Republican Matt Bevin spent four years trying to lose — ‘and he succeeded’: Elections expert Larry Sabato

Kentucky's Republican governor had to actually try to lose re-election in such a red state, an elections expert explained on MSNBC on Tuesday.

Larry Sabato, the director of U.Va's Center for Politics, was interviewed my Lawrence O'Donnell on "The Last Word."

"And Larry, a quick word about what we’re seeing in Kentucky tonight. The president went down last night, he nationalized the race, he put himself on the ballot in Kentucky," O'Donnell noted.

"He put impeachment on the ballot in Kentucky, the Republican advertising campaign put Donald Trump and put impeachment on the ballot in the Kentucky governor’s race, and it was a very bad night for Republicans," he continued.

"It sure was," Sabato replied. "Yeah, it’s true they won everything below governor, but governor matters more than all the other things put together."

"And Trump put his reputation on the line. He picked Kentucky for the election-eve visit because he thought he could have the most influence there. But Matt Bevin lost. And when you’re a Republican running statewide in Kentucky you have to try to lose. And Bevin tried for four years -- and he succeeded," Sabato concluded.

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