Matt Bevin
Matt Bevin (Republican Party) was the Governor of Kentucky. He assumed office on August 1, 2015. He left office on December 10, 2019.
Bevin (Republican Party) ran for re-election for Governor of Kentucky. He lost in the general election on November 5, 2019.
He ran on a joint ticket with the lieutenant gubernatorial nominee, Ralph Alvarado (R).
Bevin was first elected in 2015, succeeding term-limited Gov. Steve Beshear (D). Bevin defeated three other candidates in the Republican primary, securing victory over then-agriculture commissioner James Comer Jr. (R) by a margin of 83 votes out of nearly 215,000 cast.
In 2014, Bevin ran for a seat in the U.S. Senate but was defeated by incumbent Mitch McConnell (R).
Before seeking elected office, Bevin served as president of bell manufacturer Bevin Brothers. He had previously worked in asset management, founding his own firm in 2003. Bevin served four years as an officer in the U.S. Army, attaining the rank of captain.
Biography
Bevin was raised in Shelburne, New Hampshire, as the second of six children. His father was a factory worker, and the family lived in a farmhouse. Bevin attended Washington and Lee University in Virginia with a four-year ROTC scholarship. After graduating in 1989, he was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Army and rose to the rank of captain. He spent four years on active duty with primary responsibilities as the 5th Mechanized Infantry Division Artillery’s counterfire officer.[1]
Bevin met his wife Glenna, then a registered nurse, in 1990 while he was on active duty at Fort Polk in Louisiana. They married in 1996 and moved to Kentucky in 1999 so that he could work with National Asset Management. Bevin founded the money management firm Integrity Asset Management in 2003 and, in 2011, he became president of Bevin Brothers, a bell manufacturing company.[1]
Bevin and his wife are parents to nine children, four of them adopted from Ethiopia. A 10th child died in a car accident at 17.[2] Bevin is the chairman of the Louisville-area American Red Cross, and he and his wife established the Bevin Center for Missions Mobilization in 2012 in memory of their late eldest daughter, Brittiney.[1]
Elections
2019
See also: Kentucky gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2019
General election
General election for Governor of Kentucky
Andy Beshear defeated incumbent Matt Bevin and John Hicks in the general election for Governor of Kentucky on November 5, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Andy Beshear (D) | 49.2 | 709,890 |
 | Matt Bevin (R) | 48.8 | 704,754 | |
 | John Hicks (L) | 2.0 | 28,433 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.0 | 46 | ||
| Total votes: 1,443,123 (100.00% precincts reporting) | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Governor of Kentucky
Andy Beshear defeated Rocky Adkins, Adam Edelen, and Geoff M. Young in the Democratic primary for Governor of Kentucky on May 21, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Andy Beshear | 37.9 | 149,448 |
 | Rocky Adkins | 31.9 | 125,981 | |
 | Adam Edelen | 27.9 | 110,161 | |
 | Geoff M. Young | 2.3 | 8,923 | |
| Total votes: 394,513 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Governor of Kentucky
Incumbent Matt Bevin defeated Robert Goforth, William Woods, and Ike Lawrence in the Republican primary for Governor of Kentucky on May 21, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Matt Bevin | 52.3 | 136,069 |
 | Robert Goforth | 38.9 | 101,345 | |
 | William Woods | 5.5 | 14,440 | |
 | Ike Lawrence | 3.2 | 8,412 | |
| Total votes: 260,266 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
2015
General election
Republican Matt Bevin and his running mate, Jenean M. Hampton, defeated Attorney General Jack Conway and independent Drew Curtis.[3]
| Governor and Lieutenant Governor, 2015 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican |  Matt Bevin/Jenean M. Hampton |
52.5% | 511,771 | |
| Democrat | Jack Conway/Sannie Overly | 43.8% | 426,827 | |
| Independent | Drew Curtis/Heather Curtis | 3.7% | 35,627 | |
| Total Votes | 974,225 | |||
| Election results via Kentucky Secretary of State | ||||
Primary election
| Governor and Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky Republican Primary, 2015 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | ||
| Matt Bevin/Jenean Hampton |
32.9% | 70,479 | ||
| James Comer Jr./Chris McDaniel | 32.9% | 70,396 | ||
| Hal Heiner/K.C. Crosbie | 27.1% | 57,948 | ||
| Will T. Scott/Rodney Coffey | 7.2% | 15,364 | ||
| Total Votes | 214,187 | |||
| Election results via Kentucky State Board of Elections. | ||||
2014
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Mitch McConnell Incumbent |
60.2% | 213,753 | ||
| Matt Bevin | 35.4% | 125,787 | ||
| Shawna Sterling | 2% | 7,214 | ||
| Chris Payne | 1.5% | 5,338 | ||
| Brad Copas | 0.9% | 3,024 | ||
| Total Votes | 355,116 | |||
| Source: Kentucky State Board of Elections |
||||
Campaign themes
2019
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Matt Bevin did not complete Ballotpedia's 2019 Candidate Connection survey.
Campaign website
| “ |
Strengthening Kentucky’s Financial Foundation Passed a fiscally conservative budget that makes a historic commitment to our ailing pension system and restores fiscal responsibility in state government. Growing Kentucky’s Economy Kentucky will be the epicenter of engineering and manufacturing excellence in America Creating A Healthier Kentucky Governor Bevin is working to improve the health of Kentuckians on a variety of fronts. Protecting and Strengthening Our Communities
Investing In Education & Workforce This historic charter school legislation represents a truly momentous step forward in providing quality choices for Kentucky’s most vulnerable students, creating the promise of real opportunity for young people and their parents where hope does not currently exist. These are tuition-free public schools, open to any student who wishes to attend. Serving Those Who Serve Us While public servants do not do what they do for recognition, Gov. Bevin strongly believes Kentucky should serve those who serve their communities. |
” |
| —Matt Bevin[5] | ||
2015
Bevin's campaign website listed the following themes for the 2015 race:
| “ |
SHRINK THE SIZE OF GOVERNMENT Our nation was founded on a bedrock of individual liberty, limited government, and constitutional principles. Bloated government is not unique to the federal level - we need to shrink the size of government at the state level in Kentucky through efforts that remove redundancy and waste in every department. As Governor, Matt will dedicate one senior member of his staff whose sole job will be to find and eliminate waste and improve efficiencies in state government. The Bevin-Hampton plan will cut the Governor’s administrative staff at least 20%, by comparison to the current administration, by improving efficiency and accountability - just as Matt and Jenean have done in the private sector. This will be the model for every other department of state government to emulate. PENSION REFORM It's time for a Governor who will deal with Kentucky’s unfunded pension liabilities that are in excess of $20 billion and, based on more realistic actuarial assumptions, likely more than double that amount. Continuing to ignore the problem is a threat to public safety, education and other viable government services. The Bevin-Hampton plan will revamp our public retirement system while ensuring that we meet the existing obligations we have made to retired state workers. This starts with instituting an immediate freeze on the expansion of participants in our current pension plans and implementation of a 401(k) type of defined contribution plan for new employees. EDUCATION REFORM As federal overreach in our education system has grown, positive outcomes have diminished. We need to end the monopoly that exists in Kentucky's school system by supporting school choice and school vouchers. It's time to stop Common Core and its "one size fits all" approach. Instead, let's empower local school boards, local principals and local teachers to make the decisions that are the best for their students, and most importantly, empower parents over bureaucrats. HEALTH CARE REFORM Health care reform in Kentucky begins with freezing and beginning to disband KYNECT immediately and assisting as needed in transitioning our citizens quickly from a state run exchange to the federally run healthcare exchange because Kentucky cannot financially afford to do otherwise. LABOR LAW REFORM The Bevin-Hampton plan will update our current labor laws’ outdated policies that are resulting in self-inflicted economic wounds. This begins with passing comprehensive Right to Work legislation and eliminating prevailing wage requirements for state contracts PRESERVE KY'S ENERGY SECTOR The Bevin-Hampton administration will aggressively fight against the EPA’s ongoing war on the energy sector in Kentucky, particularly the relentless attacks on the coal industry. As Governor, Matt will exercise, to the fullest extent of the law, our state's constitutional rights and sovereignty. For example, he will refuse to enforce federal regulations that are in opposition to our own state interests. TAX REFORM Updating and simplifying our antiquated tax code will allow us to better compete with surrounding states. We will focus on raising only the revenue truly necessary to run the state government. We must also take additional steps such as eliminating the state death tax and lowering individual and corporate tax rates. Under Matt's leadership, tax reform will not be based simply on revenue neutrality, but rather, to the extent possible, on reducing tax revenue itself and leaving as much of Kentucky’s wealth in the hands of those who produce it. [4] |
” |
| —Bevin's campaign website (2015)[6] | ||
2014
At an event sponsored by the FreedomWorks PAC on February 10, 2014, Bevin asserted that McConnell was vulnerable to losing the general election. At the event, Bevin stated that he was the only Republican who would defeat Democratic candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes. Bevin said, “We run a tremendous risk of losing this seat in Kentucky to someone who does not represent Kentucky values. We run the risk of losing this seat because of a sense of apathy and a sense of fatigue for the career politician that is my opponent in this primary, Mitch McConnell."[7]
Campaign finance summary
Ballotpedia currently provides campaign finance data for all federal- and state-level candidates from 2020 and later. We are continuously working to expand our data to include prior elections. That information will be published here as we acquire it. If you would like to help us provide this data, please consider donating to Ballotpedia.
Noteworthy events
Lawsuits with Attorney General Andy Beshear (D)
Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear (D) filed multiple lawsuits against Gov. Matt Bevin (R) during his administration.
Lawsuit over modifications to education board memberships
On June 2, 2017, Gov. Bevin signed an executive order that made modifications to several of the state's education-related boards. The order modified the structure and membership of three existing state educational boards, abolished five more boards and reestablished them under new guidelines, and created a new Charter Schools Advisory Council. In a press release announcing the order, Bevin cited the need to enforce Senate Bill 1, which had revised the state's educational standards, and House Bill 520, which implemented a charter school system.[8] On June 5, Bevin began enacting the order by appointing four non-voting advisers to the Kentucky Board of Education.[9]
On June 7, 2017, Attorney General Beshear threatened legal action if the executive order was not rescinded in seven days. In his statement, Beshear argued that Bevin "cannot ignore laws passed by the General Assembly that create independent boards, lay out their structure and set mandatory terms for their members. Put simply, he cannot rewrite laws he does not like through executive orders." In response, Bevin's office stated that the executive order had its basis in a law that "has been used by Democratic and Republican governors to reorganize executive branch agencies 357 times since 1992, including 103 times by (former) Gov. Steve Beshear."[10]
On the June 14 deadline, Bevin sent Beshear a letter informing him of the governor's intention to revise the executive order by June 16, which led Beshear to announce a temporary halt to any legal challenge to the order.[11] On June 16, Bevin issued an updated executive order, which amended several of the provisions in the original order. Beshear filed a lawsuit in Franklin Circuit Court against the new order on June 20, 2017, and argued that it still exceeded the governor's authority.[12] In November 2017, Franklin County Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate ruled that Bevin's modifications to the education boards were legal, since they were temporary and made while the state legislature was out of session. Wingate also ruled that a part of Bevin's executive order related to the Education Professional Standards board was unconstitutional, since it required teachers to appeal disciplinary decisions to the state board of education instead of the state court system.[13]
Lawsuits over boards of trustees abolishments
On June 22, 2016, Attorney General Beshear announced his intent to sue Gov. Bevin regarding Bevin's executive orders that reorganized the boards of trustees of the Kentucky Retirement Systems, the state's pension agency, and the University of Louisville. In the weeks prior, Bevin had abolished the Kentucky Retirement Systems board and created a new board in its place containing four new members in addition to the original 13 members. He also abolished the University of Louisville board, ousting four board members responsible for the university's nonprofit foundation.[14][15][16]
Beshear denounced the actions and sought a temporary restraining order to halt the changes from taking effect; he planned to file the motion as part of a pre-existing lawsuit filed by four current and former members of the Kentucky Retirement Systems board of trustees.[17] Bevin asserted at a press conference that he had authority over the boards of state-controlled agencies.[16]
Franklin County Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd approved a temporary injunction against Bevin's removal of the Kentucky Retirement Systems board chairman, Thomas Elliott, on August 22, 2016, but he also ruled that Bevin did have the authority to reorganize the board. The decision reinstated Elliott as chair pending a final court decision on the matter.[18] Judge Shepherd dismissed Beshear's lawsuit in January 2018 after the state legislature ratified the Kentucky Retirement Systems changes in 2017.[19]
Beshear also sued Bevin in 2016 regarding the University of Louisville board of trustees. As in the Kentucky Retirement Systems lawsuit, Beshear alleged that Bevin did not have the authority to abolish the board.[20] Judge Shepherd approved a temporary injunction against Bevin's actions on July 29. "The record here is devoid of any legal or factual precedent for a Governor to abolish and recreate an entire board of trustees of a public university," wrote Shepherd in the opinion. In response to the injunction, Bevin said, "The circuit court ignored binding precedent from the Kentucky Court of Appeals, the plain language of the statute at issue, and a recent opinion from the Office of the Attorney General, that the Governor has authority to propose and temporarily implement the reorganization of the University of Louisville Board of Trustees."[21] On September 28, 2017, the Kentucky Supreme Court dismissed Beshear's lawsuit after the state legislature ratified Bevin's modifications to the board's structure and granted the governor the power to make similar modifications to the structure of university boards in the future.[22]
Lawsuit over education budget cuts
Beshear filed a civil suit against Bevin on April 11, 2016, which claimed that budget cuts made by Bevin violated the Kentucky Constitution's distribution of powers article. Bevin had announced a 2 percent budget cut to state colleges and universities on April 1, which took effect immediately. Beshear called the decision illegal and asked the court to order Bevin to release the funds.[23][24]
After his election in 2015, Bevin proposed budget cuts for state agencies in order to address the state pension fund's unfunded liabilities. The pension fund had $30 billion in unfunded liabilities as of January 2016. "We cannot move forward unless we address the crippling debt that faces this state," the governor said in his 2016 State of the State address.[25]
On May 19, 2016, Franklin County Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate ruled against Beshear. His decision stated that the constitution did not prevent Bevin from instructing colleges to spend less money, as he did in the executive order, but did prevent him from altering the funding they receive.[26] Beshear appealed the ruling and on September 22, 2016, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled that Bevin did not have the authority to control the budgets of public colleges and universities without the legislature’s approval. This reversed the lower court's decision.[27]
2016 Republican National Convention
- See also: Republican National Convention, 2016
| Matt Bevin | |
| Republican National Convention, 2016 | |
| Status: | Delegate |
| State: | Kentucky |
| Bound to: | Unknown |
| Delegates to the RNC 2016 | |
| Calendar and delegate rules overview • Types of delegates • Delegate rules by state • State election law and delegates • Delegates by state | |
Bevin was a delegate to the 2016 Republican National Convention from Kentucky.[28] In the Kentucky Republican caucuses on March 5, 2016, Donald Trump received 17 delegates, Ted Cruz received 15, and Marco Rubio and John Kasich received seven each. Ballotpedia was not able to identify which candidate Bevin was bound by state party rules to support at the national convention. If you have information on how Kentucky’s Republican delegates were allocated, please email editor@ballotpedia.org.[29]
Delegate rules
Delegates from Kentucky to the Republican National Convention were selected by nomination committees and approved at the county and state conventions. Kentucky GOP rules required national convention delegates to have supported the 2012 Republican presidential nominee. Kentucky GOP rules and Kentucky state law required delegates from Kentucky to vote for the candidate to whom they were allocated through the first round of voting at the national convention. If a candidate died or withdrew prior to the first round of voting at the national convention, the chairman of the Kentucky delegation was to call a meeting at which the delegates were to vote on the remaining candidates and be reallocated on the basis of the results.
Kentucky caucus results
- See also: Presidential election in Kentucky, 2016
| Kentucky Republican Caucus, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | Delegates | |
|
Donald Trump |
35.9% | 82,493 | 17 | |
| Ted Cruz | 31.6% | 72,503 | 15 | |
| Marco Rubio | 16.4% | 37,579 | 7 | |
| John Kasich | 14.4% | 33,134 | 7 | |
| Ben Carson | 0.8% | 1,951 | 0 | |
| Rand Paul | 0.4% | 872 | 0 | |
| Other | 0.2% | 496 | 0 | |
| Jeb Bush | 0.1% | 305 | 0 | |
| Mike Huckabee | 0.1% | 174 | 0 | |
| Chris Christie | 0% | 65 | 0 | |
| Carly Fiorina | 0% | 64 | 0 | |
| Rick Santorum | 0% | 31 | 0 | |
| Totals | 229,667 | 46 | ||
| Source: The New York Times and Republican Party of Kentucky | ||||
Delegate allocation
Kentucky had 46 delegates at the 2016 Republican National Convention. Of this total, 18 were district-level delegates (three for each of the state's six congressional districts). District delegates were allocated proportionally; a candidate had to win at least 5 percent of the statewide caucus vote in order to be eligible to receive any district delegates.[30][31]
Of the remaining 28 delegates, 25 served at large. At-large delegates were allocated proportionally; a candidate had to win at least 5 percent of the statewide caucus vote in order to be eligible to receive any of the state's at-large delegates. In addition, three national party leaders (identified on the chart below as RNC delegates) served as bound delegates to the Republican National Convention. The RNC delegates were allocated in the same manner as the at-large delegates.[30][31][32]
See also
2019 Elections
- 2015 Election Analysis: How Bevin Won in Kentucky
- Open offices draw big names, new faces to Kentucky state executive elections in 2015
- Governor of Kentucky
- Kentucky gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2015
- United States Senate elections, 2014
- United States Senate elections in Kentucky, 2014
External links
- Social media:
- Fact-checking at PolitiFact
- Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
- Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Collected news and commentary at The Hill
- Collected news and commentary at The Huffington Post
- Collected news and commentary at The Washington Times
- Salon collected news and commentary
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Facebook: "Matt Bevin for Kentucky, Info," accessed January 25, 2014
- ↑ Nicole Brown, MSNBC, "Answers to the most Googled questions about Kentucky Gov.-elect Matt Bevin," November 4, 2015
- ↑ Kentucky Secretary of State, "Governor and Lieutenant Governor," accessed November 4, 2014
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Governor of Kentucky, "Priorities," accessed January 31, 2019
- ↑ Matt Bevin for Kentucky, "Issues," accessed April 3, 2015
- ↑ Politico, "Matt Bevin: Mitch McConnell can’t win in November," February 10, 2014
- ↑ Courier-Journal, "Gov. Matt Bevin establishes charter school advisory council, restructures education boards," June 2, 2017
- ↑ Courier-Journal, "Following executive order, Gov. Matt Bevin appoints non-voting advisers to Board of Education," June 5, 2017
- ↑ Courier-Journal, "Kentucky attorney general challenges Bevin executive order on education boards," June 7, 2017
- ↑ Courier-Journal, "Beshear to hold off on filing suit over Bevin executive order on education boards," June 15, 2017
- ↑ Courier-Journal, "Andy Beshear, Matt Bevin clash after AG says time's up, sues over education boards," June 20, 2017
- ↑ 89.3 WFPL, "Judge Rules Mostly In Favor Of Bevin’s Education Board Overhauls," November 15, 2017
- ↑ Courier-Journal, "Bevin abolishes pension board, creates new one," June 17, 2016
- ↑ University Herald, "Four University of Louisville board members lose their positions, following Governor Bevin's cleanup," June 23, 2016
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Wave3, "KY Attorney General to sue governor to stop reorganization of board," June 22, 2016
- ↑ Lexington Herald-Leader, "Former, current members of pension board sue Bevin over dismissal," June 19, 2016.
- ↑ Lexington Herald-Leader, "Judge blocks Bevin’s ouster of pension board member; says board can be reorganized," August 22, 2016
- ↑ Pensions & Investments, "Judge dismisses lawsuit questioning Kentucky governor’s ability to restructure pension fund board," January 9, 2018
- ↑ Louisville Business First, "Beshear files another lawsuit against Bevin over new U of L board," July 5, 2016
- ↑ 89.3 WFPL, "Judge Blocks Bevin’s U of L Board Appointments," July 29, 2016
- ↑ Courier-Journal, "Bevin claims win after justices dismiss suit on University of Louisville board shake-up," September 28, 2017
- ↑ Courier-Journal, "Bevin orders immediate university budget cuts," April 1, 2016
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Kentucky attorney general uses governor over education cuts," April 12, 2016
- ↑ Courier-Journal, "Police, job growth get boost from Bevin budget," January 27, 2016
- ↑ Courthouse News Service, "Kentucky Governor Can Cut University Budgets," May 19, 2016
- ↑ WTVQ.com, "KY Supreme Court: Bevin's higher ed cuts are illegal," September 22, 2016
- ↑ Cincinnati.com, "Kentucky GOP releases list of delegates," April 25, 2016
- ↑ To build our list of the state and territorial delegations to the 2016 Republican National Convention, Ballotpedia relied primarily upon official lists provided by state and territorial Republican parties, email exchanges and phone interviews with state party officials, official lists provided by state governments, and, in some cases, unofficial lists compiled by local media outlets. When possible, we included what type of delegate the delegate is (at-large, district-level, or RNC) and which candidate they were bound by state and national party bylaws to support at the convention. For most delegations, Ballotpedia was able to track down all of this information. For delegations where we were not able to track down this information or were only able to track down partial lists, we included this note. If you have additional information on this state's delegation, please email editor@ballotpedia.org.
- ↑ 30.0 30.1 Republican National Committee, "2016 Presidential Nominating Process," accessed October 6, 2015
- ↑ 31.0 31.1 CNN.com, "Republican National Convention roll call vote," accessed July 20, 2016
- ↑ Republican National Committee, "Memorandum on Binding of RNC Members," January 29, 2016
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Steve Beshear (D) |
Governor of Kentucky 2015-2019 |
Succeeded by Andy Beshear (D) |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
State of Kentucky Frankfort (capital) |
|---|---|
| Elections |
What's on my ballot? | Elections in 2024 | How to vote | How to run for office | Ballot measures |
| Government |
Who represents me? | U.S. President | U.S. Congress | Federal courts | State executives | State legislature | State and local courts | Counties | Cities | School districts | Public policy |
