Potential VP candidate pick Beshear rallies Iowa Democrats

Beshear, who is being vetted as a vice presidential candidate by Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, headlined the Iowa Democratic Party’s annual Liberty & Justice Celebration in Des Moines.

The 46-year-old Democrat praised Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominees, as a tough, smart, caring and attentive leader.

“In November, we are going to win and get back to being each other’s neighbors, to being American before we’re Democrats or Republicans,” Beshear said. “We’re going to get back to working together to get things done. … And I believe that while they will falsely say, ‘Oh, she’s too far to the left,’ what she will do as president is not move a country to the right or the left. She will move it forward for every single American citizen.”

Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart told attendees that in the days since President Joe Biden’s decision to bow out of the race, after weeks of pressure from allies over concerns he would be unable to beat former President Donald Trump, she’s seen renewed enthusiasm across the party.

“The one word I keep hearing over and over again is excitement,” Hart told a sold-out crowd of 450 donors, leaders, activists and elected officials.

With the change atop the ticket, activists said they feel more optimistic about the party’s prospects in the November election. And the chance to hear from a possible vice presidential contender got Democrats fired up.

Republican Party of Iowa spokesman Luke Wolff, in a statement before Saturday’s event, attacked Beshear for enforcing “extreme vaccine mandates” and as “a privileged, out of touch governor with an awful track record.”

“It makes sense the Iowa Democrats look to him as an inspiring figure who fits their radical agenda,” Wolff said.

Beshear walked out to a hype video highlighting his gubernatorial accomplishments with an emphasis on his abilities to win in a deep red state. It touted his record on job creation and his efforts to preserve rights for transgender individuals.

The Kentucky governor has become the top attack dog for Harris against Republican vice presidential nominee U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio.

Beshear and Vance have traded barbs over who is a real representative of the Appalachia region. Beshear on Saturday took a shot at Vance’s memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” which details the senator’s Ohio upbringing and spending childhood summers with his grandparents in Kentucky.

“So let me be clear, J.D. Vance ain’t from Kentucky. He ain’t from Appalachia. And he ain’t going to be your vice president,” Beshear said.

Beshear is one of several Democrats who have been in the spotlight after Biden announced he would drop out of the race and endorsed Harris. He joins a potential shortlist for VP that includes Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

The Kentucky governor said Harris will move beyond anger politics and focus on community progress. He then brought up Trump’s multiple bankruptcies and 34 felony convictions in a New York hush-money trial.

“The vice president gets it. She is tough and she is smart,“ Beshear said of Harris. ”And that’s going to make her a good president. But she is also kind and has empathy, and that’s going to make her a great president. President (Donald) Trump’s attacks aren’t going to work.”

He praised the “Biden-Harris team” for leading the country out of the pandemic, directing aid to Kentucky after devastating natural disasters and pushing bipartisan infrastructure funding through Congress.

“President Biden and Vice President Harris are getting it done,” said Beshear, who then pivoted to criticizing Project 2025, a controversial policy proposals intended to guide the next conservative administration.

The roughly 900-page policy platform proposes major overhauls to a wide range of government programs and agencies, including Medicare and Medicaid, which Beshear said could lead the potential loss of health coverage for millions of Americans.

Beshear and other speakers also brought up abortion. An Iowa law banning most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy takes effect today. Trump nominated three of the U.S. Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case that had affirmed a constitutional right to abortion.

“Listen, Donald Trump stripped constitutional rights from half of Americans,” Beshear said. “I think we ought to strip him of opportunity for a second term as president.”

Nate Willems, a Democratic former state lawmaker from Mount Vernon, praised Beshear’s message of being supportive of public education, workers’ rights and marginalized communities.

“I mean, if he shows that can be successful in Kentucky that makes you excited and hopeful that can be successful in Iowa and throughout the Midwest,” Willems said.

The Iowa Democratic Party is looking to bounce back from several consecutive poor showings in recent election cycles.

Iowa Republicans now occupy all six seats in the state’s congressional delegation, the governor’s office, all statewide offices save for one and gained historically large majorities in the Legislature.

Hart and other speakers roundly criticized Republican priorities and policies on abortion restrictions, private school scholarships and overhaul of the state’s area education agencies, which provide special education support to Iowa school districts.

Iowa House Democratic Leader Jennifer Konfrst, Iowa Senate Democratic Leader Pam Jochum and Iowa Auditor Rob Sand also spoke, and repeated the message that Iowa’s Republican leaders are too extreme for the state.

“(Iowans) do not want extreme abortion bans, threats to birth control and (threats) to in vitro fertilization,” Konfrst said. “They’re coming for them my friends, and Iowans are fed up. They’re furious about this abortion ban, and we’re going to make them pay.”

Jochum drew a standing ovation by thanking Biden for “his remarkable 50 years of public service” and called him “a good and decent man (who) stepped up at a very critical point in our history, when the soul of America was at stake.”