Kentucky voters replaced their unpopular governor last month with Democrat Andy Beshear.
Gov. Matt Bevin (R-KY) is blaming his failed reelection on Democrats turning out "urban" voters on Election Day, rather than his own unpopularity.
In a Wednesday morning radio interview with Cincinnati's 55KRC, Bevin claimed his 5,189-vote defeat last month against Attorney General Andy Beshear (D) was an inexplicable "surprise."
"The left, those who think of a different ideological bent, they are getting so good at harvesting votes in the urban communities," Bevin complained. "They were able to go into urban communities where people are densely populated on college campuses and public housing projects."
The term "urban" is frequently considered coded language used by politicians expressing discriminatory or racist sentiments, experts have said.
Bevin won in rural counties, but lost overall because of massive margins for Beshear in Kentucky's Jefferson and Fayette Counties, where Louisville and Lexington are located.
Since election night, Bevin has suggested — without evidence — that "fraud" might have been the reason he lost. But a Mason-Dixon poll taken in October found the two candidates tied, making the close 49.19% to 48.83% final result reasonably predictable, and experts had called the race a tossup.
Bevin also polled repeatedly as the nation's most unpopular governor. Despite this, he predicted ahead of Election Day that he would score a six to 10 point victory over his opponent.
Bevin's 2015 inaugural address was focused on the state motto, "United we stand, divided we fall."
"Make a point of befriending someone who is in a different political party than yourself and you don't agree on anything, find something that you agree on, because, united we stand and divided we fall," he said in his remarks, urging Kentuckians to "treat one another with respect" and "the kind of cordiality that we would want to be treated with."
By contrast, throughout his term, which ends next week, Bevin attacked teachers and migrants repeatedly, even using derogatory and racist language to describe immigrants in a campaign ad this past September.
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.
