Kentucky Democratic Senator Switches To GOP: ‘Party Left Me’
It is tough to be a Democratic governor in a state considered to be “Red,” and it just got tougher for Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.
The governor has been popular enough in his state that he is considered one of the top picks for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination for 2028, having defeated his Republican opponent, incumbent Republican Gov. Matt Bevin, in 2019 with a total of 709,890 votes, which was 49.20 percent of the vote.
In 2023, he defeated his GOP challenger, Attorney General Daniel Cameron, by around 67,174 votes, which was approximately five percentage points.
However, President Donald Trump won the state in the 2016 presidential election with 1,202,971 votes, accounting for 62.52% of the total.
And his support has grown, garnering 1,326,646 Kentucky votes in the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to former President Joe Biden, and 1,337,494 votes in the 2024 presidential election, accounting for 64.47 percent of the state’s votes
That may be one of the reasons that State Sen. Robin Webb has switched her party from Democrat to Republican, Fox News reported.
“First and foremost, I’m a mother, a rancher and a lawyer with deep personal and professional roots in Kentucky’s coal country,” the former Democrat said. “As the Democratic Party continues its lurch to the left and its hyperfocus on policies that hurt the workforce and economic development in my region, I no longer feel it represents my values.
“It has become untenable and counterproductive to the best interests of my constituents for me to remain a Democrat,” she said.
“While it’s cliché, it’s true: I didn’t leave the party — the party left me,” she said.
It is a tough hit for the Democratic Party in the state as Webb is from a rural area of Kentucky, which has been a stronghold for the blue party because of its union ties and coal mining industry.
The news was celebrated by Robert Benvenuti, Chairman of the Republican Party of Kentucky.
“Like countless other Kentuckians, [Webb] has recognized that the policies and objectives of today’s Democratic Party are simply not what they once were, and do not align with the vast majority of Kentuckians,” he said.
“I always respected that [Webb] approached issues in a very thoughtful and commonsense manner, and that she never failed to keenly focus on what was best for her constituents,” he said. “It is my pleasure to welcome Sen. Robin Webb to the Republican Party.”
But the state’s Democratic Party lashed out at Webb, saying that she is “not a Democrat,” which may not be the burn they think it is.
“Senator Webb has chosen to join a political party that is currently working around the clock to take health care away from over a million Kentuckians, wipe out our rural hospitals, take food off the table of Kentucky families, and take resources away from our public schools,” Kentucky Democratic Party Chair Colmon Elridge said to Fox News Digital. “If those are her priorities, then we agree: she isn’t a Democrat.”
As for Beshear, he said that he would consider a campaign to become the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee in the next election, The Daily Beast reported.
“If you’d asked me a couple of years ago if this is something I’d consider, I probably wouldn’t have. But I don’t want to leave a broken country to my kids. And so, if I’m somebody that can bring this nation together and hopefully find some common ground, it’s something I’ll consider,” he said.
The governor started his own podcast this year in which he is taking a moderate stance.
“Far too much of what we see out there tries to put us in a box,” he said in the first episode. “It tries to make everything D or R, red or blue, left or right, and we know the world’s so much more complicated than that.”
Not content for the new line from Reebok to be worn by basketball players, the second-year Chicago Sky power forward instead wants her shoe to be ubiquitous, like those of another Windy City basketball player star.
‘I want people to wear the Angel Reese 1s everywhere and just to be a household name,’ Reese told recently told Elle. ‘Just like how they wear Jordans everywhere.’
Obviously Reese would need a few hundred million in sales if she’s going to approach Michael Jordan’s success in this area. Now a billionaire, his Air Jordan line has been spun off by Nike into its own brand with the six-time NBA Champion as its chairman.
Air Jordan shoes were so sought after that thieves regularly stole them from the feet of victims in the 1980s and 90s. As recently as January, nearly 2,0000 pairs of Air Jordans valued at nearly $500,000 were swiped from a train in Arizona.
Whether or not Reese’s line from Reebok will inspire such extreme behavior is yet to be seen, but fans online are certainly skeptical.
Not content for the new line from Reebok to be worn by basketball players, the second-year Chicago Sky power forward instead wants her shoe to be ubiquitous, she told Elle
Jordan’s impact on sneakers and Chicago leaves Reese with some catching up to do
‘Stop playing,’ wrote one, while several others responded to a X post on the subject by asking her to ‘please stop.’
Several respondents liked the shoes, which come in an array of colors, including pink. While one said they wouldn’t consider the Reese 1 to be the next Air Jordan, they were quick to add the sneakers ‘aren’t bad looking.’
Nike got a very positive response on Instagram, where the brand has been slowly trickling out photos of Reese wearing the shoes. One respondent included the sneakers’ release date: ‘SURPRISE!! September 18 it’s go time.’
But for all the positivity surrounding the Reese 1 release, the WNBA star continued to take criticism for putting herself in the same breath as Jordan.
‘She might be the only person that deserves to be told to shut up and hoop,’ one critic wrote.
Like Jordan before her, Reese is sure to wear her signature shoe during games
The original Air Jordans didn’t have his famed ‘jump man’ logo, which came along later
Another took a more lighthearted approach: ‘I love her ambition but… you know what let me be quiet.’
The sneakers are Reebok’s second signature shoe released for a WNBA player, following a previous model for Rebecca Lobo years earlier.
Reese described the sneakers to Elle as an extension of herself.
‘My personality is me being unapologetically myself — that’s what the shoes are as well,’ Reese told Elle. ‘The versatility of being able to wear the shoes on and off the court was the most important thing to me.’