Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear met with attendees at the SMART Great Lakes and Southeastern Joint Council Meeting in Louisville, Kentucky, in early May, outlining the wins union workers in Kentucky have achieved in recent years. SMART members in Kentucky mobilized in both 2019 and 2023 to elect Beshear, a pro-union elected official, in a so-called “right-to-work” state that has become anti-union in recent decades. Under Beshear, worker-friendly government action has paid off, with Local 110 nearly doubling in size to staff megaprojects in the state.