Matt Bevin is the incumbent Governor of Kentucky, having assumed the office on December 8, 2015. Bevin, and Lieutenant Governor Jenean Hampton, succeeded former Democrat Governor Steve Beshear and Crit Laullen. Matt is also a businessman, a financial consultant and a founder of Integrity Asset Management.
Early Life and Education
Matthew Griswold Bevin was born on January 9, 1967 as one of the six children to father Louise and mother Avery. Born in Denver and brought up in Shelburne, Bevin initially went to a Christian School and later joined Gould Academy. As his parents couldn’t afford education at Gould Academy, Bevin had to do some on-campus jobs to pay for tuition.
Graduating from the Gould Academy, Matt entered Washington and Lee University for an undergraduate degree in East Asian studies. He did his study abroad program in Japan and, finally, graduated in 1989.
Personal Life
Matt Bevin is married to his wife, Glenna, for 20 years now. The couple currently has six daughters – Olivia, Madison, Grace, Mackenzie, Sophia and Lydia, and three sons – Jonath, Issac and Danial. The oldest daughter, Brittney, died in 2003 following a fatal car accident. The family went for a year-long family trip to all around the United States.
Career
Military
Finishing up the university years at Washington and Lee University, Matt Bevin joined the US Army in 1989 and ranked up to Captain when retiring in 1993. Bevin was a soldier at the 5th Infantry Division.
Business
Terminating the military service years, Bevin entered the financial world by working for SEU Investments Company as a consultant. Later, he also worked as vice president of Putnam Investments and subsequently founded Integrity Asset Management. As of 2011, the company is valued at a billion dollars. Besides asset management, Matt’s company Bevin Bros was also hugely successful being the only bell manufacturing company in the world. Unfortunately, the company was gradually getting delinquent.
Being known as one of the most successful businessmen, Bevin is estimated to be worth between $13.4 million to $54.9 million.
Politics
Like a few other businessman-politicians, Matt Bevin started recently without any political experiences to offer. Yet he became able to gain significant attention from voters and media throughout America. In the 2014 US Senate Republican primary election, Bevin entered the Republican primary race wrongfully announcing that the incumbent Senator Mitch McConnel had recruited him as a challenge. Soon, the primaries started getting filled with unconventional attacks such as ads featuring non-factual accusations. However, Bevin majorly focussed on spreading his message throughout the Kentucky voters.
Bevin repeatedly criticized Obamacare, called for tax reductions to increase business incentives, opposed intervention in the ongoing Middle-East terrorism, and reductions in federal subsidies. Although Bevin saw a significant surge in supporters, he couldn’t win the Republican nomination. Mitch McConnell took away 60.19% votes to win the nomination, and Matt Bevin won just around 35% votes. This loss didn’t become too disappointing as 2015 gubernatorial election was on the way.
Matt Bevin stood against James Comer, Hal Heiner and Will Scott for the Republican nomination. Bevin managed to win the gubernatorial election with 32.9% votes i.e. 70,480 in number. Interestingly, it was a very tight election – James Comer came second with 70,397 votes and Hal Heiner came third with 27.06% votes. And, Matt went on to face Democratic opponent Jack Conway in the final governor’s election and defeated him by getting 52.52% votes. Matt Bevin and Jenean Hampton assumed the office on December 8, 2015 as Governor and Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky.
Donald Trump and Matt Bevin
US President Donald Trump and Kentucky Governor align on their stands on various political and economic issues. Both leaders despise Obama’s Affordable Care Act, support tax reduction and call to give back so called lost American sovereignty back to its people – apparently via reducing immigration. Besides their stands, the two leaders also resemble each other on their paths to the current position. Donald Trump is sometimes cited as following the footsteps of Matt Bevin to power.
