Gov. Matt Bevin opted out of a tree-lighting ceremony in the Kentucky Capitol Rotunda Thursday night to do a little post-election stumping for President-elect Donald Trump.
Bevin delivered impassioned remarks at the Cincinnati rally, praising the real estate mogul as the right man for the time and likening the former reality TV star to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The Republican also waxed optimistic about the American Dream, saying voters made the right choice.
"I will be honest with you. Three weeks ago and some change ago, when this election occurred, I have never in my life been so grateful. I have never been so appreciative. I have never been so proud of the people of the United States of America," the governor said.
The Republican also lightly jabbed pundits who wrote off the Trump campaign.
"We've heard a lot of things about how the candidate who is about to be now our next president was unconventional, he was unorthodox, he was unprepared, he was unscripted," Bevin recalled. "I'll tell you what he wasn't. He wasn't unelectable, that's for sure."
Hitting on familiar themes from his past speeches, the governor urged the audience to put the vitriol of the election behind them and work together for a brighter future.