The KY Democratic Party sent nearly $1.9 million to other states in October. Here’s why.
With Election Day in sight, the battles for control of Congress, state legislatures and governor’s mansions across the country are neck-and-neck in key battleground states.
Although Kentucky has a senate race with Democratic challenger Charles Booker taking on incumbent Republican Rand Paul, it’s widely predicted to be an easy re-election year for the commonwealth’s junior senator. The Kentucky GOP is unlikely to lose its supermajority control over the General Assembly, and Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, isn’t up for re-election until 2023.
But Arizona is in play, where polling indicates tight races for the offices of U.S. Senator and governor.
To support their Democratic colleagues in the Grand Canyon state, the Kentucky Democratic Party transferred $1,275,000 to the Arizona Democratic Party on Oct. 7, Federal Election Commission records show. In October, the KDP also transferred $90,000 to the Kansas Democrats and $500,000 to the party in Minnesota.
With Booker vastly out-raised by Paul and lacking the cash for television ads and more legislative seats in danger of slipping away, why would the state Democratic party pump nearly $1.9 million into other states?
Campaign finance expert Robin Kolodny, a political science professor at Temple University, said this kind of cash swap is entirely above board and has become increasingly routine in recent years. In addition to the federal campaign finance laws, each state operates under its own campaign finance system — and therefore different limitations on contributions — Kolodny said the parties use their federal channels to direct money where it is needed most.
“They’re taking something that’s forbidden in Arizona and using the fact that Kentucky allows whatever it is because they’re hard-pressed right now, and then, ‘We’ll work it all out later,’” Kolodny said.
“Trust me: In these circles, nobody’s going to forget what Kentucky Democrats did. If I were the leader of the Kentucky Democratic Party, I would not worry about this. It’s mid-term and you don’t have these close races; in 2024, it could be a very different story.”
The Kentucky Democratic Party declined an interview about these transfers, but Executive Director Sebastian Kitchen issued a brief statement to The Herald-Leader.
“This is a common and widely-used tool state parties routinely use when it can be done to mutually benefit both states,” Kitchen wrote. “The KDP has done this in the past, including 2019 and 2020, and is supporting candidates up and down the ballot.”
The KDP’s latest report to the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance isn’t due until January, but Arizona Secretary of State records show that Arizona Democrats sent their Kentucky counterparts $1.5 million the same day as the KDP’s transfer.
Indeed, FEC and KREF records show the KDP has swapped cash with Democrats in several other states.
In the 2020 election cycle, when Democratic candidate Amy McGrath raised more than $90 million in a failed effort to defeat U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, the KDP sent money to eight other state parties and in turn, received cash from six states, state and federal records show.
Like Kolodny, Jennifer Victor, an associate professor of political science at George Mason University, agreed that the KDP’s transfers are a normal practice, especially as state and local elections become increasingly nationalized.
But, Victor noted, “some donors may be concerned about their local donations being ‘exported.’
“Our nationalized political environment means that there is a lot of moving campaign money across state and district lines these days.”
The Booker campaign declined an interview for this report, but Booker has been candid about his frustration with the lack of state and national party support for his campaign.
“I don’t really look at it personally; I look at it for the Commonwealth as a whole. And on behalf of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, I am frustrated that nationally the establishment, the establishment in the Democratic Party, have not seen fit to invest in the Commonwealth of Kentucky,” Booker said in a mid-October interview with The Herald-Leader’s editorial board. “At the state level, there’s a lot of work and a lot of repairs that have to be done to bring more voices to the table, to strengthen the party.
“I understood that a part of my work, even before this campaign, was about building infrastructure, mobilizing new voices, training people to be citizen lobbyists, training more people to run for office. The support that I’ve seen from the state party as an institution isn’t really a shock to me, but Kentucky is worth fighting for.”
Kolodny said that, generally speaking, donors are politically savvy and not so bothered by the kind of transfers that the KDP has made.
To any critics, she said the KDP could argue, “’As much as we would like to see this candidate (win), our polling or other information suggests that this is so unlikely and that the same amount of money would make a difference in a much closer race.’”
FEC records show the Republican Party of Kentucky has not made any affiliate transfers in 2022.
The RPK did, however, give Paul’s campaign more than $4,500 in January 2022. The senator has more than $6.2 million cash on hand, per the FEC.
Booker has not received any party committee contributions, according to the FEC. His campaign has just shy of $290,000 cash on hand.
