It was­n’t a close race:

Demo­c­rat Steve Beshear trounced Repub­li­can David Williams and inde­pen­dent Gate­wood Gal­braith Tues­day to win anoth­er four-year term as Kentucky’s governor.

Beshear, who made an unlike­ly polit­i­cal come­back in 2007 after los­ing a bid for gov­er­nor in 1987, rolled to vic­to­ry tout­ing his job-cre­ation efforts and his han­dling of the state bud­get dur­ing tight eco­nom­ic times.

The biggest mar­gin of vic­to­ry in recent races for gov­er­nor was in 1999 when Demo­c­ra­t­ic incum­bent Paul Pat­ton out­dis­tanced Repub­li­can Pep­py Mar­tin, 60.6 per­cent to 22.2 percent.

In that race, Gal­braith, who ran as a Reform can­di­date, cap­tured 15.3 per­cent of the vote, his best show­ing in his five bids for the state’s high­est elec­tive office.

Democ­rats were also pro­ject­ed as the win­ners in most of Ken­tuck­y’s oth­er statewide races. With more than 90% precincts report­ing, Ali­son Grimes appeared head­ed to vic­to­ry over Bill John­son in the con­test for Sec­re­tary of State, and Jack Con­way was hand­i­ly beat­ing Todd P’Pool for Attor­ney Gen­er­al. Demo­c­rat Adam Ede­len was pro­ject­ed as the win­ner in the state audi­tor’s race.

The state trea­sur­er’s race remains too close to call. Demo­c­rat Todd Hol­len­bach present­ly has a slight lead over Repub­li­can K.C. Cros­bie (49% to 46%). Lib­er­tar­i­an Ken­neth Moell­man trails far behind both of them at 5%.

Repub­li­cans did win the race for agri­cul­ture com­mis­sion­er. Their can­di­date, James Com­er, is trounc­ing Demo­c­rat Robert Farmer by a near­ly two-to-one margin.

About the author

Andrew Villeneuve is the founder and executive director of the Northwest Progressive Institute, as well as the founder of NPI's sibling, the Northwest Progressive Foundation. He has worked to advance progressive causes for over two decades as a strategist, speaker, author, and organizer. Andrew is also a cybersecurity expert, a veteran facilitator, a delegate to the Washington State Democratic Central Committee, and a member of the Climate Reality Leadership Corps.

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