GO AND DO LIKEWISE: How We Heal a Broken Country. By Andy Beshear. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press, 2026. 244 pages.
It is commonplace to hear that Republicans are religious, while Democrats are not. Many polls indeed suggest that a large share of Democrats, especially younger ones, describe themselves as being non-religious. This is especially true of younger women. Whether or not describing oneself as non-religious means one doesn’t believe in God is hard to say. Despite being depicted as non-religious and even anti-religious, many Democrats are quite religious (me included). Some are mainline Protestant clergy. What is interesting is that in the 2026 midterm election, two of the biggest stories for Democrats are a United Methodist pastor winning a U.S. Senate seat in Kansas and a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) seminarian winning a U.S. Senate seat in Texas.
Robert D. Cornwall
Now, it is true that Republicans, including the sitting vice president, have attacked them and their faith, suggesting they can’t be real Christians because they support things like gay rights and even trans rights. That is, these candidates are accused of being purveyors of “woke” Christianity. Apparently, this “woke” form of Christianity isn’t real Christianity. So, according to some folks, one can’t be a Christian and a Democrat. I would be remiss if I didn’t also note that a Muslim won the race for the U.S. Senate in Michigan (and his opponent has run a rather overt anti-Muslim campaign, so even if Muslims are religious, that is not a good thing).
There is another politician who is a Democrat and who has been rather open about his Christian faith and the role it plays in guiding his own governing principles. That politician is the second-term Governor of Kentucky, Andy Beshear. Despite being a Democrat who supports gay rights and even reproductive rights, Beshear has not only won an election for governor in deep red Kentucky; he was re-elected. The popular governor of Kentucky has found strength to serve his state in his faith as a Christian, without imposing the faith on others.
So, who is Andy Beshear and how does faith impact his governance? One can find answers to these questions in his recently published political memoir, Go and Do Likewise: How We Heal a Broken Country. Beshear draws the title of his book from the Parable of the Good Samaritan. That parable served as an answer to a question posed to Jesus, who had spoken of the command to love one’s neighbor as oneself. A lawyer wanted to know the identity of the neighbor he was supposed to love. So, Jesus shared with him the parable of the Good Samaritan. When the lawyer agreed that the Samaritan acted as the neighbor, Jesus told him to “go and do likewise.” Beshear believes that if we are to heal a broken country, then we will need to do as the Samaritan did and care for the neighbor.
When it comes to the faith that guides his decision-making, Beshear, whose father was governor before him, points out that he has Baptist preachers in his ancestry, including a grandfather and a great-grandfather. They taught him the basics of the faith, but his adult faith has been formed in the context of his membership at Bear Grass Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Louisville, Kentucky. Both he and his wife have served as deacons in their church. I need to note here that I am a Disciples of Christ minister (retired). Therefore, when I learned that this book was coming out, as a good Disciple, I wanted to read and review it.
I would be remiss if I did not point out that not only is Beshear governor of Kentucky and a member of a Disciples congregation, but, being term-limited, it does appear that he is looking seriously at running for president. Since this is likely true (all the signs point to his choosing to do so), his book functions as a means of sharing his governing principles. Though the voters of his state voted overwhelmingly to elect Donald Trump in 2024, he also uses the book to express his opposition to much of what Donald Trump is doing, as well as the policies of his Republican predecessor, whom he calls Trump-Lite throughout the book.
Beshear opens Go and Do Likewise with a reference to the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. If you know the movie, you know that it centers on the pursuit of the Holy Grail. Upon finding the location of the Grail, Jones and his rival must decide which of the many chalices was the one used by Jesus. His rival chose the most beautiful of the gold-encrusted cups, but he did not choose wisely. Jones, on the other hand, decided that the simple clay cup would be the cup used by Jesus, the carpenter, for it is “plain, humble, and simple.” He chose wisely. Beshear contrasts Jones’ choice with Donald Trump’s gilded office and attempts to build monuments to himself.
Having noted the contrast between the humility of Jesus and the narcissism of Donald Trump, Beshear responds, writing: “It is unthinkable that we as a country and the Democratic Party in particular have all but ceded faith and basic morality to a modern-day Pharisee, who condemns those who are different and who says his favorite verse of Scripture (when he can remember any at all) is an ‘eye for an eye.’ That’s how he sees the world. Vengeful and angry. But that’s not how I see it (p. 2). Although he unfortunately speaks of Trump as a Pharisee, drawing on an unfortunate stereotype, the point is made. The Christianity of Trump seems far from that of Jesus. Beshear wants to draw upon the teachings of Jesus as he shares his own governing philosophy.
As we read the memoir, we learn that Beshear was first elected as attorney general of Kentucky, winning a close election while the Republican gubernatorial candidate won his race, which, as we will discover, often put the two leaders at odds with each other. After four years, Beshear decided he could do more good for the state if he ran for governor than to run for re-election as attorney general. In that gubernatorial election, Beshear narrowly beat the incumbent. We learn about these elections, but more importantly, we learn how a Democratic governor of a state that overwhelmingly supported Donald Trump not only won, but, as he drew upon his faith, sought to serve the entire state, not just those sectors that supported him, even though he had to deal with a hostile legislature.
Throughout the course of the book, Beshear shares stories of the ups and downs of governing a state during a season that includes having to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, poverty, destructive storms, and more. As he shares these stories, he shares his belief that the key to his success is authenticity. That is, he has been a successful governor of a deeply red state as a Democrat by being true to his convictions. While he acknowledges the brokenness of our nation, he offers a hopeful perspective. While his faith serves as the foundation for guiding his actions as governor, he also notes that no matter what their political positions are, he finds goodness in most of the people he has encountered as governor.
In several places in the book, he introduces us to people who didn’t vote for him, but who were willing to work with him when the moment demanded it. In other words, as he dealt with disasters and other challenges, he encountered people who reflected the actions attributed to the Good Samaritan. That said, he also acknowledges that people like Donald Trump and Matt Bevin, his predecessor as governor, operated under very different value systems, systems that view everyone through the lens of “us vs. them.”
In contrast, he points to what he believes is the foundation of the American experiment: “We are neighbors no matter how different we are or how different we feel. We are in this together. We will disagree, sometimes passionately, but what must hold us together is a mutual respect” (p. 25). That mutual respect, he believes, is rooted in the words of the Declaration of Independence, which affirms that every human is created equal, having the same rights. To believe or act otherwise is to dehumanize others, a belief system he rejects.
The danger that a book like this one poses is that the author/politician can manipulate his faith, including scripture, using faith and scripture as a means to an end. Although a person might quibble with how Beshear reads some of the passages of Scripture, overall, I think he was fair in his usage. He understands that a foundational principle embedded in Jesus’s message was and is one of compassion. At a time when empathy is considered a sign of weakness, recognizing that compassion, mercy, and empathy are core elements of Jesus’s message is important.
If a political leader can take hold of this message and incorporate it into their governing principles, our nation may experience the kind of healing that Beshear envisions taking place. Thus, it is appropriate that he embraces the message of the parable of the Good Samaritan, which illustrates what it means to be a good neighbor. It is a message that lifts up the ministrations of the outsider, something many in the United States have forgotten. Whether Andy Beshear ends up becoming president or vice president, in the course of his book Go and Do Likewise, he has shown us how a politician can live and serve others by caring for one’s neighbor, thereby honoring God.
In making his closing argument, Andy Beshear writes concerning the path forward toward the healing of the nation: “So how do we do it? How do we get beyond the great manipulation of faith to the great revelation that the parable of the Good Samaritan is an instruction to be good to each other? We keep living by example, showing faith in deeds and not giving in to the urge to fight cruelty with cruelty” (pp. 224-225). Considering how divided and even wounded the nation is, this won’t be easy. However, as he reveals in writing Go and Do Likewise, when we embrace Jesus’ command to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, there is hope.
Andy Beshear’s Go and Do Likewise is a political memoir that lays out the ways in which he has attempted to govern in a way that reflects the message of Jesus without manipulating faith or imposing his own faith on others. Therefore, I would encourage people to read Go and Do Likewise: How We Heal a Broken Country, whether they are Republican, Democrat, or independent, so they might see how a political leader might bring their faith into public life — hoping that as a result the people of the United States might work to heal the brokenness of our age so the country might be a better and kinder place now and into the future.
This review originally appeared on BobCornwall.com.
Robert D. Cornwall is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Now retired from his ministry at Central Woodward Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) of Troy, Michigan, he serves as Minister-at-Large in Troy. He holds a Ph.D. in Historical Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary and is the author of numerous books, including “Eating With Jesus: Reflections on Divine Encounters at the Open Eucharistic Table” and “Second Thoughts About Hell: Understanding What We Believe” coauthored with Ronald J. Allen. His blog Ponderings on a Faith Journey can be found here.
