KY-Gov: The final fundraising reports ahead of Tuesday's primaries are in, and they show that former state Auditor Adam Edelen continues to benefit from massive cash infusions from those close to his campaign.
Edelen's running mate, wealthy businessman Gill Holland, recently loaned the campaign another $1 million, bringing his total loans to $2.5 million, or almost three quarters of the campaign's receipts. Meanwhile, Holland's mother-in-law, Christy Brown, donated another $500,000 to a super PAC, Kentuckians for a Better Future, that's been running scurrilous negative ads against frontrunner Andy Beshear; Brown, an heir of the family that founded the liquor giant Brown-Forman, has now spent $1 million on behalf of the Edelen-Holland ticket.
Holland's own finances have also come under scrutiny, and he's received criticism for steadfastly refusing to release his tax returns throughout the campaign. In a debate on Monday night, though, he offered a particularly feeble rationale. His returns "have your total income," Holland explained. "And you know I've got three little kids in elementary school, and they don't need to know."
Including Holland's loans, Edelen's campaign has brought in $3.4 million for the campaign, and as of May 6, he still had $679,000 available (plus, presumably, more from Holland if he needs it). Beshear, by contrast, has raised $2.2 million and had $293,000 remaining for the stretch run, while the third candidate in the Democratic primary, state House Minority Leader Rocky Adkins, has collected $1.6 million and had $487,000 remaining. Neither Adkins nor Beshear have received super PAC support.
As for the Republicans, it doesn't look like incumbent Gov. Matt Bevin has much to worry about from his lone challenger, state Rep. Robert Gofoth. Bevin has raised $1 million and is also capable of self-funding, while Goforth has raised almost nothing outside of a $750,000 loan he made to his own campaign that a bunch of nebbish consultants couldn't be happier about. A super PAC seeded with $250,000 from the RGA spent $124,000 in the last week of April and first week in May to boost Bevin, but it seems to have been unnecessary, as a new survey from Republican pollster Cygnal (on whose behalf it's not clear) finds Bevin smashing Goforth 56-18.