Kentucky was once again in the national spotlight as Governor Andy Beshear spoke at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last night.

He was among dozens of speakers who shared the stage on the first night of the convention, and he used his time to share many of the talking points from his reelection campaign to a wider audience.

Governor Beshear was deep in the lineup of speakers during the first night of the Democratic National Convention.

He was introduced by Hadley Duvall, a familiar face to many Kentuckians.

Deval appeared in a campaign ad for Beshear last fall, sharing her story of being raped and impregnated with her stepfather's child at the age of 12.

I can't imagine not having a choice.

But today, that's the reality for many women and girls across the country.

Because of Donald Trump's abortion ban.

Deval has been outspoken about Kentucky's near-total ban on abortions during the 2024 legislative session.

She advocated for a bill that would create exceptions for abortions in Kentucky in cases of rape and incest.

The state's Republican dominated legislature never brought the bill up for a vote.

Kamala Harris will sign a national law to restore the right to an abortion.

Bashir began his speech by thanking Deval for her bravery, saying his reelection shows Kentuckians favor reproductive freedom.

I'm amazed at the courage it takes to share her pain, to share her truth.

Yet Donald Trump brags about turn a constitutional right away from hardly an every other woman and girl in our country.

That's why we must tear away any chance he can ever be president ever again.

In Kentucky, we put reproductive freedom on the ballot.

Last November and I beat Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell's handpicked candidate by more than five percentage points.

Bashir was on the short list to be Vice President Harris's running mate.

He focused his message on ending what he called anger politics and praised Harris and President Joe Biden, saying they were there for Kentucky in times of need.

That's how Joe Biden and Kamala Harris lead.

They both called to ask how they could help Kentucky in recovering from natural disasters.

They helped us improve our roads, our bridges, and invested in our people.

They didn't ask me who Kentuckians voted for.

They asked me what Kentuckians needed and folks they delivered.

Kentucky's Democratic governor ended his speech with a prediction for November.

Kamala Harris gets it.

She knows we must move beyond anger.

Extreme ism and division, that everyone has dignity and deserves respect.

America, we're going to win.

And we're going to win by staying true to our values of compassion, empathy, and doing right by our neighbors.

I'm so proud to be all in for the next president of the United States, Kamala Harris.

Thank you.

Beshear was in Chicago again today for a delegation breakfast at the Democratic National Convention.

The convention wraps up Thursday with Democratic Vice President Harris formally accepting her party's nomination for president.

Meanwhile, Republicans are criticizing and the governor is defending comments he made this morning on MSNBC's Morning Joe.

Here's what the governor said about the Republican stand against abortion exceptions for rape and incest.

Saying events called pregnancy resulting from rape inconvenient, an inconvenient traffic.

I mean, it is make him go through this.

I mean, it is someone being violated, someone being harmed.

And then telling them that they don't have options after that.

That fails any test of decency, of humanity.

But but here's the thing.

It also shows they don't have any empathy at all.

And a president and a vice president has to have empathy.

In response, the Republican Party of Kentucky put out this statement, quote, Rape is an abhorrent crime that no one, no one should ever endure, including Senator Vance's family.

Andy Beshear should be ashamed for suggesting that any human being let alone a political opponent, deserve such trauma, unquote.

The party also called for the governor to apologize.

The governor appeared later on another MSNBC program.

He was asked if he was calling for someone in the Vance family to be raped.

He said, of course not, adding that Republicans were trying to make themselves the victims instead of the women impregnated by rape.