Kentucky Democratic Senator Switches To GOP: ‘Party Left Me’
It has never been easy to be a Democrat governor in a Republican stronghold, and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear just found out how much harder it can get.
Beshear, often floated as a leading contender for his party’s 2028 presidential nomination, has managed to win two terms in a state that consistently delivers landslide victories to President Donald J. Trump. He first eked out a narrow win in 2019 over then-incumbent GOP Gov. Matt Bevin, drawing 709,890 votes — just 49.2 percent. In 2023, he again survived by defeating Attorney General Daniel Cameron, this time by about five points.
But the reality on the ground is clear: Kentucky voters overwhelmingly support President Trump. In 2016, Trump secured 1,202,971 votes (62.52%). His strength only grew in 2020 with 1,326,646 votes, and in 2024 he captured 1,337,494 votes — 64.47 percent of the statewide total.
Against that backdrop, the Kentucky Democratic Party suffered a devastating loss this week when State Sen. Robin Webb announced she is leaving the Democrats and joining the Republican Party.
“First and foremost, I’m a mother, a rancher and a lawyer with deep personal and professional roots in Kentucky’s coal country,” Webb said, according to Fox News. “As the Democratic Party continues its lurch to the left and its hyperfocus on policies that hurt the workforce and economic development in my region, I no longer feel it represents my values.
“It has become untenable and counterproductive to the best interests of my constituents for me to remain a Democrat,” she continued. “While it’s cliché, it’s true: I didn’t leave the party — the party left me.”
Her decision strikes at the Democrats’ historic base in Kentucky’s rural coal country, long considered a stronghold due to union ties. Webb’s move reflects the broader shift of working-class voters away from a Democratic Party increasingly associated with radical climate agendas and cultural extremism.
Republican Party of Kentucky Chairman Robert Benvenuti celebrated the switch.
“Like countless other Kentuckians, [Webb] has recognized that the policies and objectives of today’s Democratic Party are simply not what they once were, and do not align with the vast majority of Kentuckians,” Benvenuti said.
“I always respected that [Webb] approached issues in a very thoughtful and commonsense manner, and that she never failed to keenly focus on what was best for her constituents,” he added. “It is my pleasure to welcome Sen. Robin Webb to the Republican Party.”
Democrats, however, lashed out, accusing Webb of betraying her base.
“Senator Webb has chosen to join a political party that is currently working around the clock to take health care away from over a million Kentuckians, wipe out our rural hospitals, take food off the table of Kentucky families, and take resources away from our public schools,” Kentucky Democratic Party Chair Colmon Elridge told Fox News Digital. “If those are her priorities, then we agree: she isn’t a Democrat.”
Meanwhile, Beshear himself is openly flirting with a 2028 presidential run. In an interview with The Daily Beast, the governor said:
“If you’d asked me a couple of years ago if this is something I’d consider, I probably wouldn’t have. But I don’t want to leave a broken country to my kids. And so, if I’m somebody that can bring this nation together and hopefully find some common ground, it’s something I’ll consider.”
Beshear has also launched a new podcast in an attempt to brand himself as a moderate. “Far too much of what we see out there tries to put us in a box,” he said in the first episode. “It tries to make everything D or R, red or blue, left or right, and we know the world’s so much more complicated than that.”
But with defections like Webb’s, Kentucky Democrats are learning the hard way: the party’s sharp left turn is leaving them isolated in a state where conservative values and President Trump dominate the political landscape.