Bevin Concedes Kentucky Governor's Race

Campbell Robertson

November 15, 2019 12:08 AM

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin on Thursday conceded to Attorney General Andy Beshear after a recanvass of votes confirmed Beshear’s victory in last week’s governor’s election.

Bevin Concedes Kentucky Governor's Race

“We’re going to have a change in the governorship based on the vote of the people,” Bevin said in a brief speech from a podium in front of the governor’s office.

Bevin, who had raised unspecified allegations of voter fraud and left open the option of challenging the results, instead acknowledged the victory of Beshear, the son of a two-time Democratic governor.

Beshear’s margin of victory remained unchanged after the recanvassing, according to the secretary of state: 5,136 votes out of more than 1.4 million cast.

The defeat of Bevin, who had become among the least popular governors in the country after a long and bruising battle with the state’s teachers over pensions, was a stinging rebuke in an election in which Republicans swept the other statewide races. And it came after Bevin wrapped himself in the mantle of President Donald Trump, who campaigned for him the night before the election.

In his speech, Bevin thanked his staff, trumpeted the successes of his term and wished the best to Beshear, the now uncontested governor-elect. But he continued to say that voting was not sufficiently transparent in the age of electronic voting machines and maintained that there had been irregularities in the election he had just conceded.

“The actual number’s going to fluctuate somewhat,” he said, referring to a statewide recanvassing of the vote that he had requested and which was coming to a close as he spoke. “But not so significantly that it’s going to change the outcome of this election.”

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