肯塔基州州长安迪·贝谢尔是一名民主党人。十多年前，他的父亲曾担任同一职务。贝谢尔想让外界知道，他并不是所谓“靠关系上位的人”。Axios请他回应批评者的说法——这些人称，他之所以能在如今这个深红州胜选，主要是因为他的父亲史蒂夫此前曾四次当选该州的州级公职。贝谢尔在回应时主动提到了“靠关系上位”这一说法。
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat whose father held the same job just over a decade ago, wants you to know that he's not a "nepo baby." Beshear brought up the phrase unprompted when Axios asked him to respond to critics who say that he won his ruby-red state largely because his dad, Steve, was elected to statewide office there four times before.
为何重要：贝谢尔很可能是想抢在“靠关系上位”这一指责出现之前先发制人，因为这可能削弱他作为2028年潜在总统候选人的一项主要竞选主张——他在肯塔基州取得的成功证明，他比其他民主党人更有希望赢得选举。
Why it matters: Beshear is likely trying get ahead of the "nepo baby" charge because it could undermine one of his main pitches as a potential 2028 presidential candidate — that his success in Kentucky means he's more electable than other Democrats.
具体来看：“人们拿‘靠关系上位’这件事来质疑我时，会问：‘你父亲当选州长时，你多大了？’我会看着他们说：‘30岁。’”48岁的贝谢尔告诉Axios。
Zoom in: "When people do the nepo baby thing to me, they say 'How old were you when your dad was elected governor?' And I look at them and say '30,'" Beshear, 48, told Axios.
上个月，贝谢尔在“CBS周日早报”的采访中用过类似说法，他又补充道：“作为律师，我这辈子为那位先生提供的免费法律服务，比任何人都多。他到现在还没有报答我呢！”这番话避开了这样一个事实：老贝谢尔早在1973年就首次赢得肯塔基州众议院席位，比安迪出生还早四年。安迪两岁时，老贝谢尔又出任州总检察长。
Beshear used a similar line in a "CBS Sunday Morning" interview last month, adding "As a lawyer, I did more free legal work for that man than anybody in my lifetime. He has still yet to repay me!" That leaves out the fact that the elder Beshear first won a seat in the Kentucky state House in 1973, four years before Andy was born. He then became the state attorney general when Andy was 2.
史蒂夫·贝谢尔后来担任副州长，并于1987年首次竞选州长，但未获成功。1996年，他还曾试图击败参议员米奇·麦康奈尔，但也以失败告终。
Steve Beshear later became lieutenant governor and unsuccessfully ran for governor for the first time in 1987. He also tried to unseat Sen. Mitch McConnell in 1996 but failed.
老贝谢尔后来于2007年至2015年担任肯塔基州州长，深受民众欢迎。
The elder Beshear ultimately became a popular governor of Kentucky from 2007 to 2015.
在预计冲击白宫之际，安迪·贝谢尔已经把“胜选能力”纳入自己的早期竞选主张，借此呼应众多渴望让民主党重新夺回白宫的民主党选民和捐助者。
Andy Beshear has made "electability" part of his early pitch ahead of an expected White House run, a nod to the many Democratic voters and donors who are desperate to take back the White House.
“如果我最终参加这场竞选，那么关键就不再是‘我能否赢下一个紫州’，而是‘我已经赢下过一个红州’，这极具说服力。”贝谢尔在费城接受了Axios采访。我们在全国巡回签售活动一场座无虚席的场次后台见到他时，他这样说道。
"I definitely think if I end up in this race, the fact that it's not whether I can win in a purple state — it's that I have won in a red state — is pretty compelling," he told Axios in Philadelphia when we met him backstage at a sold-out stop on his national book tour.
“我的意思是，我能够与所有人合作，提出一个未来愿景：在那个未来，美国人排在第一位，而民主党和共和党的人排第三、第四或第五。”他上周还告诉Politico，他认为来自加利福尼亚州这样的蓝州的州长要在2028年胜选会“更具挑战性”，暗示其他潜在总统竞选人，如加州州长加文·纽森或伊利诺伊州州长J.B.普里茨克，可能难以获得足够广泛的支持。
"What it means is that I can work with everybody, offer a vision of the future where we're Americans first, and Democrats and Republicans third, fourth or fifth." He also told Politico last week that he thinks it would be more "challenging" for a governor from a blue state like California to win in 2028, hinting that other potential presidential contenders like California Gov. Gavin Newsom or Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker could struggle to have a broad-enough appeal.
耐人寻味的是：一些民主党人——包括为贝希尔2028年潜在竞争对手工作的人——认为，乍看之下，他的胜算似乎没有那么大，尤其是在选民正在对政治世家反弹之际。
The intrigue: Some Democrats, including those working for Beshear's potential 2028 rivals, believe that his case is weaker than it looks at first blush — especially at a time when voters are turning against political dynasties.
一名民主党战略师说，他的家族背景“戳穿了‘哎呀，我还做到这一步，不过是因为跟我们当中更优秀的人聊了几句’这种说法”。
His family's history "pierces the 'Aw shucks, I did it because I just spoke to the better of us' message," said one Democratic strategist.
民主党资深人士还指出，在儿子很可能竞选总统之际，史蒂夫·贝希尔今年已着手致电各路人士。
Senior Democrats also note that Steve Beshear has hit the phones this year ahead of his son's likely bid.
这并非安迪·贝希尔第一次借助父亲的人脉：《列克星敦先驱报》报道称，2015年，小贝希尔在赢得肯塔基州总检察长竞选时，“能够利用史蒂夫·贝希尔强大的筹款网络”。
It's not the first time that Andy Beshear has leaned on his dad's connections: The Lexington Herald-Leader reported that the younger Beshear "was able to tap into Steve Beshear's powerful fundraising network" in winning the race for Kentucky attorney general in 2015.
2019年，安迪·贝希尔赢得州长职位后，肯塔基调查报道中心发现，他的过渡团队中至少有70人曾在资金上支持他的父亲。
When Andy Beshear captured the governor's seat in 2019, the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting found that at least 70 members of his transition team had financially backed his father.
CNN保守派评论员、肯塔基州人斯科特·詹宁斯说：“我的意思是，他不就是一个靠裙带关系上位的‘关系户’吗？他父亲当过州长！”
"I mean, he is a nepo baby, right? His dad was governor!" said CNN's conservative commentator Scott Jennings, who's from Kentucky.
“你怎么否认自己的父亲当过州长，他的所有捐助人都给过你钱，而你又把他所有的亲信都安插到了各个职位上？”
"How do you deny your own father was governor and all of his donors gave you money and you appointed all of his cronies to everything?"
贝希尔的资深顾问埃里克·海尔斯回击道：“斯科特·詹宁斯又在撒谎，就像他曾声称自己与米奇·麦康奈尔谈了17分钟一样。”贝希尔已经开始试探一种防御策略，以应对任何针对他靠裙带关系上位的攻击。
Beshear senior adviser Eric Hyers shot back: "Scott Jennings is lying again, like when he claimed he talked to Mitch McConnell for 17 [minutes]." Beshear has begun testing a defensive strategy against any attacks that he's a product of nepotism.
他告诉Axios，“父亲的姓氏或许能帮你在初选中占得先机，也可能在我竞选总检察长时帮过我”，但2019年他击败在任共和党州长马特·贝文时，这并非决定性因素。
He told Axios that "a dad's last name might help you with your first race, might have helped me with the attorney general's race," but it wasn't a definitive factor when he defeated sitting Republican Gov. Matt Bevin in 2019.
贝希尔说：“我必须面对一位在任者，一位在特朗普领先30个百分点的州里、得到特朗普支持的共和党在任者，而且特朗普还在选举之夜亲自站台。别人的姓氏无法帮你闯过这一关。”但他表示，“我永远不会为身为史蒂夫·贝希尔的儿子而道歉。”细节补充：贝希尔父子之间的纽带在其新书《去吧，也要这样做：我们如何修复一个破碎的国家》中清晰可见，他在书中拥抱了父亲的遗产。
"I had to go up against an incumbent, a Republican incumbent in a Trump +30 state backed by Trump, with Trump coming in on Election Night," Beshear said. "Someone else's last name doesn't get you through that." But, he said, "I will never apologize for being Steve Beshear's son." The fine print: The bond between father and son is clear in Beshear's new book, "Go and Do Likewise: How We Heal a Broken Country," in which he embraces his dad's legacy.
贝希尔写道，他曾为父亲的州长竞选出力，而史蒂夫·贝希尔“以勇气履行职责，通过行政命令扩大了医疗补助计划，因为共和党主导的州参议院拒绝同意”。
Beshear wrote that he pitched in on his father's gubernatorial campaigns and that Steve Beshear "did his job with courage, expanding Medicaid with an executive order, because the Republican-led state Senate would not agree."
“在我父亲在任期间的努力和我自己的努力之间，我们将肯塔基州从医疗保障覆盖率最低的州之一变成了覆盖率最高的州之一。”下一步：贝希尔告诉我们，他尚未就竞选总统做出“最终决定”。他表示，这一决定将在11月3日的中期选举之后作出。
"Between my dad's efforts while in office and mine, we turned Kentucky from one of the least- to one of the most-covered states." What's next: Beshear told us that he hasn't made a "final decision" about running for president. He's indicated that will come after the Nov. 3 midterms.
贝希尔担任民主党州长协会主席，他表示：“在选举的最后一个月半里，我正全神贯注于这些州长竞选。”
"I am laser-focused on these governors' races as we are in the last month and a half of this election," said Beshear, who chairs the Democratic Governors Association.
但他补充说，2028年“无论我们的民主党提名人是谁”，都将基于今年州长竞选所“塑造”的政治版图展开竞选。
But he added that "whoever our Democratic nominee is" in 2028 will run on the map that this year's governors' races are "creating."