Usually, when a governor is informed of new information by a key advisor, this happens behind closed doors. This is not the case for the governor of Kentucky Andy Beshear this week.
“How is” skibidi “different from” fire “?” The democrat of the second mandate asked his son in the first episode of his new Podcast.
“The fire is, as, it’s really good,” said Will Beshear, 15. “” Skibidi “is fair, like” Oh, ok “.”
The launch of this week of “The Andy Beshear Podcast” is part of a larger series of Beshear movements – and by a number of other high -level democrats – to extend their regular communication modes. Although he was a potential presidential candidate in 2028 and he was a politician elected in his state for a decade, Beshear told NBC News in an interview that he wanted to create a space where people can take a break from the daily home of new politicians and rather listen to what Beshear called “a conversation with friends”.
“We want it to be something that looks more like people’s daily life, where you are going to talk about politics for 20 minutes, then you will go to entertainment or sport, family or faith,” said Beshear, adding that he did not expect the podcast to be “openly political”.
The first episode of the Podcast featured several segments, including an interview with the lawyer and Democratic donor John Morgan; A conversation with the guests and the son of Beshear on the rules of the name, the image and the resemblance for the university athletes; And a few minutes of son of Beshear teacher to his father the Slang Gen Z.
This is part of a broader decision among high -level democrats to change the way in which the party communicates with the Americans after an election in 2024 which revealed a strain of discomfort of deep voters with the party brand.
Before even launching the podcast, Beshear led other ways to engage with an audience. For a long time, his flow of social media was very much like that of the average politician: a thread here on recent legislation, ad hoc text blocks describing a political position, perhaps the occasional photo of a recent event in the capital of the State or among the voters.
Then, in January, Beshear began to point his stream with short videos of direct camera selfies, in which he told viewers what was in his mind that day. Some videos were taken outside, some were in the car and others were in his office, but each started with Beshear saying to the camera: “Hey everyone, it’s Andy.”
“This is how people communicate with each other,” said the governor. “Not through something scripted, not by survey data, but to be really real and authentic.”
He said he had recorded the videos on his own phone, however “I think others sometimes want it to be another,” joked Beshear, adding that the videos concern “what is in my heart and my mind”.
Duel of democratic podcasts?
Beshear is this year’s second Democratic Governor to launch a podcast after Gavin Newsom from California, who launched “This is Gavin Newsom” last month. Many other politicians have also launched them in recent years, including the Senator of Gop Ted Cruz, Texas.
Newsom billed his podcast Like a space where he “would tackle difficult questions, get involved with people who do not always agree with me (and) debate without degrading”. But the governor’s decision to welcome a pair of pro-Trump Figures, Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon, in two of his first episodes generated criticism of certain Democrats.
Beshear said he had a slightly different goal for his podcast, but that he still rented Newsom for his efforts.
“While Governor Newsom has made criticism for whom he had, his idea of launching a podcast, I think, is very important. And (it is important) to be able to communicate, to be able to discuss ideas with people who can disagree with you,” said Beshear.
The two men began their podcasts in the months following a deadly defeat with President Donald Trump in November, some criticizing their party’s candidate, former vice-president Kamala Harris, not having participated in sufficient interviews and other conversations.
Trump sat for interviews with 20 labor podcasts, while Harris appeared on only eight, according to Edison Research.
Beshear said that the objective of his podcast and selfie style videos should not necessarily compensate for the absence of a democratic landscape of new media, but to create spaces where his voters could hear directly from him.
“I think it is so important at the moment,” said the governor, “when the Americans do not trust certain institutions, or at least want to be able to check what they hear through messages directly from their civil servants.”
Fuel rumors of presidential aspirations
Beshear and Newsom are often considered as pretenders to the appointment of the democratic presidential elections of 2028, part of a speculative list which includes more than half a dozen democratic governors.
During the months that followed the 2024 elections, party leaders were blurred to find a way to respond to Trump and satisfy basic democrats – 65% said in a recent NBC News national survey Let them want the Democrats of the Congress to stick to their positions even if it may sacrifice Bipartisian progress rather than compromise with Trump.
Senator Bernie Sanders, i-vt., And representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Dn.y., took their “Oligarchy combat tower » in several states. And Senator Cory Booker, Dn.J., delivered a passionate anti-Trump discourse for more than 25 hours In the Senate last week. But several Democratic governors have so far sought to look at compromises or bipartites.
In a long speech Wednesday in Washington, the Governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer, also often quoted as a possible presidential competitor, criticized the president’s plan for the prices but emphasized the areas in which she would seek common ground with Trump, such as restoration of manufacturing in Michigan.
Beshear argued that the Democratic Party needed a platform beyond the opposition to Trump.
“I think it is important that the Democratic Party is not just against someone, but for something,” said the governor. “It is not that the Democrats should not repel President Trump, it is that we should tell people what are our values and what we have focused on while we do it.”
Beshear added that the podcast joins an arsenal of other forms of communication that he already uses to deploy his messages – including his videos of direct selfies to the camera and his press conferences.
“People now get their news from more different sources more than ever,” said the governor, adding: “It just means that you should be able to communicate in so many different ways.”
The podcast “consists in treating what is happening in the world thanks to conversations with other people in a format that, hopefully, is inviting and, hopefully, pleasant,” added Beshear.
It is not clear at this stage if the other rising democratic stars plan to join the governors of California and Kentucky in the podcast stand.
When asked if other people would take a microphone in the near future, a national democratic strategist told NBC News: “The best question is who will not have a podcast soon.”