The following is a transcript of an interview with Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that aired on Nov. 17, 2024.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We’re joined now by Kentucky governor Andy Beshear who joins us from Lexington. Good morning to you, governor. You’re a blue governor in a very red state. How do you even begin to try uniting a country as united- as divided as this? Are there lessons we can learn from Kentucky?
GOV. ANDY BESHEAR: I think there’s absolute lessons that- that we can learn from Kentucky, a state where, last year, I won as a Democrat by five points and Donald Trump just won by 30. And I think it basically boils down to both running and governing, where people wake up in the morning and what they worry about when they go to bed at night. And that’s not the next election. It’s their job, and whether they make enough to support their family. It’s the next doctor’s appointment for themselves, their parents, or their kids. It’s the roads and bridges they drive every day. It’s that public school they drop their kids off at, and it’s public safety in their community. The goal here is to focus on all of those things, where, if people don’t feel secure in those areas, they don’t get to anything else. They don’t get to the crazy thing that some politicians said last night or this morning, they don’t get to that next piece of policy that’s out there. So it’s a- it’s about a relentless focus on people’s everyday needs and their everyday life.