused on people’s everyday needs," he said. “I don’t think they’re political at all. So I don’t get into the right, left or center. But focusing on jobs, focusing on health care, focusing on the roads and bridges we drive every day, public education and public safety. Those are the core concerns that if somebody’s worried about it, they don’t get to anything else. They don’t get to the partisanship.”
Beshear's rise in national politics accelerated with his reelection victory in 2023, a year before voters decided to return Republican Donald Trump to the White House and give the GOP control of Congress. Beshear served one term as state attorney general before his first election as governor in 2019.
Beshear was in the running to be Kamala Harris’ running mate this summer but lost out to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. Assessing his party's loss of the White House, Beshear avoided any criticism of Harris, saying she made the best decisions she could and tried hard to win.
He quickly pivoted to the work ahead for Democrats, and his role in the party's comeback efforts.
“I believe that what this election showed is that many people, at the end of the day, vote with their gut about who they think will make their lives better," Beshear said.
Beshear, whose term ends in 2027, mostly sidestepped questions about his future, saying he's focused on his job as governor and his national role in getting more Democratic governors elected. The term-limited governor again ruled out a U.S. Senate run in 2026, when Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell's seat will be on the ballot. McConnell, who is stepping down from his leadership post at the end of the year, has not said whether he will seek another term.
Beshear had some ideas on what Democrats should look for in their next presidential nominee in 2028.
“I think the next Democratic nominee should be a pragmatist that is about getting things done, getting real results," he said. “A track record of showing people that they can help lower their bills or help them make more money to pay them. Somebody who’s got a track record on improving the infrastructure of this country. With plans, but also results, that show that health care can be more affordable. Someone that is pro-public education and someone that understands that people don’t just need to be safer, they need to feel safer in their communities.”
A constant theme of Beshear's governorship has been Kentucky's record pace of economic development since he's been in office. The state's Republican supermajority legislature says the record private-sector investments stem from its business-friendly policies.
Beshear also has focused on infrastructure improvements, expanded health care and support for public schools. He led opposition to a ballot measure rejected by voters that would have allowed state lawmakers to allocate public tax dollars to support students attending private or charter schools.
The governor has feuded with Republican lawmakers on a number of issues, including GOP efforts to restrict abortion rights and ban gender-affirming health care for transgender young people. GOP lawmakers have easily swept aside Beshear's vetoes.
Beshear is one of several Democratic governors who are the subject of early speculation as potential contenders for the party’s presidential nomination in 2028.
If he succeeds in helping elect more Democratic governors in 2026, the party's bench of potential candidates for national office will grow, Beshear said Wednesday.
“Governors get things done,” he said. "You can’t be overly ideological because you’ve got to get results for your people. So my goal is to elect a lot more Democratic governors who will work everyday for the people of their states. And if I do that well, there will be a lot more names that are out there for the future.”
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear talks about the gains in the economic growth f the state during the past year in Frankfort, Ky., Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear talks about the gains in the economic growth f the state during the past year in Frankfort, Ky., Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear talks about the gains in the economic growth f the state during the past year in Frankfort, Ky., Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear talks about the gains in the economic growth f the state during the past year in Frankfort, Ky., Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear talks about the gains in the economic growth f the state during the past year in Frankfort, Ky., Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear talks about the gains in the economic growth f the state during the past year in Frankfort, Ky., Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)
MAMOUDZOU, Mayotte (AP) — Relatives of families struggling after Cyclone Chido ripped through the French island territory of Mayotte expressed helplessness Wednesday, a day before France’s president and another 180 tons of aid were expected to arrive.
Some survivors and aid groups have described hasty burials, the stench of bodies and the devastation of precarious informal settlements whose population of migrants makes it even more challenging to determine the number of dead.
“A catastrophe of exceptional intensity,” French authorities said in an update Wednesday. “The island is devastated.” It noted 31 confirmed deaths but said the Muslim practice of burial within 24 hours could mean the real toll is quite different.
Mayotte, in the Indian Ocean off Africa’s east coast, is France’s poorest territory and a magnet for migrants hoping to reach Europe. Already, France's interior minister this week has proposed cracking down.
The cyclone on Saturday was the deadliest storm to strike the territory in nearly a century. It devastated entire neighborhoods on the collection of islands with winds that exceeded 220 kph (136 mph), according to the French weather service. Many people had ignored cyclone warnings, thinking the storm would not be so extreme.
Now residents pick their way across a landscape in search of food as telecommunications remain tenuous and even sturdily built structures including health centers have been damaged.
Driving the streets of Mayotte, AP reporters saw destroyed houses, felled trees and people lining up for water. Dozens of French military personnel set up a makeshift camp at the airport.
French Prime Minister François Bayrou on Tuesday said more than 1,500 people were injured, including more than 200 critically, but authorities fear hundreds and possibly thousands of people have died. Authorities said about 100,000 lived in a “precarious situation.”
On the French island of Reunion about a three-hour flight away, loved ones were coming together to donate aid for survivors. Some said their families in Mayotte had no food or water and roofs were blown off houses. It had taken days to make contact with some.
“It is difficult because I feel helpless,” said Khayra Djoumoi Thany, 19.
Anrafa Parassouramin also has family in Mayotte. “We are also afraid of disease outbreaks, because people are drinking water from wherever they can get it, and it’s not necessarily potable water,” she said.
Health Minister Geneviève Darrieussecq has raised concerns about the risk of a cholera epidemic on the archipelago which earlier this year had an outbreak of a highly drug-resistant strain of the disease.
French authorities said the distribution of 23 tons of water began Wednesday.
The French minister for overseas matters, François-Noël Buffet, told French radio Europe 1 that aid brought by plane has started being allocated to locations across Mayotte.
The minister said the water supply system was “working at 50%” and presented a risk of “poor quality.” Electricity had partially resumed.
Mayotte’s hospital was badly damaged. A field hospital should be operational by early next week, Buffet said.
A Navy ship was due to arrive in Mayotte on Thursday with 180 tons of aid and equipment, according to the French military. But the main airport could not accept commercial flights because of damage. The road network was also widely damaged.
French President Emmanuel Macron will travel to Mayotte on Thursday and visit a hospital and a destroyed neighborhood, his office said. “Our compatriots are living through the worst just a few thousand kilometers away,” Macron said in a statement.
Some residents of Mayotte have long criticized the French government of neglect.
On Tuesday evening, a program on public broadcaster France 2 raised 5 million euros ($5.24 million) in aid for Mayotte through the Foundation of France charity, the channel said.
Corbet reported from Paris.
This photo provided by the French Army shows soldiers clearing a road in the Indian Ocean French territory of Mayotte, Wednesday Dec.18, 2024, as the cyclone on Saturday was the deadliest storm to strike the territory in nearly a century. (D Piatacrrea, Etat Major des Armees/Legion Etrangere via AP)
This photo provided by the French Army shows residents queuing outside a military supplies center in the Indian Ocean French territory of Mayotte, Wednesday Dec.18, 2024, as the cyclone on Saturday was the deadliest storm to strike the territory in nearly a century. (D Piatacrrea, Etat Major des Armees/Legion Etrangere via AP)
This photo provided by the French Army shows a soldier unloading cans of food in the Indian Ocean French territory of Mayotte, Wednesday Dec.18, 2024, as the cyclone on Saturday was the deadliest storm to strike the territory in nearly a century. (D Piatacrrea, Etat Major des Armees/Legion Etrangere via AP)
This photo provided by the French Army shows soldiers clearing a road in the Indian Ocean French territory of Mayotte, Wednesday Dec.18, 2024, as the cyclone on Saturday was the deadliest storm to strike the territory in nearly a century. (D Piatacrrea, Etat Major des Armees/Legion Etrangere via AP)
This photo provided by the French Army shows a soldier giving a bottle of water to a resident in the Indian Ocean French territory of Mayotte, Wednesday Dec.18, 2024, as the cyclone on Saturday was the deadliest storm to strike the territory in nearly a century. (D Piatacrrea, Etat Major des Armees/Legion Etrangere via AP)
This photo provided by the French Army shows soldiers lifting a collapsed barrier in the Indian Ocean French territory of Mayotte, Wednesday Dec.18, 2024, as the cyclone on Saturday was the deadliest storm to strike the territory in nearly a century. (D Piatacrrea, Etat Major des Armees/Legion Etrangere via AP)
Smoke rises from destroyed dwellings Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024 in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
French troops arrive to give support Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024 in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
Smoke rises from destroyed dwellings Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024 in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
French firemen stand on the tarmac of the airport Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024 in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
This photo provided by the French Interior Ministry shows French gendarmes unloading supplies in Koungou, in the Indian Ocean French territory of Mayotte, Wednesday Dec.18, 2024. (Ministere de l'Interieur/Gendarmerie Nationale via AP)
People lineup to collect water Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024 in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
This satellite photo provided on Wednesday Dec. 18, 2024 by the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) shows Bandrajou in the Indian Ocean the French territory of Mayotte, on Dec.15, 2024, after the cyclone Chido. (CNES distributed by Airbus DS via AP)
This undated satellite photo provided on Wednesday Dec. 18, 2024 by the Institut Geographique National (IGN) shows Bandrajou, in the Indian Ocean French territory of Mayotte, before the cyclone Chido. (IGN via AP)
This satellite photo provided on Wednesday Dec. 18, 2024 by the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) shows the port of Mamoudzou in the Indian Ocean the French territory of Mayotte, on Dec. 15, 2024, after the cyclone Chido. (CNES distributed by Airbus DS via AP)
This undated satellite photo provided on Wednesday Dec. 18, 2024 by the Institut Geographique National (IGN) shows Doujani in the Indian Ocean French territory of Mayotte, before the cyclone Chido. (IGN via AP)
This undated satellite photo provided on Wednesday Dec. 18, 2024 by the Institut Geographique National (IGN) shows Mtsapere, in the Indian Ocean French territory of Mayotte, before the cyclone Chido. (IGN via AP)
This satellite photo provided on Wednesday Dec. 18, 2024 by the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) shows Mtsapere in the Indian Ocean the French territory of Mayotte, on Dec. 15, 2024, after the cyclone Chido. (CNES distributed by Airbus DS via AP)
This undated satellite photo provided on Wednesday Dec. 18, 2024 by the Institut Geographique National (IGN), left, and the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) shows the port of Mamoudzou, before and after of the cyclone Chido in the Indian Ocean French territory of Mayotte. (IGN/CNES distributed by Airbus DS via AP)
This undated satellite photo provided on Wednesday Dec. 18, 2024 by the Institut Geographique National (IGN), left, and the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) shows Bandrajou, before and after of the cyclone Chido in the Indian Ocean French territory of Mayotte. (IGN/CNES distributed by Airbus DS via AP)
This undated satellite photo provided on Wednesday Dec. 18, 2024 by the Institut Geographique National (IGN), left, and the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) shows Mtsapere, before and after of the cyclone Chido in the Indian Ocean French territory of Mayotte. (IGN/CNES distributed by Airbus DS via AP)
This satellite photo provided Wednesday Dec.18, 2024 by the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) shows Doujani in the Indian Ocean the French territory of Mayotte, on Dec. 15, 2024, after the cyclone Chido. (CNES distributed by Airbus DS via AP)
This undated photo provided Tuesday Dec. 17, 2024 by the French Interior Ministry shows gendarmes clearing a road in the French territory of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean, after the island was battered by its worst cyclone in nearly a century, (Ministere de l'Interieur/Gendarmerie Nationale via AP)
This undated photo provided Tuesday Dec. 17, 2024 by the French Interior Ministry shows devastated houses in the French territory of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean, after the island was battered by its worst cyclone in nearly a century, (Ministere de l'Interieur/Gendarmerie Nationale via AP)
Volunteers sort through donations for victims of cyclone Chido in Mayotte at the House of Mayotte, in Saint-Denis, Réunion Island, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
Volunteers sort through donations for victims of cyclone Chido in Mayotte at the House of Mayotte, in Saint-Denis, Réunion Island, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
Volunteers sort through donations for victims of cyclone Chido in Mayotte at the House of Mayotte, in Saint-Denis, Réunion Island, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
This undated satellite photo provided on Wednesday Dec. 18, 2024 by the Institut Geographique National (IGN), left, and the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) shows Doujani, before, left, and after the cyclone Chido in the Indian Ocean French territory of Mayotte. (IGN/CNES distributed by Airbus DS via AP)
Volunteers sort through donations for victims of cyclone Chido in Mayotte at the House of Mayotte, in Saint-Denis, Réunion Island, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
This undated satellite photo provided Wednesday Dec.18, 2024 by the Institut Geographique National (IGN) shows the port of Mamoudzou, in the Indian Ocean French territory of Mayotte, before the cyclone Chido. (IGN via AP)
People bring goods for victims of cyclone Chido in Mayotte at the House of Mayotte, in Saint-Denis, Réunion Island, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
