LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Attorney General Andy Beshear will announce Monday he will run for governor.
The news was first announced by Matt Jones of Hey Kentucky.
SCOOP: @hey_kentucky has learned Andy Beshear will announce his candidacy for Governor of Kentucky tomorrow
He will be the first Democrat to officially announce he is running against Matt Bevin
— Matt Jones (@MattJonesRadio) July 8, 2018
Political analyst Bob Babbage confirmed the news to LEX 18.
Beshear would be the first Democrat to announce a challenge to Gov. Matt Bevin, although the governor has not yet said whether he intends to seek reelection.
The contest is more than a year away. Kentucky voters will select their next chief executive when they go to the polls Nov. 5, 2019.
Should Beshear ultimately succeed, he would be following in the footsteps of his father, Steve Beshear, who lead the commonwealth from 2007 to 2015.
Andy Beshear’s staff sent a news release late Sunday morning announcing a barnstorming series of events around the state for Monday and Tuesday where he will "make an announcement concerning the future of Kentucky."
Beshear’s entry into the governor’s race was widely expected.
Should Beshear and Bevin become their respective party’s standard-bearer for the 2019 contest, it would extend a battle the two have waged since Bevin took office in December 2015.
Notably, Beshear repeatedly has challenged Bevin’s policies in court with a series of lawsuits.
Among the court fights, Beshear immediately challenged the Bevin-backed pension reform law, known as Senate Bill 151, after its passage in April. A Franklin Circuit Court judge in June ruled the law unconstitutional, declaring the process that brought it forth a "legislative sleight-of-hand."
Bevin slammed the ruling and has vowed to appeal it.
