Beshear asks Trump to fire RFK Jr. as Kentucky's measles count reaches 211

FRANKFORT, Ky. (Nov. 13) — Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear wants President Donald Trump to fire Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and he put it in writing.

Beshear, a Democrat, sent Trump a two-page letter Thursday calling for Kennedy's immediate removal and announced it at his weekly Team Kentucky briefing. He accused Kennedy of spreading "dangerous lies and misinformation about vaccines" as diseases like measles, whooping cough and tetanus make a comeback, WDRB+WAVE reported.

Kentucky has confirmed 211 measles cases this year, and all but two involved people who were unvaccinated or whose status is unknown. Fourteen people have been hospitalized and no one has died. Beshear said the state has seen more cases this year than in the previous 35 years combined. The cases are clustered in several western Kentucky counties, Laurel County in the south-central part of the state and Bath County in the northeast, Kentucky Public Radio reported. Nationally, the CDC lists more than 5,100 cases, the most since 1991.

The letter also pointed to cuts in public health jobs, including food inspectors, and a string of foodborne illness outbreaks and recalls, among them this year's multistate Cyclospora outbreak.

"He is woefully unqualified; he is putting American lives at risk," Beshear said.

The governor said he would back the next Congress impeaching Kennedy if Trump doesn't act first. He closed his briefing with a list of Kennedy controversies, from the dead bear left in New York City to the brain worm, and told Trump to "just choose somebody better than this clown," WLKY reported.

The White House isn't signaling any change. A spokesperson told the Kentucky Lantern that Trump and Kennedy have both said vaccination is the best way to prevent measles and that the administration has helped states get doses out during outbreaks. LEX18 noted that kindergarten measles vaccine coverage in Kentucky counties fell nearly 2 percentage points on average in the 2024-25 school year.