North State Journal: “While much of the political focus in 2023 is on the emerging presidential race, voters in some states will be weighing in on lower-profile contests that will nonetheless provide fresh insight into their priorities and views on the direction of the country.
Republicans are expected to try to tie Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear to President Joe Biden and other national Democrats who tend to be more liberal. Beshear, making his reelection bid in a state that heavily favors Republicans, gently distanced himself from Biden in a recent interview with The Associated Press, saying, “This race isn’t going to be about the White House.”
“It’s going to be what’s going on in the homes of each and every Kentuckian,” Beshear said. “And I think this last set of elections showed that if you want to be governor, people expect you to have a plan. People expect you to talk to them and not simply use some national talking points.”
State GOP spokesperson Sean Southard in a statement earlier this month said the party feels that the “fundamentals are strong for a Republican candidate to defeat him” once the party has a nominee.
About a dozen Republicans have said they are running, including former U.N. Ambassador Kelly Craft, state Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles and Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who has already received former President Donald Trump’s endorsement.
The Republican Governors Association did not make someone available for an interview but noted in a statement that the only incumbent governor to lose in 2022 was a Democrat, Steve Sisolak of Nevada, “and the RGA is ready to do it again in 2023.”
“Democrat Andy Beshear does not align with Kentucky’s values, and we know voters are eager for Republican leadership in Frankfort,” RGA spokesperson Joanna Rodriguez said.
New Jersey Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, who is taking over as chair of the Democratic Governors Association in 2023, said the group’s “highest priority, far and away, is to defend and reelect” Beshear.
The group made a controversial move in 2022 to boost far-right Republican candidates in several states’ GOP races, allowing Democratic candidates to face easier-to-beat opponents in the general election.
Murphy would not rule out taking similar steps in 2023, saying: “As long as it is ethical and legal, nothing is off the table.”
His party faces a tougher battle in conservative Louisiana, where moderate Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards is term-limited. It’s unclear who will emerge as a Democratic candidate, but a large pool of GOP candidates is expected to jump into the race. One of the highest-profile Republicans considering a bid is U.S. Sen. John Kennedy.
In Mississippi, Republican Gov. Tate Reeves will seek a second term. He recently signed into law the state’s largest-ever tax cut and plans to push for a full elimination of the state’s income tax in 2023. His reelection bid may be complicated, however, by lingering frustrations over the crumbling water system in the capital city of Jackson, which partially failed in August and left the majority-black city of about 150,000 people waiting in lines for water to drink, bathe, cook and flush toilets.
In Democratic-leaning Virginia, all 140 seats in the politically divided General Assembly will be on the ballot. Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who has been privately weighing a 2024 presidential bid, has pledged to help his party win full control of the legislature, though his plans to further limit abortions in the state could galvanize Democratic voters.
Republicans would need to hold their majority in the House of Delegates and, pending the outcome of a January special election, pick up as many as three seats for an outright Senate majority.”