Rand Paul says Kentucky living under 'dictatorship of Beshear.' He urges reopening.

U.S. Senator Rand Paul Thursday accused Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear of being “drunk with power” and said the state is living under the “dictatorship of Beshear” while making an argument to reopen the economy in an interview with a Louisville television station.

“So we have a relatively weak governor under normal circumstances, but right now we’re living under the dictatorship of Beshear, and we’ve got to get out from under him,” Paul told Lawrence Smith of WDRB. “He’s killing the economy. We have to get started again, and if we’re doing it according to his rules, there are going to be people who aren’t open for another month. And they’ll have to be obeying rules that may or may not work.”

Paul, who tested positive for the coronavirus in March, also said the state legislature “needs to go in and change those emergency statutes so all the power doesn’t go to one person.” The state’s legislative session has ended for the year and they cannot come back unless called into session by the governor.

The Republican senator’s comments come as Beshear, a Democrat, has faced increased pressure to allow people to return to work amid record unemployment and a struggling economy. On Saturday, a group of protesters gathered at the state Capitol to protest Beshear’s coronavirus-related restrictions. Several had ties to the Tea Party, a movement formed in the early 2010s that helped propel Paul to the Senate.

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