Who’s up, who’s down in fundraising for GOP governor race. See where they got their money.
Cameron, Craft, and Quarles. That’s the alphabetical order of the top three fundraisers in the race for the GOP nomination to take on Gov. Andy Beshear this November. But the order gets scrambled around depending on what fundraising metric you use to rank them..
Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft has raised an impressive $1.3 million in just four months on the campaign trail, and hauled in the most this quarter (October through December, 2022) of any Republican candidate in a crowded field, with six running professional campaigns, by a considerable margin.
Attorney General Daniel Cameron has been the most consistent thus far, clearing $250,000 in each of his three fundraising quarters since announcing in May. Raising $259,000 his numbers didn’t dip much this quarter – not nearly as much as one of the other top competitors.
Commissioner of Agriculture Ryan Quarles started his campaign off red hot but his fundraising efforts cooled down this quarter: he only raised only a little over $54,000 in the past three months. Still, Quarles is leading the pack in terms of cash on hand, having spent much less than Cameron or Craft thus far. He’s got $874,569 to his name.
Those top three fundraisers are running in a field that’s similarly crowded but has changed somewhat. Prominent ‘Liberty’ GOP Rep. Savannah Maddox, R-Dry Ridge, surprised observers when she dropped out in December, citing the lack of fundraising despite having raised $237,000 in a relatively short amount of time. Also, Somerset Mayor Alan Keck is on the scene.
Keck cleared $200,000 in his first bite at the fundraising apple after about five weeks on the trail. He got a big chunk of his first round of money – about two-fifths – from his native Somerset.
Auditor Mike Harmon and Eric Deters, a controversial Northern Kentucky retired attorney, raised very little this quarter, logging $3,600 and $4,600 each.
The top six candidates have raised the following total amounts:
Kelly Craft: $1,299,227
Daniel Cameron: $967,383
Ryan Quarles: $930,002
Alan Keck: $204,839
Eric Deters: $99,491
Mike Harmon: $68,698
The top six candidates have the following amount of cash on hand:
Ryan Quarles: $874,569
Daniel Cameron: $712,263
Kelly Craft: $230,247
Alan Keck: $171,862
Mike Harmon: $26,001
Eric Deters: $6,144
Breaking down the donors, expenses
Craft posted the highest-expense quarter of any candidate for governor by far, dropping $1.07 million between October and December.
The highest single expense of Craft’s was consulting and media placement through Axiom Strategies, the group credited with helping Virginia Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin win the governor’s chair.
Other big expenses include staff, media placement and research, among other things.
Craft, who has access to significant wealth through her billionaire coal magnate and philanthropist husband Joe Craft, gave herself $31,545 of her quarterly $732,000 haul. She also picked up the tab on $33,545 in-kind expenses this cycle. The majority of her individual donations, about $330,000 of a total quarterly haul of $548,000, came from Kentuckians.
The former ambassador got monetary boosts from some of the football staff at University of Kentucky, where she and her husband are major donors. UK Football Head Coach Mark Stoops gave the maximum individual $2,000 amount, while assistant coaches Vince Marrow and Frank Buffano gave $1,000 each. Craft’s use of University of Kentucky athletics – making sideline appearances at football and basketball games while launching a major ad blitz during recent games – has drawn the attention of some, including operatives at the Kentucky Democratic Party.
Two Republican governors gave to Craft this cycle, too. Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts gave her campaign $2,000, while a committee aligned with Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb dropped $2,000 as well.
Cameron reported 530 individual donations, with 61 people donating the maximum amount. Among those top donors, several groups of people employed by the same company chipped in. That includes the law firm Frost Brown Todd, where Cameron and GOP candidate for attorney general Russell Coleman worked; doctor’s offices; and other companies.
Just over $172,000 of Cameron’s $259,000 quarter came from Kentucky donors.
Near the start of his campaign, Cameron scored the endorsement of former President Donald Trump, whose runs were big successes in Kentucky but has continued to generate controversy in his post-presidency. Cameron, the state’s top prosecutor, has also touted endorsements from hundreds of law enforcement leaders as well as major anti-abortion group the Susan B. Anthony List.
Quarles’ relatively weak quarter saw only 78 individual donations come in, compared to more than 400 and 700 in his first two cycles. A notable donor was Joe Bilby, an attorney under Quarles at the Department of Agriculture who ran and lost a closely-watched race against Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd.
The commissioner of agriculture has said that he’s running a campaign focused on “old school” grassroots connections at the local level. So far he’s netted more endorsements from representatives and senators in Frankfort, as well as county judge-executives, than any other GOP gubernatorial candidate.
A majority of Keck’s 156 donors are from either Somerset or Bowling Green, South-Central Kentucky’s two biggest cities.
Deters reported very little in campaign receipts or expenses this go-around, but he has been personally footing the bill for his Freedom Fest events across the state. Speakers at the biggest such event, held in September in his native Northern Kentucky, cost him well over $100,000 a pop, according to the Courier-Journal. Those included popular conservative speakers Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. – the former president’s sons – as well as Candace Owens.
Deters has said that he does not consider those payments as campaign expenses.
Beshear continues to rake it in, other 2023 races
The Democratic side is highlighted by the fundraising successes of Gov. Andy Beshear’s reelection effort.
He has raised more than all the Republican challengers combined thus far, bringing in nearly $5.2 million total, around $647,000 of that coming this quarter.
Beshear’s pace of fundraising waned slightly, as was the case for nearly all candidates who had logged a previous fundraising quarter. He logged about $24,000 in PAC contributions from various industries and groups present in Kentucky, pushing the total PAC contributions up to
The sitting governor received about $489,000 of his quarterly total, and 93% of his individual donations, from Kentuckians.
In an unusually strong start for a treasurer candidate, former deputy treasurer OJ Oleka posted $132,336 in just one month of fundraising. That’s a record for a GOP primary candidate running for treasurer, Oleka’s campaign said.
Fellow GOP candidate Andrew Cooperrider, a figure in the state’s further right ‘Liberty’ GOP movement who lost a high-profile Central Kentucky Senate race in 2022, posted more than $16,000 to push his total raised amount up to $42,755.
Russell Coleman, a former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky, continued to clear six figures with his quarterly haul of $128,140, bolstered by a significant influx of PAC money. Unlike candidates for governor and some other constitutional offices, Coleman does not seem likely to get a serious GOP primary contender and has the backing of both Kentucky U.S. senators, Mitch McConnell, for whom he worked; and Rand Paul – a fact that likely helps him build consensus among conservative donors and various PACs.
Rep. Pam Stevenson, D-Louisville, seems likely to be Coleman’s Democratic challenger, and she got off to a solid start by raising $51,816 in roughly a month of campaigning. About half of Stevenson’s donations came from Louisville residents.
Former House GOP floor leader Jonathan Shell continues to outpace Rep. Richard Heath, R-Mayfield, in fundraising for the Republican nomination for commissioner of agriculture. Shell, who’s been running for the post since Aug. 2021, has raised more than $335,000 and now has $282,000 on hand.
Heath, who lost to Quarles for the 2015 GOP nomination to the post, has raised only $48,250, adding $2,500 this cycle.
Democratic candidate for the office Sierra Enlow filed to run just this week.
Secretary of State Michael Adams has raised $205,637 in his bid for the GOP nomination, while Republican competitor Allen Maricle has only logged about $5,000.
Former Northern Kentucky representative Buddy Wheatley, who is the lone Democrat running thus far, has netted $12,225 in his first couple weeks of running.
In the race for auditor, there’s some Republican and Democrat parity so far. Treasurer Allison Ball, who’s trying to make the switch to auditor, has raised just over $50,000 in a race where she’s the only Republican nominee.
Kim Reeder, a tax attorney from Morehead, is the only Democrat running thus far and has raised $36,370. A majority of Reeder’s donations have come from out of state.
