I live in Kentucky and only the more progressive parts understand the Republican strategy of taking from the masses to give to their rich friends. The rural counties still vote Republican.

BUT … Jefferson County where Louisville is located Beshear (the Dem) beat Bevin by 99,000 votes. Similar per capita wins happened in Fayette (Lexington), Franklin (Frankfort the Capitol), and northern Kentucky South of Cincinnati. Most of the rural part of the state went Republican and the overall win for Beshear was only 5,000 votes.

As someone here said “Virginia Flipped The Hell Out Of the State”. They flipped some state house and senate seats to get a full majority in the state government so their progressive population is a bit more wide spread.

The principal difference between Virginia and Kentucky is probably the average education level. Virginia does have some poor coal mine counties but Kentucky has more.

Many other Republicans did easily win in various state wide races in Kentucky. The governor’s race was the exception as a Democratic win.

Trump was in Lexington KY the night before the election at a rally for Bevin and the feeling is he energized the Democrats to show up and vote. The turnout was not great but better than most recent governor races.

I do think there is hope for Kentucky but we still have some distance to go.