Andy Beshear says newly elected Black governors are Democrats’ secret weapon for 2028

The Democratic Governors Association chair says historic victories in Georgia, Wisconsin, and Nevada have given Democrats their strongest presidential election map in decades.

Last week’s midterm elections resulted in a record number of Black candidates being elected governor. However, the wins of Governors-elect Keisha Lance Bottoms of Georgia, David Crowley of Wisconsin, and Aaron Ford of Nevada also set up Democrats for the 2028 presidential election, notes Gov. Andy Beshear, the chair of the Democratic Governors Association and a potential 2028 presidential candidate.

“The DGA and these candidates together created the best map for ’28 that Democrats have had in decades,” Beshear told theGrio during a recent post-midterm election interview.

As chair of the Democratic Governors Association, Governor Beshear led the organization’s national support for this cycle’s slate of Black Democratic gubernatorial nominees. He told theGrio that the group raised or donated $17-$19 million each for the Bottoms, Crowley, and Ford campaigns.

“The DGA was either the single largest funder directly to the campaign—that’s Georgia—or to the independent expenditures for every single campaign,” said Beshear. He added, “We wanted to to make history. We wanted people to know that the Democratic Governors Association believes in diversity, backs these candidates, and so do I personally.”

The investments have paid off, Beshear relished: “Now we have a Democratic governor in every single swing state.”

Beshear said he was particularly excited about the election of Keisha Lance Bottoms, whom he praised as an “impressive” candidate and “the only person I know in America that can create presidential level turnout in a non-presidential year.” He said of the first Black woman governor in U.S. history: “She is very skilled, and the DGA was a huge part of her campaign.”

The Kentucky governor said of Ford, a close friend whom he worked alongside with as fellow attorneys general, “I told people from the very beginning in the DGA that we could win this. And there was skepticism because he was going up against an incumbent, but I knew that he could do it.”

While Gov. Beshear has not yet made up his mind as to whether he will run for the White House in 2028, the two-term Kentucky governor says, “If our Democratic nominee is smart,” whoever he or she is, “they will lean on these governors in each state to help them turn out the vote.”

Beshear continued, “These are people who have now proven that they know how to win in tough states, and they should be the ones trusted by whoever the Democratic nominee is.”

The governor noted that Dems over performing or notching victories in states once considered favorable to Republicans, like Texas and Alaska, now put the party in better position for the 2028 electoral map.

When asked if the results of the 2026 midterms gave him any better sense of whether or not he will officially launch a bid for the presidency, Beshear told theGrio that he wants to first catch up on some sleep after two years of DGA leadership and putting Democrats in position for what was a “historic night.”

Then, Beshear said, “I’ll sit down and do all the analysis of what I think it means to me, and talk with my family sometime later.”

He added, “Right now, I’m really excited for these new governors.”