Kentucky’s next primary election is still seven months away, but candidates of both parties in a key U.S. Senate race are already raising large amounts of contributions from donors.
In the Republican primary for the seat of departing Sen. Mitch McConnell, candidates have already raised and spent millions of dollars, as have three political action committees that have blanketed TV airwaves since this summer.
Wednesday was the deadline for all federal candidates to file their latest campaign finance report, disclosing all contributions and expenditures in the third quarter, from July through September.
In the GOP Senate race, current U.S. Rep. Andy Barr, stretched out his money advantage by raising another $1.8 million this quarter, but is now facing a well-funded opponent in businessman Nate Morris, whose campaign raised more than $4 million with the help of a $3 million loan from himself.
According to polling in the Senate race, Republican and two-time statewide candidate Daniel Cameron is leading the primary field, but remains well behind in fundraising, despite launching his candidacy in February.
Democratic candidates vying for McConnell’s open Senate seat have raised far less than their Republican counterparts. Joel Willett currently has the largest war chest among the Democrats, despite only reporting two weeks of fundraising after joining the race in September.
Here’s a look at the fundraising battle in those races, what the candidates and PACs are spending money on so far and what donors are filling their coffers.
Morris, Barr and PACs spend big in GOP Senate primary
Barr had already sprinted out to a large fundraising lead in his previous filing in July, ending the second quarter with more than $6 million cash on hand, largely due to transfers from his existing House campaign committees.
The GOP congressman picked up his pace in the past three months, raising an additional $1.8 million from donors. Barr’s campaign ended the quarter with $6.6 million in its account, as it kicked into gear with $1.2 million of spending, more than half of that on television ad buys.
Barr spent heavily on TV ads because of Morris’ entry to the race in July — along with a PAC that has spent $2 million on ads against Barr.
Morris reported spending nearly $3 million — $1.6 million of that on TV ads — thanks to the $3 million loan he gave to his campaign. Morris also raised more than $1 million from donors.
While public and internal polls have shown both Barr and Morris trailing Cameron by a wide margin in the GOP primary, they have far outpaced the former Kentucky attorney general when it comes to both fundraising and spending.
Cameron had raised just shy of $900,000 in the first half of the year, and only picked up $411,224 more in the third quarter. His campaign has made limited spending so far, with no TV ad purchases, and ended October with $629,748 cash on hand.
But candidate spending in the race has been outmatched by the spending from outside super PACs that support and oppose Morris and Barr.
Win it Back PAC has spent $2 million on ads attacking Barr, including $1.6 million on TV, largely hitting him for his ties to McConnell — a main theme of Morris’ campaign. The PAC is affiliated with Club For Growth, a big-spending conservative group that has mostly been funded in recent years by two billionaires and prolific GOP donors: Pennsylvania financial investor Jeff Yass and Chicago-area shipping supplies owner Richard Uihlein.
Uihlein is also the largest funder of another PAC that entered the race in October with a $1.6 million TV ad buy in support of Morris. The ads of Restoration of America PAC are mostly positive, lauding Morris’ biography, as he has struggled to grow past 10% in various polling of the GOP race.
Restoration PAC has previously involved itself in Kentucky races, funding a PAC that aired more than $2 million ads supporting Cameron in his unsuccessful 2023 race for governor against Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear.
Coming to Barr’s defense in August was Keep America Great, a super PAC that went on offense with attack ads against Morris calling him a “fake” conservative and a “woke liberal.” The PAC spent $2.4 million on ads against Morris in the quarter, with $1.6 of that on TV ads.
Keep America Great was formed this year and reported raising $700,000 through June. Among the donors in the first half of the year giving at least $100,000 were a national PAC of anesthesiologists, Nicholasville real estate developer Brett Setzer and Eric and Tamara Gustavson, who own a thoroughbred farm in Lexington. The other large donors funding most of the group’s ads won’t be revealed until early next year, which is the next reporting deadline for most federal super PACs.
The PACs have so far ignored Cameron, who polls show is currently leading the GOP primary. Internal polling of both the Barr and Cameron campaigns have shown Cameron — who ran for statewide office in both 2019 and 2023 — near 40%, with Barr in the mid-20s and Morris at nearly 10%.
Willett quickly takes money lead among Democrats in Senate race
Despite only reporting his first two weeks of campaigning after launching his candidacy in mid-September, Democrat Joel Willett has now amassed the most campaign funds of the candidates vying for his party’s nomination in the U.S. Senate race.
Willett, a former CIA officer and Army veteran, reported raising $319,774 in the last two weeks of September — most of which came from his personal loan of $200,000. His campaign reported spending very little in that time, entering October with $325,158 cash on hand.
Willett’s cash on hand is many times greater than that of Democratic state Rep. Pamela Stevenson of Louisville, although she entered the race much earlier, in January. Stevenson, also a military veteran, only raised $41,641 in the third quarter, bringing her yearly total to $262,000.
Despite airing no ads, Stevenson’s campaign has still spent heavily, entering October with just $24,863 cash on hand. Of the $242,000 her campaign has spent this year, it reported that nearly half of that was spent on five different fundraising consultants.
Logan Forsythe, an attorney and former Secret Service agent, also joined the Democratic primary in mid-September. He reported raising nearly $40,000 in the final two weeks of that month.
Amy McGrath, a Navy veteran and Democrat who lost her bid for McConnell’s Senate seat in 2020 by nearly 20 percentage points, announced in October that she is running for the seat again. She will not have to file a campaign finance report until early next year, but raised and spent more than $90 million in her last unsuccessful bid.
Kentucky’s primary election is on May 19, 2026.
