Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear talks political strategy, flipping seats in visit to Greenville
More: Two key Democratic politicians turn their focus to South Carolina with upcoming visits
Beshear also traveled to Columbia, Charleston, and Georgetown County to connect with Democratic Party leaders and engage with labor movement representatives. He is part of a growing list of Democratic politicians on the national political scene attempting to build ties with South Carolina voters, activists, and politicians.
He pointed to several reasons why he made the trip to the Palmetto State without mentioning a possible 2028 presidential campaign. The reasons were an invite from the AFL-CIO, an invite from the Georgetown County Democratic Party, a desire to be a "get things done" voice in politics and his son's baseball game, he said.
"I'm traveling more because I'm trying to be a common sense, common ground, get things done type of voice," Beshear said. "My focus is on this year."
The Kentucky governor started his tour in Greenville at the state's annual American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) convention.
The convention made up leaders from top labor organizations like the Communication Workers of America (CWA), the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA), and Southern Workers Assembly. Wire technicians for AT&T and port workers represented by the CWA and ILA, respectively, went on strike last year amid contract negotiations.
Beshear referenced similarities between his home state, Kentucky, and South Carolina with their manufacturing base and long-established anti-union sentiments.
South Carolina is a right-to-work state, meaning it has laws in place that prevent an employer from requiring union membership or the payment of union dues. Many states with such laws have significantly lower rate of unionization, a comparison based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows. South Carolina has one of the lowest unionization rates in the country with union members making up about 2.8% of the state's workers.
"In Kentucky, they passed all of the same anti-union laws and our union membership is going up," Beshear said. "What happens when business is able to take a look at and work with our unions? They find they do really incredible work."
AFL-CIO took the time to commend Beshear for his ability to beat Kentucky gubernatorial candidates whom Republican politicians, including President Donald Trump and Sen. Mitch McConnell, backed.
He was first elected Kentucky governor in 2019 after he beat Republican Matt Bevin by just under half a percentage point. That margin of victory rose to 5% in 2023, when he won reelection against Republican Daniel Cameron.
"People often ask me how you do it?" Beshear said when he took the stage. "You win by staying true to our values of compassion, of empathy, and of doing right by our agents."
Beshear connects with Greenville County political leaders
Greenville City Councilmember Michelle Shain later hosted Beshear and local political leaders at her home for a reception, where the Kentucky governor discussed the importance of settling political differences and meeting people where they are.
More: Greenville won't have a municipal primary election this year, and here's the reason why
Numerous local Democratic politicians attended the event, including Greenville City Councilmember Lillian Brock Flemming and city council candidate Tine Belge. State politicians Rep. Chandra Dillard (D-Greenville), Rep. Wendell Jones (D-Greenville) and former South Carolina Gov. Dick Riley also attended.
Beshear laid out three ways he thinks the Democratic Party should attract a stronger voter base: focusing on people's everyday needs, meeting people where they are, and explaining the reason behind their beliefs.
"The opening is there," Beshear said. "I am living proof that we can and we should win everywhere."
Stacey Mars, chair of the Greenville County Democratic Party (GCDP), and Kathryn Harvey, chair of the Spartanburg County Democratic Party (SCDP), helped organize the meeting with Beshear.
Mars said local Democratic organizers are strategizing and working to send a message that resonates with voters for the 2026 elections.
"The fact that a Democrat was able to win in Kentucky, it gives us hope that we can do the same thing here," Mars said.
Harvey is campaigning for Spartanburg County's District 3 seat after longtime councilmember David Britt stepped down. She said focusing on local elections and flipping those seats is just as important as the upcoming 2026 race for U.S. Senate.
"Think about how much impact you have as a city council person, a mayor, a county council person," Harvey said. "It's where people can see change."
Three Greenville City Council seats are up for election this year, two of which have multiple candidates. There will also be a special election in Spartanburg County to fill Britts' seat.
More: Lee Johnson of Greenville drops out Senate race, cites need for Democratic Party unity
One of South Carolina's Senate seats, all House seats and the state's governor's office are up for election next year. Numerous Democrats and Republicans have launched campaigns to fill incumbent Sen. Lindsey Graham's seat. Lee Johnson of Greenville dropped out of the race for Senate on July 17, citing a need for more unity in the Democratic fight to unseat Graham.
Bella Carpentier covers the South Carolina legislature, state, and Greenville County politics. Contact her at bcarpentier@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Beshear speaks at AFL-CIO conference, meets with SC politicians
Solve the daily Crossword
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Washington Post
3 hours ago
- Washington Post
Statehouses are the public's houses, but the fight for potty parity continues
For female state lawmakers in Kentucky, choosing when to go to the bathroom has long required careful calculation. There are only two bathroom stalls for women on the third floor of the Kentucky Statehouse, where the House and Senate chambers are located. Female legislators — 41 of the 138 member Legislature — needing a reprieve during a lengthy floor session have to weigh the risk of missing an important debate or a critical vote.
Associated Press
3 hours ago
- Associated Press
Statehouses are the public's houses, but the fight for potty parity continues
For female state lawmakers in Kentucky, choosing when to go to the bathroom has long required careful calculation. There are only two bathroom stalls for women on the third floor of the Kentucky Statehouse, where the House and Senate chambers are located. Female legislators — 41 of the 138 member Legislature — needing a reprieve during a lengthy floor session have to weigh the risk of missing an important debate or a critical vote. None of their male colleagues face the same dilemma because, of course, multiple men's bathrooms are available. The Legislature even installed speakers in the men's bathrooms to broadcast the chamber's events so they don't miss anything important. In a pinch, House Speaker David Osborne allows women to use his single stall bathroom in the chamber, but even that attracts long lines. 'You get the message very quickly: This place was not really built for us,' said Rep. Lisa Willner, a Democrat from Louisville, reflecting on the photos of former lawmakers, predominantly male, that line her office. The issue of potty parity may seem comic, but its impact runs deeper than uncomfortably full bladders, said Kathryn Anthony, professor emerita at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's School of Architecture. 'It's absolutely critical because the built environment reflects our culture and reflects our population,' said Anthony, who has testified on the issue before Congress. 'And if you have an environment that is designed for half the population but forgets about the other half, you have a group of disenfranchised people and disadvantaged people.' There is hope for Kentucky's lady legislators seeking more chamber potties. A $300 million renovation of the 155-year-old Capitol — scheduled for completion by 2028 at the soonest — aims to create more women's restrooms and end Kentucky's bathroom disparity. The Bluegrass State is among the last to add bathrooms to aging statehouses that were built when female legislators were not a consideration. In the $392 million renovation of the Georgia Capitol, expanding bathroom access is a priority, said Gerald Pilgrim, chief of staff with the state's Building Authority. It will introduce female facilities on the building's fourth floor, where the public galleries are located, and will add more bathrooms throughout to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. 'We know there are not enough bathrooms,' he said. Evolving equality in statehouses There's no federal law requiring bathroom access for all genders in public buildings. Some 20 states have statutes prescribing how many washrooms buildings must have, but historical buildings — such as statehouses — are often exempt. Over the years, as the makeup of state governments has changed, statehouses have added bathrooms for women. When Tennessee's Capitol opened in 1859, the architects designed only one restroom — for men only — situated on the ground floor. According to legislative librarian Eddie Weeks, the toilet could only be 'flushed' when enough rainwater had been collected. 'The room was famously described as 'a stench in the nostrils of decency,'' Weeks said in an email. Today, Tennessee's Capitol has a female bathroom located between the Senate and House chambers. It's in a cramped hall under a staircase, sparking comparisons to Harry Potter's cupboard bedroom, and it contains just two stalls. The men also just have one bathroom on the same floor, but it has three urinals and three stalls. Democratic Rep. Aftyn Behn, who was elected in 2023, said she wasn't aware of the disparity in facilities until contacted by The Associated Press. 'I've apparently accepted that waiting in line for a two-stall closet under the Senate balcony is just part of the job,' she said. 'I had to fight to get elected to a legislature that ranks dead last for female representation, and now I get to squeeze into a space that feels like it was designed by someone who thought women didn't exist -- or at least didn't have bladders,' Behn said. The Maryland State House is the country's oldest state capitol in continuous legislative use, operational since the late 1700s. Archivists say its bathroom facilities were initially intended for white men only because desegregation laws were still in place. Women's restrooms were added after 1922, but they were insufficient for the rising number of women elected to office. Delegate Pauline Menes complained about the issue so much that House Speaker Thomas Lowe appointed her chair of the 'Ladies Rest Room Committee,' and presented her with a fur covered toilet seat in front of her colleagues in 1972. She launched the women's caucus the following year. It wasn't until 2019 that House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones, the first woman to secure the top position, ordered the addition of more women's restrooms along with a gender-neutral bathroom and a nursing room for mothers in the Lowe House Office Building. 'No longer do we fret and squirm or cross our legs in panic' As more women were elected nationwide in the 20th century, some found creative workarounds. In Nebraska's unicameral Legislature, female senators didn't get a dedicated restroom until 1988, when a facility was added in the chamber's cloakroom. There had previously been a single restroom in the senate lounge, and Sen. Shirley Marsh, who served for some 16 years, would ask a State Patrol trooper to guard the door while she used it, said Brandon Metzler, the Legislature's clerk. In Colorado, female House representatives and staff were so happy to have a restroom added in the chamber's hallway in 1987 that they hung a plaque to honor then-state Rep. Arie Taylor, the state's first Black woman legislator, who pushed for the facility. The plaque, now inside a women's bathroom in the Capitol, reads: 'Once here beneath the golden dome if nature made a call, we'd have to scramble from our seats and dash across the hall ... Then Arie took the mike once more to push an urge organic, no longer do we fret and squirm or cross our legs in panic.' The poem concludes: 'In mem'ry of you, Arie (may you never be forgot), from this day forth we'll call that room the Taylor Chamber Pot.' New Mexico Democratic state Rep. Liz Thomson recalled missing votes in the House during her first year in office in 2013 because there was no women's restroom in the chamber's lounge. An increase in female lawmakers — New Mexico elected the largest female majority Legislature in U.S. history in 2024 — helped raise awareness of the issue, she said. 'It seems kind of like fluff, but it really isn't,' she said. 'To me, it really talks about respect and inclusion.' The issue is not exclusive to statehouses. In the U.S. Capitol, the first restroom for congresswomen didn't open until 1962. While a facility was made available for female U.S. Senators in 1992, it wasn't until 2011 that the House chamber opened a bathroom to women lawmakers. Jeannette Rankin of Montana was the first woman elected to a congressional seat. That happened in 1916. Willner insists that knowing the Kentucky Capitol wasn't designed for women gives her extra impetus to stand up and make herself heard. 'This building was not designed for me,' she said. 'Well, guess what? I'm here.' ___ Associated Press writer Brian Witte in Annapolis, Maryland, contributed. ____ The Associated Press' women in the workforce and state government coverage receives financial support from Pivotal Ventures. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
‘A Lot Of People Stepped Up For Him': Double Crown's Former Owners Collaborate On Retirement
'A Lot Of People Stepped Up For Him': Double Crown's Former Owners Collaborate On Retirement originally appeared on Paulick Report. Graded stakes winner Double Crown, who ran for three different owners during his 55-race career, has been retired, reports The Racing winner of the 2022 Grade 2 Kelso Handicap and several listed stakes made his final racetrack appearance with an eighth in the 2024 Charles Town Classic.'A lot of people stepped up for him,' Gaudet told The Racing Biz. The 8-year-old gelding currently resides at his first racing owner Debbie Rhodes' Equine Rescue of Aiken, a Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance-accredited farm in Aiken, S.C., until he is mentally and physically ready for a second Crown began his career for Rhodes and trainer Lacy Gaudet. Dean and Patty Reeves of Reeves Thoroughbred Racing owned Double Crown for 15 races, until he was claimed by Lynn Cash's Built Wright Stables LLC for his remaining 38 starts, which included a victory in the Kelso. After the Charles Town Classic, Double Crown spent some downtime at the farm. Cash ultimately reached out to Gaudet to inquire about retiring the Double Crown's second owners, Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, found out about his retirement, they donated to aftercare organizations in Double Crown's honor and offered to pay for his shipping from Gaudet's barn in Maryland to Rhode's rescue in South Carolina.'Dean [Reeves] has also offered to do some fundraising for our new rehab barn,' Rhodes explained to The Racing Biz. 'This situation shows the good in racing. We're not perfect, but the Thoroughbred industry does more for its retired horses than any other equine industry. I try to protect every horse I've ever owned.' Maryland's champion older male of 2023 is now a pasture companion to 18-hand Belgian draft named more at This story was originally reported by Paulick Report on Jul 25, 2025, where it first appeared.
