Kentucky’s political landscape enters national conversation amid election fallout

Kentucky’s political landscape has been featured in national media twice in recent days as Democrats have searched for a path forward following Republican Donald Trump’s election to a second presidential term.

First, on Sunday, new Lexington Councilwoman-elect Emma Curtis was featured on the satirical political show Last Week Tonight With John Oliver.

About a half-hour into the 36-minute show on HBO, Oliver highlighted several transgender political candidates who were elected around the country last week. Among them was Curtis, 28, who will serve as Lexington’s first openly transgender councilwoman.

Curtis, an independent filmmaker and organizer for Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, received 52% of votes in her race to beat out incumbent Brenda Monarrez. Curtis had called for her opponent to step down after a judge last month issued a three-year restraining order that prohibited Monarrez from entering city hall amid accusations that she sexually harassed a fellow councilwoman.

Monarrez has denied the claims.

Curtis is believed to be the first transgender person elected to a city office anywhere in Kentucky, and Oliver said her election is his “new favorite fact” about Kentucky.

“It is a powerful thing to have one group saying, ‘I don’t think you should exist,’ and to be able to respond with, ‘I am literally an elected official,’” Oliver said.

Oliver’s show, on air since 2014, is described as a satirical program that focuses on national and international current events. Oliver got his start on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart on Comedy Central. Both shows analyze shows from a comedic, left-wing perspective.

Gov. Andy Beshear’s guest essay

On Tuesday, the New York Times published a guest essay by Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat elected, and reelected, in a solidly Republican state.

In the essay, titled “I’m the Governor of Kentucky. Here’s How Democrats Can Win Again,” Beshear offers advice for how Democrats can perform better in future elections.

“The way forward is not complicated, but it takes work and discipline. The focus of the Democratic Party must return to creating better jobs, more affordable and accessible health care, safer roads and bridges, the best education for our children and communities where people aren’t just safer but also feel safer,” Beshear wrote.

Trump won a second term in the White House last week with a decisive win over Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump swept swing states including Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, and he was the first Republican candidate in 20 years to win the nationwide popular vote.

Trump received 65% of Kentucky’s votes, beating Harris by 31 points and capturing his largest win yet in the commonwealth. He carried Kentucky by 30 points in 2016, and when he was lost his bid for reelection in 2020, he beat current President Joe Biden by 26 points in Kentucky.

Beshear, the son of two-term former Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, was narrowly elected to office in 2019 over Republican incumbent Matt Bevin, and he beat Republican Daniel Cameron by 5 points last year to win reelection.

In the guest essay, Beshear said fellow Democrats need to prove they care about providing constituents with a better quality of life and re-earn the public’s trust. He also noted that he’d maintained Democratic priorities along the way, including the veto of several anti-LGBTQ and anti-abortion bills.

“I ... beat Mr. Trump’s handpicked candidate last fall. That happened because even if some voters might have disagreed with the vetoes, they knew the next day I would be announcing new jobs, opening a new health clinic or finishing a new road that would cut 20 minutes off their commute,” Beshear said in the op-ed.

“They knew my focus and effort was on their daily needs and that our gains as a commonwealth would help every single one of our families.”