Craft makes another big self-loan, pro-Cameron PAC gets more ‘dark money’
With less than two weeks to go until the May 16 election, the money continues to flow in the GOP gubernatorial primary.
Former ambassador Kelly Craft has loaned her campaign well over $9 million dollars total, giving another $2.25 million to her campaign effort in the last 15 days.
Other candidates that have received a jolt in the past couple weeks include suspended Northern Kentucky attorney Eric Deters, who, like Craft, is mostly self-financing his campaign. Attorney General Daniel Cameron raised more than $82,000 in the last 15 days and Commissioner of Agriculture Ryan Quarles added around $34,000 to his coffers.
In total, Craft has raised around $1.4 million from outside individuals while loaning herself $9.25 million and giving her campaign in-kind donations totaling $150,000 throughout the campaign so far, according to the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance (KREF). That puts her total cash in the campaign around $9.43 million.
The recent figure catapulted her above prior self-funding candidates for governor who loaned major amounts of money like Democrats Bruce Lunsford and Wallace Wilkinson as well as Republicans Billy Harper and Hal Heiner.
Of those candidates, Lunsford held the previous record at $8.2 million in self-loans. However, both his money spent in 2003 and Wilkinson’s $4 million in 1987 are higher amounts when adjusted for inflation.
Cameron’s contributions included a max donation from Joseph Rogers, Jr. the chairman and former CEO of Waffle House, and $2,000 from Hellfire PAC, a group founded by newly-elected Texas Congressman Wesley Hunt.
Quarles picked up a full $2,000 donation from Rep. Kim Moser, R-Taylor Mill, who had previously endorsed him.
Deters’ campaign coffers got a bump when he loaned himself $109,000. Nearly all of his $778,475 raised comes from his own pocketbook.
Somerset Mayor Alan Keck’s campaign raised a relatively modest $14,000 in the 15-day span, most of it coming from his hometown.
Auditor Mike Harmon raised only $470 in the last 15 days, raising his total over the cycle to $85,000.
In terms of cash on hand, the candidates rank as follows:
Kelly Craft: $1,271,558
Ryan Quarles: $478,365
Daniel Cameron: $341,227
Alan Keck: $34,555
Mike Harmon: $14,630
Eric Deters: $12,970
For self-funders like Craft and Deters, cash on hand is a less relevant metric, given that their wealth could allow them to reload their finances at any time.
Beshear continues to raise
Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear is raising money from individuals at a much faster clip than any of the Republicans in the field.
The incumbent governor raised about $352,000 in the 15 days covering the reporting period, with about $217,000 of the total coming from individuals living in Kentucky. The governor got a bump from the upper Midwest, with more than $47,000 coming from donors in Minnesota and Michigan.
Included in a number of maximum donations to Beshear — 77 people gave either $2,100 or $2,000 in the short timespan — was one from Alida Rockefeller Messinger, heiress to the Rockefeller Family fortune.
PACs staying involved
The last 15 days have been a tale of two PACs.
Bluegrass Freedom Action, which is supporting Cameron’s bid, received an influx of money to bring its total funds raised this cycle above $2.7 million.
A PAC backing Craft, Commonwealth PAC, did not receive any money in the last cycle. It has very little cash on hand now, having spent nearly all of its total $1.8 million raised. The primary funder for Commonwealth PAC was Joe Craft, Kelly’s husband. Though Kelly Craft has denied knowing about Joe’s donation to the PAC, KREF said it was reviewing the situation for “concerns about potential coordination” between the PAC and the campaign.
Continuing to pump money into Bluegrass Freedom Action is notable ‘dark money’ group – meaning that its funders are kept secret via campaign finance law workarounds – The Concord Fund. Formerly named the Judicial Crisis Network, The Concord Fund is well-known for funding attempts to reshape American courts to become more conservative. It also has ties to Sen. Mitch McConnell, who’s influence on Cameron has become a talking point of a recent television ad from Craft, though Craft and McConnell have close ties as well.
The Concord Fund has given $2.25 million of Bluegrass Freedom Action’s total $2.7 million raised.
The PAC also got a $25,000 infusion from Robert Rowling, a conservative billionaire donor who founded the company that owns Omni Hotels.
Both Bluegrass Freedom Action and Commonwealth PAC have aired ads critical of Craft and Cameron, respectively.
A couple other PACs showed movement for the first time in a recent report.
Bluegrass Conservatives PAC, which is supporting Keck’s bid for governor, raised well over $90,000 and spent most of it on direct mail advocating for Keck.
Conservative Action PAC, formed by allies of Quarles and funded by groups that have donated to him in the past, raised $45,000 but did not report spending any of it in the last 15 days. Lexington construction entrepreneur Brett Setzer was the top donor at $25,000, followed by Kissel Entertainment – the amusement company that currently has the contract to operate the midway area at the Kentucky State Fair.
Kissel won the contract over the largest carnival company in North America, which had it for 13 years, in 2020. At the time, it was the largest fair Kissel Entertainment had serviced.
As commissioner, Quarles has supported bills that expand his authority to appoint more members to the Kentucky State Fair Board.
Four members of the Kissel family donated the maximum $2,000 each to Quarles’ campaign during Quarles’ first quarter of fundraising.
Neither Kissel Entertainment nor a spokesperson for the Quarles campaign has responded to a request for comment.
