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Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear said Republican President Donald Trump could have better spent his time at a rally in Northern Kentucky talking about his war with Iran instead of focusing on politics.
The president held a rally Wednesday in Hebron to back Shelbyville Republican Ed Gallrein against incumbent U.S. Rep Thomas Massie in the 4th Congressional District. The president didn’t mention Beshear, but some of the state’s GOP constitutional officers criticized the governor, including Secretary of State Michael Adams.
Asked about the event during his weekly press conference on Thursday, Beshear said Trump “talked a lot about politics when he currently is waging a war with Iran.”
“He had a chance, just like he did in the State of the Union, to justify the war, to tell the American people the why and the how, and he spent very little time on it.” Beshear said, adding that the president did not mention soldiers with Kentucky connections who have died in the conflict.
Sgt. Benjamin N. Pennington, 26, of Glendale died Sunday from injuries he sustained in an Iranian attack at the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia amid Operation Epic Fury. Other soldiers who have died in the conflict were under Fort Knox command.
Trump did talk about Iran frequently during the rally, but to celebrate the conflict. The president said the U.S. military “has virtually destroyed Iran” and “nobody has ever seen anything like it” to cheers from the crowd.
Beshear said “if you were going to take the United States to war,” he thinks a president should have “a strong justification” of that to the American people, an “imminent threat,” a “clear vision of what winning looks like” and plan for Americans to evacuate a targeted area.
Beshear, who is term-limited as Kentucky’s governor, is seen by some as a possible candidate for president in 2028.
Before the president’s remarks Wednesday, Kentucky Republicans Auditor Allison Ball, Attorney General Russell Coleman and Adams addressed the crowd. Adams criticized Beshear on education policies, Ball highlighted audits of the governor’s administration completed by her office and though Coleman didn’t name Beshear, he denounced people for going on talk shows and “throwing federal agents under the bus. Last month, Beshear called for the removal of federal immigration officers from every city after two agents killed U.S. citizens in Minnesota on “The View.”
Asked for a response to their remarks, Beshear looked to the future.
“Listen, I’m term-limited. If that’s where they’re looking, they’re probably wasting their time,” he said. “Then again, maybe it was all just a big primary debate yesterday between them and everybody’s trying to sound as tough as they can. I’m still here to work with anybody who’s willing to work with us.”
Beshear added he “did find it interesting” that Adams spoke at the rally after Trump’s U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against him and the State Board of Elections to get sensitive voter data, including Social Security and drivers’ license numbers. The governor said he was “proud” of the board for not giving the data to the Trump administration and it should be protected.
Adams has not ruled out a 2027 run for governor.
This article appears in March 1-24, 2026.