Wire reporting: (AP, via Stuff)

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said Thursday he sent President Donald Trump a letter asking for the immediate removal of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., according to Kentucky news outlets that covered a Frankfort briefing^1,3,4,17.

Beshear, a Democrat, said Kennedy was unqualified for the post and that keeping him in office was dangerous, tying the request to measles, foodborne illness and other infectious-disease trends he described as preventable^1,3,4.

LEX18 reported that as of Thursday Kentucky had confirmed 211 measles cases and 14 hospitalizations in 2026³. WLKY and WOWK quoted Beshear saying the state had more measles cases this year than in the previous 35 years combined^4,17.

In the letter, dated Nov. 12, Beshear wrote that Kennedy was putting American lives at risk, the Kentucky Lantern reported, and he linked the appeal to recent election results as a signal the public wanted change¹. At his weekly briefing he said Kennedy was spreading conspiracy theories that put vulnerable people at risk³.

"It's just wrong and he needs to go," Beshear said, according to LEX18³.

WLKY reported he would support the next Congress impeaching Kennedy but asked Trump to act first so that process would not be needed⁴. The Lantern said he also argued Trump should fire Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth¹.

WOWK said Beshear also pointed to foodborne-illness outbreaks, rising whooping-cough risk and what he described as higher tetanus levels, and that he blamed vaccine misinformation for the return of diseases once controlled¹⁷.

None of the Kentucky reports quoted a reply from the White House or from HHS^1,3,4,17. Other items grouped with this assignment concerned Democratic congressional investigations or a separate Senate inquiry into Kennedy’s 2019 Samoa trip, not the Kentucky letter^2,9,16.