Steve Beshear

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Steve Beshear (2010)

Steven Lynn "Steve" Beshear (born September 21, 1944 in Dawson Springs , Hopkins County , Kentucky ) is an American politician . He was governor of the US state of Kentucky from 2007 to 2015 . Beshear is a member of the Democratic Party .

Family, education and work

Beshear comes from a religious family. After graduating from high school, Beshear attended the University of Kentucky , where he received his bachelor's and master's degrees in law . Between 1969 and 1975 he was a soldier in a reserve unit of the US Army . After the end of his military service, he switched to politics and worked as a lawyer on the side.

Beshear and his wife Jane have two children. The son Andy (born 1977) was elected Attorney General Kentucky in November 2015 . In November 2019, Andy defeated the Republican incumbent Matt Bevin and became governor of Kentucky.

Political career

Rise in Kentucky

Beshear was a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1974 to 1979 . The next step came in 1980 when he was elected Attorney General for his state. He held this office until 1983. In this role he was very committed to consumer protection. His rise continued in 1983 when he was elected lieutenant governor under Martha Layne Collins . An attempt to be elected governor in 1987 failed in the primary elections. After this setback, he initially devoted himself to the clients of his successful law firm.

In 1996, Beshear ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the United States Senate . With 42.8 percent of the vote, he was defeated by the Republican incumbent Mitch McConnell .

Twenty years after his last attempt to become governor, Beshear won the Kentucky gubernatorial election on November 6, 2007 against incumbent Ernie Fletcher . On December 11, 2007 he took office; in 2011 he achieved a second term against the President of the State Senate , David L. Williams , with 56 percent of the vote. In the next election in November 2015, he was not allowed to run again due to a term limit. The Republican Matt Bevin was elected to succeed him. Beshear's mandate expired in December of that year.

Bible Park Controversy

Beshear agreed to give government funding to a Bible theme park. The organization Americans United for Separation of Church and State protested the plan, claiming that Beshear violated state neutrality towards the church.

Mentioned in a negative list

The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics organization in Washington , which compiles a list of the most corrupt politicians in the United States, named Beshear in the top 20 for accusing him of allowing the mining industry to unduly influence politics.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ John Cheves: Democrat Andy Beshear Wins Close Battle for Kentucky Attorney General. In: Lexington Herald , November 3, 2015 (English).
  2. Gov. Matt Bevin won't contest results, concedes from gubernatorial race (English) , WLKY. November 14, 2019. 
  3. Democrat Steve Beshear Unseats Troubled Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher. In: Fox News (Online), Nov. 7, 2007.
  4. Kentucky State Website
  5. Americans United for Separation of Church and State (English) ( Memento of the original from March 25, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.au.org
  6. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (English) ( Memento of the original from July 21, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.citizensforethics.org

Web links

Commons : Steve Beshear  - collection of images, videos and audio files