With 100% of precincts reporting, Matt Bevin has lost his reelection bid to Democrat Andy Beshear by a vote of 49.2% to 48.8%. Bevin served as Kentucky governor for four years and was perhaps the most pro-liberty governor in the US.
Not one to hold back his true feelings about an issue, Bevin has been unabashedly pro-life throughout his time in Frankfort. Bevin signed multiple bills into law which protect the lives of babies. This angered the pro-abortion leftists immensely.
Perhaps the leading pro-gun voice in the US, Bevin has been quoted as saying that civilians may soon have to take up arms against the increasingly tyrannical government if push came to shove. Bevin campaigned for permitless carry and signed SB 150 into law on March 11th.
Along with a number of other states, Kentucky will no longer criminalize the carrying of a concealed firearm without a permit. This made anti-gun leftists extremely angry, of course.
Bevin has spoken about the negative impacts that violent video games, broken families, violent music, and social media have on society.
Bevin also was one of the only governors in history to make cuts to the state government.
Being pro-liberty, Bevin also made enemies of Repulbican politicians like Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell. Along with others in the GOP, the senior senator from Kentucky may have worked to defeat Bevin in tonight’s election.
Bevin’s 707,000 votes were significantly fewer than the 823,000 votes that other Republicans like Daniel Cameron, who was elected Attorney General received in the same election. Michael Adams won the election for Secretary of State with 746,00 votes. This might indicate that it was Bevin’s poor performance rather than Beshear’s great performance that was the major factor. Some analysts have said that it was his unpopularity that lost him the election, but the huge target on his back due to being the most pro-liberty governor in the US surely contributed to his loss.
Beshear is the current Attorney General of Kentucky and is the son of 8-year kentucky governor, Steve Beshear. He took office four years ago, defeating Republican Whitney Westerfield by 0.2%.
According to OnTheIssues.org, Beshear supports abortion and was endorsed by NARAL. He believes in defending Obamacare and regulating insurance companies. Beshear believes that women earn less than men and that unions should be able to force employees to pay union dues regardless of their desire to be in a union (opposes right-to-work laws). His NRA rating is 0%.
In tonight’s election, Libertarian candidate John Hicks received 28,475 votes, which amounted to 2% of the vote. This was larger than the 0.4% margin of victory by which Bevin lost.
