I know you sent a letter to Mitch

McConnell and to his office, absolutely,

dated July 8th. I have it right here,

requesting an update

on his health and well-being. As you

write, Kentuckians have grown

increasingly concerned about the current

state of your health and ability to hold

office

in the United States Senate.

His press team today out with a

statement that says, "I'm still working

hard to get back to my full schedule of

work, keeping up with the intense

physical therapy per my doctor's orders.

Unfortunately, that means I won't be

able to make it to Fancy Farm, Kentucky,

this Saturday."

Is that good enough?

>> No, it's not. Now,

Mitch McConnell owes the people of

Kentucky, who are his boss, who have

elected him repeatedly, a lot more

transparency than this. All we've gotten

are two photos and statements that

virtually anybody could put out there. I

mean, he apparently's had a 17-minute

conversation with his protégé, Scott

Jennings, but he can't call in for 3

minutes to Bloomberg or anywhere else

just so we know he still has the

capacity. So, I sent another letter

today demanding that he provide verbal

proof that he has the capacity to

continue, but I also sent one to John

Thune. Because as now the the majority

leader in the Senate, he has a duty,

too, to make sure that all of their

members have the capacity and can

represent the people of their states.

And what I told Leader Thune is there

only three ways for a vacancy, to my

knowledge, to happen. A resignation, a

death, or a vote of expulsion, a vote

that there is not capacity from the

Senate itself. If Mitch McConnell won't

level with the people of Kentucky in the

United States, Senator Thune has a duty

to do so.

>> Well, he's missed 38 Senate votes,

having been admitted to the hospital on

June 14th. Some of them were pretty

important votes, Governor, including

funding the Pentagon

and our government.

How many more votes

should he be allowed to miss before

something is done here?

>> Well, I think that the the Senate needs

to take some form of action, and that

can be in simply providing the type of

evidence that people deserve, uh that he

still has the capacity. You know, if if

anybody watching this missed 45 days of

their job, they would be expected to

call their boss, explain why they've

been out, and what their prognosis is to

return, and to do it themselves verbally

uh to that boss. That's all we're

asking. Uh the boss here are the people

of of Kentucky, and I get we're all

entitled to some level of privacy of our

health. But when you run for office, you

give some of that up. That's the deal,

um and that's what we know going into

it.

>> Well, do I understand it correctly that

August 3rd

is a key deadline here that if Mitch

McConnell continues in this capacity

through the 3rd, then you will not have

an opportunity uh to name a replacement

until the actual election is held. Is

that right?

>> There's an argument out there that that

that's a date where I could not later

call a special election. And and for

those that are are really pushing this

up

>> Well, a lot of those that are pushing

this

um are online, um and and I think are

under the impression that that a

Democrat in Kentucky might be able to

win that election. Uh it's been since

1992

that we have had a Democratic Senator uh

in Kentucky. You mentioned a lot of

missed votes. I want to point out some

other missed votes that might not be a

bad thing. He hasn't been there to vote

on the SAVE Act, which would tear voting

rights away. He hasn't been there to

vote to support this war in Iran that

this president started and shouldn't be

continuing. He's not there to vote for a

potential replacement of a Supreme Court

Justice to continue a court that would

tear down the Voting Rights Act. So,

listen, when you look at some of this, a

vacancy,

not having Mitch McConnell show up isn't

necessarily a bad thing cuz he certainly

doesn't show up to help the American

people.

>> Wow, strong words from the governor and

I have to ask you, I think I know the

answer, but have you talked to him? When

when's the last time you got on the

phone?

>> I I have not. We have asked this time if

he is not going to respond for his staff

to step up and to be honest and

transparent. And Joe, I hope in all

this, right? Because I don't wish him

ill. I've known members of his family.

We have always been polite to each

other. I hope he can just provide

whether it's video or other proof and we

can move on and all this speculation

can end and we ultimately know when

he'll be back voting in the Senate. But

we're all expected to be in a position

to do our job and it's not asking a lot

for proof of it.

>> Well, this is awkward. Have you talked

to Elaine Chao before I move on to

something else? Has anyone in the family

reached out?

>> I I have not.

>> Okay.

You mentioned the war in Iran, which you

clearly do not approve of. And now that

fighting has resumed,

of course we've got a pause underway

right now, but the most recent spat of

30 13 straight nights of strikes sent

oil prices back up and got gas prices

back above $4 a gallon nationally. The

president is in Michigan today to talk

about affordability, governor. And it's

interesting the Democrats are talking

about the very same thing. Just like the

election a couple of years ago, this is

what people will frame their decisions

on based on the messaging coming from

both parties.

How do you answer the president of the

United States

when he says affordability is a Democrat

hoax?

>> Yeah.

Uh and the president

is lying, but gas prices don't. And it's

not just gas prices. Look at the price

of diesel because that hits my state

that much more. All of our farm

machinery runs on diesel, and it's up

several dollars to where it was just a

year or two ago. People ask me how this

>> today.

>> Yeah, people ask me how this war and

Donald Trump's leadership is hitting

people in Kentucky. Let me give you the

example of a soybean farmer. When Donald

Trump ended US aid, that was a major

source of purchasing for our soybean

farmers, because ultimately helping

countries not have their people go

hungry is a way of spreading soft power

and making groups like the United

States. Then through the US Department

of Education, they cut the farm to

cafeteria program, which was simply

feeding our kids through our farmers.

Then Donald Trump decided he would

tariff

China, which stopped buying our

soybeans. They are the largest purchaser

in the world. They went to Argentina and

Brazil, and while some of that has come

back down, that full purchase will never

be there. If that wasn't enough, now the

war in Iran has skyrocketed the price of

diesel, and people are paying that much

more to harvest. And if if

that wasn't hurtful enough, about a

third of the world's fertilizer comes

through, you guessed it, the Strait of

Hormuz. That is how badly Donald Trump's

actions and his alone are hitting just

one group of Kentuckians.

>> Well, look, I'm sure you're building

quite a story to tell here in this

midterm cycle. And I have a lot of

questions for you about that, whether

it's the impact of tariffs on farmers or

the fact that the president had had to

to come up with billions of dollars to

help farmers in in what will be this

reconciliation

3.0. I'm just curious your thoughts on a

couple of other items though in this

campaign. When we consider affordability

and the prices that we're all paying

here, the impacts

Governor on Kentucky and what it will

mean getting on the campaign trail here

moving forward. Do you plan

to talk more about specifically how this

has impacted farmers in your state?

>> Absolutely. I think affordability it

will be the driving issue. Though I

worry a little bit that just calling it

affordability is political sciencing

people's real pain.

It's it's that you can't afford a house

right now until you're 40 years old. And

how much do you feel raising a family

knowing that that your parents own that

house. It's not being able to take your

kids on the same vacation that your

parents took you on. It's working hard

and playing by the rules but feeling

like you're not getting ahead and that

that makes people feel like the system

is rigged. It makes them feel like

they're a failure. And the moment that

people feel like the system

>> why we're seeing Democratic Socialists

emerge on the campaign trail? And I

don't mean to be political sciencing

myself, but this has become a big

argument too, Governor. Are they part of

the recipe for success for Democrats in

this midterm or a distraction?

>> I don't agree with everything some of

those candidates are talking about, but

what they are doing is directly talking

to people's pain.

They are directly talking to the fact

that folks are working hard but can't

pay for their groceries, are worried

about going to the to the doctor, might

not be able to pay their

pharmaceuticals. They're they're scared

the next

bill for utilities will put them over

the edge. People aren't just living

paycheck to paycheck, they're living

bill to bill. And again, when you start

starting to believe that the American

dream is no longer possible, that it's

just a hallucination, then you'll vote

for people that that you believe can can

burn down the system or at least will do

something dramatic. I believe that

Democrats need to be that party of the

American dream, but I want to support

candidates that have real solutions that

will work, that will deliver in the

short-term, that will lead to a better

United States of America.

>> All right, Andy Beshear, governor.

Who do you hope you run against in 2028?

>> [laughter]

>> That's a good way to phrase that

question. No one's asked it that way. I

haven't made any

final decision, and part of it is I'm

head of the Democratic Governors

Association. I've got a job to do.

>> Yes, sir.

>> We're going to elect governors in places

that people aren't expecting, but let me

say this.

The map for 2028 is going to be made not

through congressional, but through

governors races in 2026. When Rob Sand

flips Iowa, Iowa's in play in '28. When

Amy Acton flips Ohio, Ohio's in play in

2028. Katie Hobbs has to win re-election

in Arizona because she's running against

an election denier, and there wouldn't

be full and fair elections if she

doesn't win. So, I want to make sure I

do my job coming up to November, so

whoever the Democratic candidate is has

a map that we can and will win with.