UPDATE: September 4 at 5 p.m.
Sirius XM announced that The Andy Beshear Podcast will join their network, giving the Democratic governor access to 33 million subscribers nationwide.
The move comes as speculation grows about Beshear potentially running for president in 2028, though the governor downplayed any political motivations behind the podcast deal.
"This shouldn't signal to anybody that I'm looking at any other job," Beshear said.
Beshear launched his podcast earlier this year, positioning it as a "conversations with friends" like platform for discussing issues without the typical tense political atmosphere.
"Sirius XM saw that a common sense, common ground, get things done type of voice is needed in our country right now," Beshear said.
The timing of the deal is notable as many Democrats have determined that frequent podcast appearances helped President Donald Trump improve his standing with voters ahead of the 2024 election. Other potential 2028 presidential candidates, including California Governor Gavin Newsom, also have their own podcast deals.
Beshear acknowledged the national reach this partnership provides but insisted his motivations aren't politically driven.
"The podcast getting picked up by Sirius XM absolutely takes my voice to a much national level. But the reason that I want to do that is not for some decision in the future. It's that I think this country desperately needs to turn down the temperature and to focus more on common sense, common ground, and getting things done," Beshear said.
"I'm really excited that it's going to reach a bigger, broader audience because I think people are hungry to push the politics out, to talk about a lot of things like jobs and family and faith - sometimes sports," Beshear added.
Details about compensation and financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
Original Story:
If Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear vaults into national prominence as a Democratic leader, he may one day look back at Thursday as a key step in that direction.
SiriusXM announced that it was giving Beshear's new podcast a national platform starting this month, along with featuring him in a regular call-in show on its Progress network.
President Donald Trump's appearances on podcasts were a pivotal media strategy in his successful 2024 Republican campaign. Moving forward, mastering a personal podcast could replace soft-focus biographies or wonky books as a way for politicians to increase their profiles.
Beshear said on NBC's “Meet the Press” this summer that he will “take a look” at running for president in 2028. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, also in the circle of potential presidential nominees, started his own podcast earlier this year.
Speaking to the anxiety of Americans
In an interview, Beshear said a motivating factor in his own podcast was people who have come up to him, especially during the Trump administration, to talk about their anxieties.
“That's how Americans feel,” he said. “They feel like the news hits them minute after minute after minute. And it can feel like chaos. It can feel like the world is out of control. With this podcast, we're trying to help Americans process what we're going through.”
He's already done nearly two dozen podcasts, with his audience heavily weighted toward Kentucky residents. His guests have included some potential Democratic presidential rivals, including Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar. Entrepreneur Mark Cuban, former Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari and Kentucky-born actor and comic Steve Zahn have also appeared.
Beshear, the son of a former governor who's been leading Kentucky since 2019, talks issues himself. Two of his friends, a Republican and a Democrat, are regular guests, and his 16-year-old son helps Dad navigate some youthful lingo.
Newsom attracted attention — some of it negative among Democrats — for interviewing conservative guests Steve Bannon, Michael Savage and Charlie Kirk on his podcast.
“I did disagree with him on certain guests because I don't like to give oxygen to hate,” Beshear said. “But Gavin is out there really working to communicate with the American people, and he deserves to be commended for it.”
Newsom's podcast started slowly in the marketplace but has caught fire in recent weeks, his regular audiences jumping from the tens of thousands to the hundreds of thousands, said Paul Riismandel, president of Signal Hill Insights, an audio-focused market research company.
The California governor's increased visibility, particularly on social media, is likely a factor in the growing popularity of the podcast, Riismandel said. But it's also a function of how podcasts often catch on: Many tend to be slow burns as audiences discover them, he said.
Learning to master the format of podcasts
Whether ambitious politicians start their own podcasts or not, they're going to have to be familiar going forward with what makes people successful in the format.
“With a podcast, the audience expects a more unfiltered, authentic kind of conversation and presentation,” Riismandel said. If politicians come across as too controlled, looking for the sort of soundbites that will be broken out in a television appearance, it's not likely to work, he said. They have to be willing to open up.
“That is something that is probably new for a lot of politicians,” he said, “and new for their handlers.”
Beshear's first podcast for SiriusXM will feature an interview with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., conducted in the company's New York studio and debuting Sept. 10. The Progress network will air Beshear's podcasts regularly on Saturdays at 11 a.m. Eastern.
The first live call-in show will be next Tuesday at noon, with Beshear joined by Progress host John Fugelsang.
Beshear stressed that his work for SiriusXM is “not just aimed at a Democratic audience."
“We're aiming,” he said, "at an American audience.”
