Group backing Kelly Craft for KY governor launches $600k anti-Daniel Cameron ad

A political action committee (PAC) supporting former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft’s campaign for governor just spent $602,916 on advertising expenses, starting with an ad attacking fellow GOP gubernatorial candidate Daniel Cameron.

The ad, from Commonwealth PAC, opens by stating that “Daniel Cameron is nice, but he’s no strong Kentucky conservative.”

The ad points out that Cameron, as Kentucky’s attorney general, did not opt to join a lawsuit against the Biden administration over a change in policy regarding the U.S.-Mexico border wall.

The ad also refers to immigrants who crossed the border illegally as “illegals.”

“With illegals and deadly fentanyl flowing across Biden’s open borders, who would we rather have leading Kentucky?” the narrator asks. “A conservative grizzly bear, or Daniel Cameron, Kentucky’s soft establishment teddy bear?”

It ends by comparing images of a roaring grizzly bear and one of Cameron’s face that’s quickly replaced by a stuffed teddy bear wearing a suit.

Much like the Craft campaign, which started spending money on television ads and has dropped more than $1 million so far, the Commonwealth PAC is the first of its kind to launch an advertising campaign in this race.

Craft is one of several candidates seeking the Republican nomination for governor to take on incumbent Gov. Andy Beshear, the presumptive Democratic nominee.

Commonwealth PAC is an unauthorized campaign committee formed to support Craft’s run for the state’s highest office. Committees like this one are formed to make independent expenditures in support of or against a candidate and can take in unlimited amounts of money. In its filing with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance (KREF) it states that it will back Craft.

The vast majority of the funds are being allocated toward TV advertisements, mostly on local broadcast networks in Louisville, Lexington and Bowling Green. It’s also spending money on cable and satellite TV ads throughout the state as well as radio advertising in Paducah.

The Craft campaign did not offer comment when asked about the PAC. The PAC’s chair, Lexingtonian Greg Couch, has yet to respond to inquiries on its intentions this cycle.

As the only candidate up on television so far, Craft herself has already spent a significant amount of money on advertisements, going up on air just before the New Year. Her campaign has spent more than a million total on television ads, according to Medium Buying.

Though Commonwealth PAC is the first to log any spending in 2023, other super PACs, including many other unauthorized campaign committees, have already formed to bolster candidates on the Republican side this year. These groups are barred by law from coordinating directly with campaigns.

Cameron responded in a statement on Monday morning by noting that he was “flattered” for the early hit “because it shows the strength of our lead.”

“(It) also lays bare the fact that my opponents know they can’t win on their own merits. I know voters are smart - they’ll see this for what it is - silliness. Kentuckians know I’ve been a conservative fighter on every issue that matters to them... That’s why (former) president Donald Trump has endorsed my campaign for Governor. President Trump endorsed me over candidates who used to work for him,” Cameron wrote.

One attorney who worked for former Missouri attorney general Eric Schmitt when that state joined Texas in the referenced lawsuit called Commonwealth PAC’s ad “inaccurate” in a tweet.

As the lead trial attorney in the border wall lawsuit, it’s inaccurate to say Kentucky ‘refused’ to opt in,” former deputy attorney general Jesus Osete wrote. “Missouri and Texas simply filed suit similar to what they did in Remain in Mexico, with state amici support at (the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals) and SCOTUS.”

Craft worked as ambassador to the United Nations and to Canada under the Trump administration. Her husband, billionaire coal magnate and philanthropist Joe Craft, is a major national GOP donor who also boosted Trump’s 2016 presidential run.

According to a survey conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy in late January, Cameron was leading a crowded Republican field with 39% of the vote to Craft’s 13%. Commissioner of Agriculture Ryan Quarles came in at 8% in that poll and Auditor Mike Harmon logged 5%, with more than a quarter of voters remaining undecided.

Northern Kentucky University political science professor Ryan Salzman said that more than two months before the election, primaries are May 16, is an unusual time for negative ads to begin. He said it makes clear, though, that Craft supporters see Cameron as the biggest roadblock between her and the Republican nomination for governor.

“They clearly see Daniel Cameron as their biggest competition and they’re trying to prevent him from getting the nomination,” Salzman said. “I’m assuming we’ll be seeing more and more of these advertisements.”

Salzman said he expects a “nuanced” campaign going forward from both Craft and Commonwealth PAC due to the ostensibly vast financial resources available to both.

On this ad in particular, he said there’s potential for it to bolster Cameron’s front-runner status.

“There’s no such thing as bad press,” Salzman said. “They just told all of Kentucky that Daniel Cameron is a candidate for governor. They put his face out there and they just gave him an opportunity to respond to this and tell people that he’s standing up to the Biden agenda.”

The Democratic Governors Association (DGA) weighed in on the ad with an email blast titled “Kentucky’s Crowded GOP Primary Gets UnBEARably Nasty.”

“Kentucky’s crowded GOP primary is going to be unbearably nasty and messy - and it’s just getting started. Daniel Cameron, Kelly Craft and the rest of Kentucky GOP’s dangerous dozen candidates care more about taking extreme positions and attacking each other than discussing real solutions,” DGA Spokesperson Sam Newton said.