Beshear has made his distrust of Kennedy clear on many occasions, but Thursday his tone changed, saying he has sent a letter formally urging the president to fire the controversial cabinet member.
"(Kennedy's) misinformation and reckless lies about effective vaccines is causing the reemergence of diseases. The worst measles outbreak in a decade has now grown to over 4,000 cases. We have more cases of measles this year in Kentucky than the last 35 years combined," the governor argued.
Beshear said he had not reached out to any other Democratic governors to join the push, but he assumes most, if not all, would support Kennedy's removal. The announcement came on the heels of a failed attempt to pass an impeachment resolution against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in the U.S. House. Beshear said he supports that effort to remove a cabinet member as well.
"I don't take the letter lightly. I'm not sure I've called on a president to fire someone very often," the Democrat said. "There are certainly two in this administration, I think he should. Pete Hegseth is the other."
The newly-energized rhetoric comes on the heels of sweeping midterm victories for Beshear's party, which is set to take control of Congress in 2027.
After reeling off references to conspiracy thinking, Kennedy's brain worm, and "snorting cocaine off a dirtytoilet," Beshear ended his statements about Kennedy by urging Trump to "just choose somebody better than this clown."
In September 2025, more than 20 Democratic senators called for Kennedy's ouster following a contentious Senate hearing that focused on turmoil at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and changes to federal COVID-19 vaccine recommendations.