Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear says he hasn’t spoken with Biden or Harris on filling in as VP
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With Washington abuzz in talk of Democratic President Joe Biden potentially stepping aside for another presidential nominee this year, Gov. Andy Beshear’s view from Frankfort remained the same Thursday mid-day.
Does he still have concerns about Biden’s candidacy? Yes.
Is he calling on the president to withdraw for another candidate such as Vice President Kamala Harris or someone else? No.
Would he want to be vice president alongside Harris? He won’t say.
But, he reiterated that he’s open to — but not planning on — leaving his role if he felt he could “help the Commonwealth even more” through another opportunity.
And no, he has not spoken to George Clooney recently.
The press conference came one day after calls for Biden to withdraw increased, the loudest among them coming from Clooney, a Kentucky native, one of Hollywood’s biggest stars and a prolific Democratic fundraiser in his own right.
“I have not talked to George Clooney since January when I told his father happy birthday,” Beshear said, in reference to the actor’s father Nick, a Democrat who ran an unsuccessful 2004 campaign for Congress in Northern Kentucky.
As for the governor’s general tack on the question of Biden’s candidacy, he stuck to the same script he’s used in recent media appearances.
“President Biden is the current nominee, only he could make a decision not to be the nominee and I support him as long as he is our nominee,” Beshear said. “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 ... provides the information on himself that I think people have been asking for.”
The governor punted when asked whether Biden’s candidacy was an open question, as Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, former U.S. House speaker, presented it in a recent interview. He hearkened back to his meeting with Biden alongside other Democratic governors in Washington earlier this month, where he expressed some concerns about the campaign’s communication to voters.
“I think only he knows that. It’d be speculation on on my part. I’ve just had the one opportunity to be with the president when the Democratic governors came together. And when I had an opportunity to speak it was that he didn’t just need to reassure us, (he) needed to reassure the American people,” Beshear said.
“I think they’ve taken some steps towards it, but I think more steps would need to be taken.”
Later Thursday, Biden is also scheduled to cap a three-day NATO gathering in D.C. with an open press conference. Many observers say it will be a key test for the president’s campaign, which has buffeted harsh criticisms in the wake of a poor debate performance against presumed Republican candidate and former President Donald Trump.
Reporting and speculation that more Democrats, including the Biden campaign itself, is open to another nominee was increasing Thursday. The Biden campaign is testing Harris’ strength against Trump in a one-on-one match-up, according to the New York Times.
Beshear is among roughly a dozen names of Democratic politicians tossed around to potentially replace Biden on the very top of the ticket.
However, he’s in a smaller pool of discussed candidates for the vice presidential slot should Harris take the nomination.
Other names often floated alongside Harris as a potential vice presidential pick for her are Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper. On Thursday, Harris campaigned in North Carolina — a swing state unlike Kentucky — alongside Cooper.
Beshear did not add any further comments on the matter when asked if he would take on the role of vice president, sticking to a previous talking point that he’d only take another role if he thought it would greatly benefit Kentucky; that cuts contrary to his previous pledge to serve out his full term through 2027.
“I’m not going to speculate about what would or could happen,” Beshear said.
Beshear said the current job is “more than enough for me,” but also added “the only way that I’d step away from this role is if I felt like I can help the Commonwealth even more through some other opportunity.”
He would not say if the role of vice president met that threshold.
Beshear also didn’t fully answer a question on whether or not he’s had discussions with anyone outside his team on filling out a spot on the president-vice president ticket.
He did say, however, that he hasn’t spoken to “the White House,” Biden or Harris about it.
“I haven’t had any conversations with the White House — the President, the Vice President,” he said.
Beshear has, however, been meeting with some of the country’s top political operatives.
During a trip to Washington this week, Beshear appeared alongside Mark Riddle, a Kentucky native who leads the political group Future Majority and co-founded a pro-Biden super PAC that raised massive amounts of money in 2020. The event supported Beshear’s political action committee, In This Together.
Future Majority is a political nonprofit, also known as a “dark money” group, that supports Democrats. It kicked off in 2019 with a splashy $60 million spend. Unite the Country, the pro-Biden superPAC, was very active in the lead-up to Biden’s 2020 win, netting close to $50 million then.
The event was hosted by Riddle, former Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe and David Jones, the founder of Washington government relations firm Capitol Counsel.
“Honored to host Kentucky’s great Governor Andy Beshear with my dear friend... the very best David Jones and one of my favorite people of all time former Governor Terry McAuliffe,” Riddle wrote in a Facebook post. “It was a huge turnout with many friends, stories, and memories. A shout out to our team.
“Hope for the future filled the air.”
