FRAKNFORT, Ky. (AP) — The latest on the inauguration of Matt Bevin, Kentucky’s new governor (all times local):
10:40 a.m.
Governor Matt Bevin’s teenage daughter who died in a car crash has been remembered at her father’s inaugural worship service.
Brittiney Bevin’s last entry in her prayer journal was read at Tuesday morning’s service at the Frankfort Convention Center.
The night before she died in 2003, the 17-year-old wrote “my dangerous prayer is that You’ll place broken-hearted people in my path and fill me with You so that I can let Your love heal their pain.”
The state’s second Republican governor since 1971, who ran as a Christian conservative, took office Tuesday morning. About 1,500 people attended his inaugural service.
The Rev. Dave Stone, from Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, prayed that “when the going gets tough,” Bevin will “choose the more difficult right rather than the easier wrong.”
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12:01 a.m.
Matt Bevin has taken the oath to become the 62nd governor of Kentucky during a private ceremony just after midnight in the state Capitol.
Bevin succeeds Democrat Steve Beshear, who could not seek re-election because of term limits. Bevin is only the state’s ninth Republican governor in its 223-year history and the second since 1971.
A full day of events is scheduled for Tuesday, including a worship service, a parade and a public swearing-in ceremony on the Capitol steps.
An investment manager from Louisville, Bevin has never held public office. He started his political career by losing badly to U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell in the 2014 Senate primary.
But Bevin came back to win the Republican primary for governor by just 83 votes. He defeated Democrat Jack Conway in November.