Frankfort, KY — Kentucky’s bitter race for governor went into overtime as Democrat Andy Beshear declared victory while Republican Gov. Matt Bevin, a close ally of President Donald Trump, refused to concede with results showing he trailed by a few thousand votes. Kentucky has some sorting out to do before inaugurating its next governor. With 100% of precincts reporting, Beshear — the state’s attorney general and the son of Kentucky’s last Democratic governor, Steve Beshear — had a lead of 5,333 votes out of more than 1.4 million counted, or a margin of nearly 0.4 percentage points. The Associated Press and many national media outlets have not declared a winner. In competing speeches late Tuesday, Beshear claimed victory while Bevin refused to concede. Bevin hinted there might be “irregularities” to look into but didn’t offer specifics. Bevin won the 2015 GOP primary for governor by 83 votes. There is no mandatory recount law in Kentucky. Bevin may request counties recanvas their results, which is not a recount, but rather a check of the vote count to ensure the results were added correctly. Bevin would need to seek and win a court’s approval for a recount. Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes’ office has overseen 20-plus recanvasses during her two terms. The results never changed significantly enough to flip the outcome of a race.
