Gov. Andy Beshear greets Western Kentucky University students in the Downing Student Union during a campaign stop on campus on Nov. 3, 2023.

The younger generation showed out for Gov. Andy Beshear at Western Kentucky University on Friday as the incumbent dropped in on campus to drum up support with just days left until the general election.

Dozens of students gathered in the Downing Student Union to hear from Beshear, who said he was “excited about these college students and how they’re going to lead us into the future.”

“It’s OK to admit we’ve been through a lot, and you’ve been through every single bit of it,” he told the crowd of young adults, a reference to the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on college life and the December 2021 EF3 tornado that missed WKU’s campus by yards.

“You think about them being a generation that’s already sacrificed so much for everyone around them – really special,” Beshear said. “Truly living out the faith and values of loving your neighbor as yourself, the parable of the good samaritan, that says everyone is your neighbor.”

Beshear’s visit came on the heels of a new Emerson College Poll, released Friday morning, that showed both he and Republican challenger Attorney General Daniel Cameron tied with 47% of the vote apiece.

The governor said he is confident that his campaign has the edge, but that he still has to earn it down the stretch.

“The results that matter are the results on election day,” Beshear said. “We’re confident that as we go into these last few days that we are up but we are not resting on any of that data.”

Beshear touched on large-scale economic development projects in the works in Bowling Green, namely the $2 billion AESC battery plant in the Kentucky Transpark that will bring 2,000 jobs to the region.

He also said WKU’s innovation campus is “on fire” when it comes to bringing technology jobs to town.

“This is the best win streak in our lifetimes and we have to keep it going,” Beshear said.

Melanie Collins, a WKU senior, said she liked the governor’s moderate approach to policy.

“I am registered as a Democrat but I feel like I’m more in the middle of policy areas, I do think that’s where he stays too so I really support that,” Collins said.

She added that her mother is a second grade teacher and Beshear’s budget proposal of giving Kentucky educators an 11% raise appealed to her.

“He’s just a really down to earth guy, and I feel like he leads with a lot of grace and respect and doesn’t really attack people like the other side does,” Collins said.

Grace Herrmann, a WKU grad student, said Beshear’s platform includes a lot of “goals and values I want to see in our state moving forward.”

Beshear was joined on Friday by lieutenant governor Jacqueline Coleman, agriculture commissioner candidate Sierra Enlow, state treasurer candidate Michael Bowman, former District 20 Rep. Patti Minter and attorney general candidate Pamela Stevenson.

“I know a little bit about what a good attorney general looks like,” Beshear said. “I haven’t seen one in the last four years, but we’re going to have a great one in Pamela Stevenson.”

Coleman, a former basketball coach, told the students that the race is now in the fourth quarter and the Beshear campaign needed them to dial things in.

“Governor Beshear and I won our election in 2019 by 1.5 votes per precinct across the state of Kentucky,” she said. “So everything you do from now until the time the polls close on election day could be the difference.”