Steve Beshear

Who is Steve Beshear?

Steven Lynn "Steve" Beshear is an American attorney and politician. He is the 61st Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Beshear previously served in the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1974 to 1979, was the state's Attorney General from 1980 to 1983, and was the 49th Lieutenant Governor from 1983 to 1987. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Beshear is not eligible to run for re-election again in 2015 due to term limits established by the Kentucky Constitution.

After graduating from the University of Kentucky College of Law in 1968, Beshear briefly practiced law in New York before returning to Kentucky and being elected to the state legislature, where he gained a reputation as a consumer advocate. He parlayed that reputation into a term as attorney general, serving under Governor John Y. Brown, Jr. As attorney general, Beshear issued an opinion that copies of the Ten Commandments would have to be removed from the walls of the state's classrooms in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Stone v. Graham.