Gov. Beshear dismisses White House interest: ‘The answer to your question is no’

FRANKFORT, Ky. ( FOX 56 ) — In the first Team Kentucky briefing since President Joe Biden’s widely panned debate performance, Gov. Andy Beshear again dismissed speculation about leaving Frankfort for higher office.

“This job is more than enough for me that I could fulfill this this next term, which I fully intend to, and be happy if this is the last public service role I ever had,” Beshear said, but he did not shut the door entirely.

“The only way that I’d step away from this role is if I felt like I could help the Commonwealth even more through some other opportunity,” he said.

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In the 2 weeks since that debate, Biden himself has insisted he isn’t going anywhere, but that has not stopped the rumor mill that there’s distress behind the scenes throughout the Democrat Party. Beshear said he believed only Biden himself can truly decide if it’s an open question of whether he’s staying in the race.

“President Biden is the current nominee. Only he could make a decision not to be the nominee. I support him as long as he is our nominee. And I believe that what we’ll need to see and what the American people need to see in the coming months is an aggressive campaign schedule that that proves to the American people and provides the information on his health that I think people have been asking for,” Beshear said.

Beshear said that’s the advice he gave the president when he traveled to DC for a meeting last week between Democratic governors. After being prompted by a question, Beshear flatly denied having had any conversations with the White House about joining the ticket as president or VP.

“No, the answer to your question is no; I haven’t had any of those conversations,” Beshear said.

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