Nearly all of Kentucky’s 59 delegates, including automatic delegates, and four alternate delegates said they would back Vice President Kamala Harris for the top of the Democratic ticket at the convention in August. Only one delegate on the call did not vote to endorse Harris.
After President Joe Biden announced he would step off the ticket Sunday, delegates have been released from their obligations to vote based on the primary election results. Monday's vote was nonbinding and delegates could still change their mind.
Delegates on the call said Beshear made the motion to endorse Harris and made his support for the vice president clear ahead of the vote. Earlier Monday morning, Beshear publicly announced his endorsement of Harris on MSNBC’s Morning Joe and did not rule out potentially joining her on the ticket.
Kentucky Democratic Party Chair Colmon Elridge said in a statement that he believes Harris is ready to “finish the job that Joe Biden started.”
“Now more than ever, we must work hand in hand to elect Kamala Harris. The stakes this November — for both our beloved Commonwealth and our country — are too high,” Elridge said.
Rachel Roberts, a state representative from Newport and Democratic delegate, said every delegate is free to vote how they choose, but that Beshear’s endorsement held weight with many. Kentucky has 53 delegates, six automatic delegates (aka superdelegates) and four alternates.
"Everybody's coalescing around (Harris) right now,” Roberts said. "The delegation is very energized. We're all very excited to be attending what we always knew was going to be a historic national convention, but now it will be truly one for the history books."
Delegate Robert Kahne said it makes him hopeful to see so many politicians and delegates coalescing around Harris after Biden’s decision.
“Seeing the party consolidate around her, the huge fundraising hauls — that has excited people and got people kind of interested,” Kahne said. “I think a lot of Democrats have been pretty candidate agnostic, just wanting somebody who can prevent Donald Trump from becoming the president again.”
Kahne said there’s also excitement within the party to see Gov. Andy Beshear appear on shortlists as a potential running mate for Harris.
“We're really excited about the potential for the future. I think we're all thrilled to see his star rising, and we certainly hope for the best for him,” Kahne said.
According to delegates on the call, the only person to vote against endorsing Harris was an uncommitted delegate who said she was unprepared to make a decision on Harris and would need to find out more about her position on several key issues.
According to the Kentucky Democratic Party, there are eight uncommitted delegates going to the election, representing the nearly 33,000 voters who chose to vote for none of the Democratic candidates.
Contributing to the uncommitted vote this year was a constituency protesting Biden’s role in the war in Gaza, decrying the billions of dollars the U.S. has provided Israel. It’s potentially more complicated in Kentucky, where many Kentuckians are still registered as Democrats but typically vote Republican — 10.8% of Democratic voters in Kentucky voted uncommitted in 2020 compared with 18% this year. Some uncommitted delegates in other states are calling for an open convention and are not totally sold on Harris.
All 50 state Democratic Party chairs have endorsed Harris and a growing number of states have had delegates unanimously endorse Harris.
State government and politics reporting is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
