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 we 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.

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.

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.

• 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!"
• He left 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.
• 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.
• The elder Beshear ultimately became a popular governor of Kentucky from 2007 to 2015.

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.

• "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.
• "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 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 such as California Gov. Gavin Newsom or Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker could struggle to have a broad-enough appeal.

The intrigue: Some Democrats, including those working for Beshear's potential 2028 rivals, believe his case is weaker than it looks at first blush — especially at a time when voters are turning against political dynasties.

• 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.

Senior Democrats also note that Steve Beshear has hit the phones this year ahead of his son's likely bid.

• 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.

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.

What they're saying: "I mean, he is a nepo baby, right? His dad was governor!" said CNN's conservative commentator Scott Jennings, who's from Kentucky.

• "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?"
• 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.

• 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.
• "I had to go up against an incumbent, a Republican incumbent in a Trump +30 state backed by Trump," 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."

Read more.

— Holly Otterbein, Alex Thompson

A look at what potential 2028 Democratic presidential contenders are up to:

• 💥 Exclusive: Majority Democrats, a group that has worked with potential 2028 candidates such as former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin, is convening Democrats in Charleston, South Carolina, on Tuesday with Massachusetts Rep. Jake Auchincloss, who chairs the group.
• New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez weighed in on the alleged 2024 gang rape of a student at Cornell, telling a crowd in Ithaca that "the culture of rape, sexual assault and pedophilia is protected in elite institutions across the United States, including Cornell University.… It has got to stop," per the Cornell Daily Sun.
• Slotkin also weighed in on the situation at Cornell, her alma mater, telling TMZ DC: "When we make the decision that because young men have a promising career ahead of them that they shouldn't face accountability for violently assaulting a woman, then we've lost our way."
• 📼 Newsom told Vanity Fair: "I watch videos of [former President Bill] Clinton.… I seek his counsel, his advice, and even in his absence, do that. I've been a student of his from day one."
• 🎤 Asked about facing off against progressives such as AOC who might attack him from his left, Newsom said: "I look forward to that debate. Oh you better believe it."
• Pritzker will speak at the South Carolina NAACP Convention on Saturday.
• 🐻 Pritzker also met with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to try to keep the Chicago Bears from building their new stadium in Indiana.
• 🌾 Kansas Democratic Senate nominee Adam Hamilton told Politico he doesn't want former Vice President Kamala Harris to campaign for him. "Please, no," he said.
• New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker campaigned in Mississippi on Friday for Democratic Senate candidate Scott Colom.
• 🦞 Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel toured schools in New Orleans to check out their education changes, especially post-COVID. "Louisiana is working," he said, the Times Picayune reported.
• Buttigieg returned to New Hampshire on Friday to campaign with Rep. Chris Pappas, who's in a competitive race for a U.S. Senate seat there. His walk-up song at the state party's Eleanor Roosevelt dinner was "You Get What You Give," by the New Radicals, per Politico's Adam Wren.
• The progressive media outlet Drop Site pressed Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff on whether he regretted voting for the Laken Riley Act, which as part of immigration enforcement requires holding certain noncitizens without bail if they're arrested, charged or convicted of certain crimes. "Laken Riley was my constituent, and what happened to her should happen to no American, to no person in this world," Ossoff said, referring to the nursing student who was killed in 2024 by an undocumented immigrant.
• 🦀 The Baltimore Banner dived into Gov. Wes Moore's evolution on data centers since 2024, when he signed a bill that he boasted would "supercharge the data center industry in Maryland." Moore, like many other Democratic governors responding to a voter backlash, has been tapping the brakes on data centers recently, suggesting more regulations are needed.
• AOC plans to attend a New York fundraiser for Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed on Monday, the New York Times' Shane Goldmacher reported.
• 🎸 AOC and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders also introduced the Strokes at a Friday night concert in Queens, N.Y.
• Harris campaigned for California congressional candidate Richard Pan, but some journalists were blocked from covering it. Pan and Harris spokespeople pointed fingers at one another for not letting in certain reporters, KCRA 3's Ashley Zavala reported. Harris took no questions at the event.

Some staffers for Beshear have a nickname for him: Mister Rogers.

• They see Beshear's publicly genial, aw-shucks persona as the political version of Fred Rogers, the iconic host of the longtime children's show "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood."

🎃 Last Halloween, Beshear took it to the next level by dressing as Rogers — red sweater and all — and filming his routine of getting into character for a Halloween message to Kentucky children.

"Welcome to my neighborhood. It's a beautiful day in Kentucky," Beshear said.

Beshear didn't totally nail his impersonation — he fumbled with his jacket a bit trying to hang it up, and he never did tie his tennis shoes.

• 🎶 Not in the final cut of the video: Beshear's attempt to sing Rogers' theme song, "Won't You Be My Neighbor?," which he quickly abandoned.
• "I just sing so badly," he said in the bloopers reel his office released later. "I'll hum it."