Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman embraces Wesley Whistle during her campaign tip off event at West 6th Brewing, in Lexington, Kentucky, on April 23, 2026. Peyton Tindall/The Watchdog

Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman made her first rounds through the Commonwealth during her campaign kickoff tour days after announcing her run in the 2027 Kentucky gubernatorial election.

At West Sixth Brewing in Lexington, Coleman campaigners and supporters met and spoke with the candidate and learned more about her platform on Friday, April 24.

Coleman, the first candidate to announce a run in the 2027 governor race, has served as Kentucky’s 58th lieutenant governor under Gov. Andy Beshear since 2019.

Before serving as an elected official, Coleman was a teacher, a role she said made many issues Kentuckians are facing personal for her.

“I really feel like as a teacher and as lieutenant governor, I see the challenges we face through the kids in my classroom,” Coleman said. “So for me, when we’re looking at all of the data, it’s not a spreadsheet to me. I can tell you the name of a family or a kid in my class that had those struggles.”

In her speech, Coleman recalled when she was asked to be Beshear’s running mate in the 2019 gubernatorial election – she was still an educator, and had to wait until the last school bus left the parking lot.

When Beshear, who was then attorney general, asked to meet with her, Coleman said she assumed it was to tell her he was running for governor, but she “had no idea” why she was there.

Beshear choosing her as his running mate proved something to Coleman she has always believed, she said, “that teachers can do anything.”

An attendee is seen wearing a shirt reading “education for all” at Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman’s campaign tip off event at West 6th Brewing, in Lexington, Kentucky, on April 23, 2026. Peyton Tindall/The Watchdog

According to Coleman, meeting students where they are at is crucial, and while job and economic development are important, such successes start in the classroom.

“The future of Kentucky’s economy that we are building is in our classrooms today. It is in our classrooms today,” Coleman said.

For high school student Parker Williams, he said having a former educator who is committed to public education and involved in recent state efforts to establish a universal pre-K program run for governor was important to him.

Williams said public education built him into the person he is, and that he believed Coleman would “fight tooth and nail” to ensure a fully funded public education system. Without adequate funding, according to Williams, it is not possible to put teachers or students first.

“I believe that when she’s elected, teachers won’t [need to] be buying school supplies for their students,” Williams said. “They won’t be buying pencils, paper, all of those different key essentials that students need.”

Cherlynn Stevenson, a former state representative and current U.S. representative candidate, said having a teacher in the governor’s office would mean having a governor that can advocate from experience.

Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman speaks to attendees at her campaign tip off event at West 6th Brewing, in Lexington, Kentucky, on April 23, 2026. Peyton Tindall/The Watchdog

After announcing her run on Monday, April 20, Coleman traveled to Western and Eastern Kentucky, an action Stevenson said showed that Coleman, who grew up in a small town herself, cares for all Kentuckians, not just those who live in “blue cities.”

“I’ve lived in rural Kentucky my whole life,” Coleman said, “but I remember seeing progress going on around me and thinking, ‘Well, a governor never comes to see us. How come we don’t ever get to announce any jobs in our community?’”

Seeing this and knowing how being in that position felt served as motivation for her to visit everywhere she could possibly go, Coleman said, and has shown her how seemingly small developments can be impactful, such as smaller-scale job announcements.

“Sometimes 12, 25 jobs will change a community,” Coleman said. “And so all of that matters, and I know that because that’s where I come from.”

Kentucky’s momentum regarding economic advancement is something Coleman said she hoped to continue if she were to become governor.

Throughout Beshear’s administration, Coleman said Kentucky has broken job creation records every year, and that there has been over $40 billion in economic investment in the Commonwealth.

Not only is economic development critical to bettering the state, Coleman said, but also what she called “people development.”

“It means that we meet people where they are,” Coleman said, “it means that we remove barriers, we create opportunities, we acknowledge that this is not just about the work, this is about the people doing the work in Kentucky.”