In Kentucky, they take bluegrass and brown liquor (bourbon to be precise) quite seriously. But this past week, at the Kentucky Distillers' Association meeting in Louisville, high spirits were undermined by frustration with President Trump's tariff policies and war of words with Canada.

Kentucky's Democratic Governor Andy Beshear, just a few months shy of his 49th birthday, was there, shaking hands and looking to shake up Washington. "I continue to push the current administration to pull back these destructive tariffs," he told the crowd.

Beshear told us, "The fight with Canada, even before tariffs, has bourbon down 85% in that country. And listen, I'm not blaming Canadians, but this president's insulted them."

Kentucky bourbon might not be the typical fuel for presidential ambition, but the fight has thrust Beshear into the 2028 conversation. The title of his new memoir, "Go and Do Likewise: How We Heal a Broken Country" (to be published Tuesday by St. Martin's), quotes Jesus, who said people should follow in the footsteps of the Good Samaritan, to "go and do likewise."

Asked if Democrats should do more to engage with people of faith, Beshear replied, "Oh, I think so. I mean, think about the lessons the Bible teaches. The miracle of the fishes and loaves is one of the only miracles in the first four books of the New Testament. In a place of scarcity, Jesus makes sure that everybody has enough. Democrats are fighting to make sure there is food assistance for all of America's children, that kids don't go to school hungry, that seniors don't go to bed hungry. And look at what Donald Trump tried to do: He tried to cut SNAP benefits during a shutdown for the first time in history, to use starving Americans as leverage. That's not Christian. It's not the right thing to do."

Beshear has said that Democrats have to do a better job of speaking "normal." Asked to explain, he said, "We've got to sound like normal human beings. I think that it was advocacy-speak that was meant for the right things, right? It was meant to reduce stigma, but I don't think you reduce stigma by changing words. You reduce stigma by changing hearts. You think about the term 'food insecurity' – it doesn't convey what that person is going through. It doesn't convey your compassion for trying to make sure everyone has enough to eat, like the word hunger does."

President Trump has won big in deep-red Kentucky, but Beshear points to his record – one term as attorney general and two as governor – as proof that Democrats can win in the South. And the past success of Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, both Democratic governors from the South, could provide a playbook.

"You look at Bill Clinton as someone who was good at being president, I think the last president to run a surplus," Beshear said, "and I think part of that was bringing in that outsider's perspective of having been a governor, where you have to run a balanced budget every single year, or you've got to start cutting mid-year."

Beshear may claim the mantle of outsider, but his father, Steve, once served as governor as well. "Yes, sometimes people try to do the 'nepo baby' deal with my dad being governor," he said, "and they look at me and they say, 'How old were you when your dad was elected governor?' And I look at them and say, 'Thirty.' As a lawyer, I did more free legal work for that man than anybody in my lifetime. He has still yet to repay me!"

Beshear, who is now chair of the Democratic Governors' Association, tells us he'll wait until the midterms, and after consulting with his wife and two children, to decide about 2028. But he's already on the offense against one potential GOP candidate, publicly taking on Vice President J.D. Vance, who has also been out talking about faith.

Beshear sees stark differences: "Well, I try to use faith to lift people up. I see JD Vance using it to kick them while they're down," he said. "I see the arrogance, which he goes about his job and his life using faith to judge people, to demean people. Engaging in the poverty tourism that his book 'Hillbilly Elegy' was, judging our people and claiming the people of Appalachia are lazy and that addiction is their fault, when opioid companies sent hundreds of pills into counties for every man, woman and child that lives there."

Earlier this spring, Beshear appeared at South Carolina Congressman Jim Clyburn's fish fry, a famous proving ground for presidential contenders, where he looked every bit ready to throw his hat into the ring. And in his book, he references what he calls "The Great American Reset."

"We've lived through a civil war," he said. "We've lived through McCarthyism, which by the way, Donald Trump is engaging in right now. Yeah, we can get beyond this. It's the idea that your neighbor isn't the enemy from within; it's just your neighbor, and he or she is doing their best in a very difficult world. Shouldn't we show them more kindness and less judgment? Our communion table is open to everybody."

READ AN EXCERPT: "Go and Do Likewise" by Andy Beshear

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Watch an extended interview with Andy Beshear (Video)

Extended interview: Andy Beshear 13:29

For more info:

• "Go and Do Likewise: How We Heal a Broken Country" by Andy Beshear (St. Martin's Press), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available Sept. 22 via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org

    
Story produced by Ed Forgotson. Editor: Remington Korper. 

In:

• Andy Beshear