FRANKFORT, Ky. _ Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin conceded the race for governor Thursday, ending more than a week of speculation over whether he would contest the results of the Nov. 5 election, which he narrowly lost to Democrat Andy Beshear.
Bevin's announcement came after a statewide recanvass showed minimal changes in election totals. Beshear won by less than 0.5 percentage points.
"We're going to have a change in the governorship based on the vote of the people," Bevin said in a news conference in front of the governor's office. "What I want is to see the absolute best for Kentucky. I'm not going to contest these numbers that have come in. It isn't fair to throw that on the Legislature to find something that just isn't."
The announcement brings closure to Bevin's four years as governor of Kentucky, a term defined by a wave of conservative legislation and Bevin's penchant for picking political fights.
Bevin made a point to thank his staff, calling them qualified, professional, dedicated, competent and "ethically upright."
"We've set the bar for what people should expect of government," Bevin said. "People should not expect corruption, they should not expect people getting contracts that they didn't earn or deserve or that they're not qualified for. They should expect people who come to work every day and work long hard hours on behalf of the people of Kentucky."
He also wished Beshear, the attorney general, well as the next governor. Beshear will take office Dec. 10.
Bevin had stoked speculation that he would contest the election _ his only option for challenging the results aside from a recanvass _ after he cited "irregularities" in the election without providing any evidence to back up his claim.
Despite conceding, Bevin reiterated his claim Thursday that thousands of absentee ballots were improperly counted, once again without presenting any evidence of his claims.
"These too would not change the outcome," Bevin said. "It would change it by some thousands, but instead of it being now some thousands, it would be 1,000 or some hundreds but either way it would be the same end result."
Bevin also took a swipe at the election process at the end of his remarks, saying Secretary of State-elect Michael Adams, a Republican, will have to make the process more transparent.
"There is not any real sense of transparency for how the voting process works," Bevin said. "What you are going to see is that we do not have checks and balances."
