Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear rallies Davidson County Democrats ahead of general election

Davidson County Democrats rallied voters and raised more than $100,000 at the group's Sept. 5 Fall Honors Dinner, which featured Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear as the keynote speaker. 

The event drew hundreds of Democratic officials and supporters to the Loews Nashville Hotel at Vanderbilt Plaza just 61 days before the Nov. 5 general election.

“We're going to move this country beyond the division and the anger politics that we're seeing,” Beshear said, calling U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, a “fighter.”

“She's going to move us beyond this unacceptable state of politics that we're in," Beshear continued.  She's going to move us past the anger, pass the noise, and get us back to focusing on what really matters in people's lives. As she says, we're not going back, or as we say in the South, we ain't going back, and we ain't going back to Donald Trump trying to tear us apart.”

This was Beshear's second official appearance in Music City this summer, following his June event with abortion rights advocate Hadley Duvall.

He was also on Harris’s vice presidential nominee short list before she announced Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate in August.

“I didn't win [the vice presidential nomination], but Tim Walz is a great friend,” Beshear said. “He's a great governor, and he's going to be an amazing vice president. He has my full endorsement, and I'm going to help them win.”

The event saw remarks from numerous Democratic elected officials and candidates including former Nashville Mayor and 7th District congressional candidate Megan Barry, state House Democratic Chair Rep. John Ray Clemmons (D-Nashville), Party Chair Dakota Galban, Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell, state Rep. and U.S. Senate candidate Gloria Johnson and state house District 60 nominee Shaundelle Brooks, among others.

Brooks has been a vocal gun control advocate since her son Akilah DaSilva was killed in the 2018 Antioch Waffle House shooting. She led attendees in a moment of silence honoring the victims of the Sept. 4 Apalachee High School shooting, which killed two students and two teachers and injured nine others in Winder, Georgia.

“I have a message for those who say I'm too radical, who say that all I talk about is gun violence; for those who choose to support my Republican opponent because of this, I feel sorry for you,” Brooks said.

“I hope you never have to carry the weight I carry every single day," Brooks continued. "I hope you never have to know the pain of losing a child to senseless violence, but I say this — do something. Do something to stop the bloodshed. Do something to protect our children. Do something to make sure no family has to suffer what mine has, and that's why we must vote blue up and down the ballot.”

Special remembrances were also held for late Democratic supporters Clarice Rankins, Randy Rayburn and Edith Taylor Langster, and a slew of awards were also presented to attendees.

Those awards included the Inez Crutchfield Volunteer award given to Susan Meador; the Bill Beck Fearless Democrat award given to state Rep. Bo Mitchell (D-Nashville); the Cecil D. Branstetter award given to Central Labor Council President Vonda McDaniel; and the Chairs award given to Gary Bynum.

State Rep. Bob Freeman (D-Nashville) accepted the Lifetime Achievement award on behalf of his father Bill Freeman.

Disclosure: Bill Freeman owns FW Publishing, the parent company of The News.