Monday’s episode of The View featured their sixth interview of a Democratic politician so far this year, two of which either were rumored to have presidential ambitions or were featured on the short lists of party insiders: Governors Josh Shapiro from Pennsylvania and Andy Beshear of Kentucky. The latter was Monday’s guest with moderator Whoopi Goldberg hyping him up as “the most popular Democratic governor in America.”
Despite Beshear not formally throwing his hat in the ring for a presidential run, Goldberg introduced him as a “contender” in the Democratic Party primary, which apparently was new to him:
GOLDBERG: … he is a contender for his party's presidential ticket in 2028. Did you know that?
BESHEAR: You're breaking some news here.
Goldberg followed up by touting Beshear’s bone fides as to why he would make a confident candidate who should be emulated:
So, you were on the short list for Kamala Harris's VP pick in 2024, you are frequently mentioned as a Democratic political contender because you found a way to do the seemingly impossible, run and won three times in deep-red Kentucky. So what have you been able to do that you can tell other Democrats they might want to think about doing?
“Well, I'm willing to share it with Democrats, I'm willing to share it with Republicans, too, because what we want is good government in the end,” Beshear said. “I spend 85 percent of my time on things that matter to 100 percent of the people of Kentucky or the United States. Things like good jobs, accessible healthcare, safe roads and bridges, safe communities.”
He also seemed to contribute his success to not use what he called “advocacy speak,” which sounded a lot like what the right would call “woke.” “We've allowed advocacy speak, which was created for the right reasons, but I don't think you change stigma by changing words. I think you change it by changing hearts,” he argued.
In something of a blink and you’d miss it moment, as Beshear was warning about advocacy speak, the camera cut to a shot of him and co-host Sunny Hostin who appeared to be staring daggers at him (see above image).
The View has on their 6th Democratic politician this year (guess how many Republican they've had on), Gov. Andy Beshear (D-KY). They use it as an opportunity to promote him as a candidate for national office. pic.twitter.com/B8mgrLHAXQ
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) February 9, 2026
The next question was from pretend independent Sara Haines, who teed him up to go after Trump with accusations about him stealing elections:
Now Governor, President Trump's repeated calls to nationalize elections have been raising fears about how far he may go to interfere with the midterms later this year. You’re the current chair of the Democratic Governors Association and last week, all 24 Democratic state governors put out a statement condemning the threats, but what are you doing to ensure that your state retains its ability to carry out independent and fair elections?
Of course, even the fake Republicans on the panel did their part to make Beshear look appealing to a national electorate. Co-host Ana Navarro gushed about Beshear equating the two shooting deaths by ICE in Minneapolis, Minnesota to “Bloody Sunday,” the 1972 massacre in Derry, North Ireland where British soldiers killed 26 people.
The analogy was ridiculous and possibly inciting. Bloody Sunday, also known as the Bogside Massacre, was just one incident in a 30-year internal U.K. conflict that saw over 50,000 people killed or injured by British government forces and Irish ethno-nationalist insurgents.
The other fake Republican, Alyssa Farah Griffin tried to give him a hand by teeing him up to support voter ID, which a vast majority of American supported, but he couldn’t even get behind that:
FARAH GRIFFIN: Voter ID is something that a large amount of Americans support, Kentucky does require voters to show an ID for federal and state elections. Where do you fall on the SAVE Act specifically?
BESHEAR: Well, I consider myself pragmatic. You know, I think that we can agree that election security is an important thing, but when you complete policies that are so onerous you push people out that have the right to vote, who should be able to register.
For her part, Hostin wanted to know if he was attending a party at the White House after the administration didn’t invite Democratic governors to a meeting:
HOSITN: Well Governor, the annual National Governors Association meeting is set to take place later this month, and it's usually a bipartisan meeting of governors all across the country. President Trump has decided only to invite Republican governors to this -- yeah -- to this meeting, and then he's hosting a separate bipartisan dinner at the White House and he did not invite the only black governor in our country, Wes Moore, and Jared Polis for some reason. Do you intend to be there for the dinner?
BESHEAR: No, I ain't going.
To conclude the interview, Goldberg suggested to Beshear he should call his own meeting. “Well, governor, maybe you should just have your own governor’s thing and invite all the other governors and do a separate thing from his gathering,” she said before hawking Beshear’s podcast.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
February 9, 2026
11:35:04 a.m. EasternWHOOPI GOLDBERG: Our next guest is the most popular Democratic governor in America, who’s bringing his message to the national stage with his Sirius XM podcast and he is a contender for his party's presidential ticket in 2028. Did you know that?
GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D-KY): You're breaking some news here.
GOLDBERG: Please welcome Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear.
[Applause]
BESHEAR: Thank you.
GOLDBERG: So, you were on the short list for Kamala Harris's VP pick in 2024, you are frequently mentioned as a Democratic political contender because you found a way to do the seemingly impossible, run and won three times in deep-red Kentucky. So what have you been able to do that you can tell other Democrats they might want to think about doing?
BESHEAR: Well, I'm willing to share it with Democrats, I'm willing to share it with Republicans, too, because what we want is good government in the end.
So, I think it's three things. First, while I’ll stand up for all my convictions, while I’ll always stand up against discrimination and attacks on the people of Kentucky, I spend 85 percent of my time on things that matter to 100 percent of the people of Kentucky or the United States. Things like good jobs, accessible healthcare, safe roads and bridges, safe communities. Making sure that what I do every day makes life better for Democrats, Republicans, independents, just everyone.
The second thing I try to do is talk like a normal human being. We've allowed advocacy speak, which was created for the right reasons, but I don't think you change stigma by changing words. I think you change it by changing hearts. And so, in my state we’ve lost a lot of people to overdoses but no one has ever said they've lost a loved one to substance use disorder. They say addiction.
(…)
11:37:54 a.m. Eastern
SARA HAINES: Now Governor, President Trump's repeated calls to nationalize elections have been raising fears about how far he may go to interfere with the midterms later this year. You’re the current chair of the Democratic Governors Association and last week, all 24 Democratic state governors put out a statement condemning the threats, but what are you doing to ensure that your state retains its ability to carry out independent and fair elections?
BESHEAR: This should concern everyone. And it should start with the fact that he didn't use nationalize in his first statement. He said Republicans should take over elections in certain states. You know, this president does show you who he is and he says the quiet part out loud.
SUNNY HOSTIN: Yes, he does.
BESHEAR: So everyone can hear it. We're not going to let him mess with our elections.
[Applause]
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: And Governor, the White House has been pushing the SAVE Act which would require citizens to show documents like a passport or birth certificate to register to vote. Voter ID is something that a large amount of Americans support, Kentucky does require voters to show an ID for federal and state elections. Where do you fall on the SAVE Act specifically?
BESHEAR: Well, I consider myself pragmatic. You know, I think that we can agree that election security is an important thing, but when you complete policies that are so onerous you push people out that have the right to vote, who should be able to register.
And so, I think on any policy you've got to look at what's reasonable. What is a form of ID that the vast majority of Americans have or can secure? What are your policies that are going to make sure that those that don't have that form can get it and can get it easily? I think we look at what do we want the end game to be?
I think it's everyone who has the right to vote being able to vote. And how do we form our policies around that?
ANA NAVARRO: Governor, you've called the events that we've been seeing in Minneapolis the Bloody Sunday of our generation. President Trump said last week that he was going to take a softer touch on immigration enforcement, but there's no indication his administration is backing down. In fact, they are now trying to remove Liam Ramos and his father, do an expedited removal of that five-year-old child.
But do you expect this crackdown to continue throughout the country, and what is your plan for your state if it comes to Kentucky?
BESHEAR: Well, every ICE agent should be withdrawn from every city and every community that they are in.
[Applause]
This -- this organization has to be reformed from the top down. Secretary Noem needs to be fired and every –
[Applause]
-- every agent needs to be retrained.
I mean, I headed -- I was attorney general in Kentucky, the top law enforcement official. The aggressive actions of ICE, you don't see with any other law enforcement group anywhere. The idea that you don't need a judicial warrant to storm into the home of an American is just wrong.
And we've got to make sure that this organization and the way that it acts I going to respect all of our rights. There is a body count of American citizens right now because of the actions of this agency. That should be enough to say we're going to take a pause, we're going to pull everybody back and we're going to try to get it right.
HOSITN: I hope that happens. Well Governor, the annual National Governors Association meeting is set to take place later this month, and it's usually a bipartisan meeting of governors all across the country. President Trump has decided only to invite Republican governors to this -- yeah -- to this meeting, and then he's hosting a separate bipartisan dinner at the White House and he did not invite the only black governor in our country, Wes Moore, and Jared Polis for some reason. Do you intend to be there for the dinner?
BESHEAR: No, I ain't going.
[Laughter and applause]
Wes is a friend of mine, even if he wasn't a friend of mine this would be wrong. And Jared as well. But the other thing that's going on is they didn't invite any Democratic governor to the business section. And this is when we try to get together and move the country forward where we can agree. And if he's not going to invite us to the business section, I'm not going to go to dinner the social section. You know, my job is to get things done for our people and so they will be without me in both of those.
[Applause]
GOLDBERG: Well, governor, maybe you should just have your own governor’s thing and invite all the other governors and do a separate thing from his gathering.
BESHEAR: I would love that and I'd love to see how many Republican governors come. How many will put being the head of their state first. Because what we're seeing right now is people that put being a Democrat or a Republican ahead of being an American. And we've got to see that change.
GOLDBERG: I like that. All right. Our thanks to Governor Andy Beshear. You can catch new episodes of the Andy Beshear Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts and Saturday mornings on Sirius XM Progress and don't miss a special live episode tomorrow at noon eastern. And we will be right back.
