Biden pardons former top Kentucky Democrat moments before leaving office
Minutes before his successor was inaugurated into the presidency, former president Joe Biden pardoned Jerry Lundergan, one of the most influential Kentucky Democrats of the modern era.
Biden, the outgoing Democratic president, announced Lundergan’s pardon in a news release that also announced preemptive pardons for various members of his family.
The action was announced as the inauguration ceremony of Republican President Donald Trump began..
The former Kentucky Democratic Party chair was convicted in 2018 for the contributions made through a corporation to his daughter Alison Lundergan Grimes in her 2014 challenge against Sen. Mitch McConnell. Grimes, a Democrat, was a two-term secretary of state serving from 2012-2020.
According to a news release from Lundergan’s attorney, Frankfort litigator J. Guthrie True, Lundergan suffered a stroke in prison. He was released one year ago, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.
The elder Lundergan, 77, offered thanks for Biden’s pardon and expressed contrition in the release. He also highlighted the work he’s undertaken to improve “the lives of the most vulnerable.”
“I have taken responsibility for my actions, sought atonement, and am working to make a positive difference in the lives of the most vulnerable, including the homeless, those recovering from addiction, and those re-entering society,” he wrote.
“I am grateful for the President’s action; it offers healing to my family and confirms that our justice system is grounded in forgiveness.”
Lundergan had petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn his sentence, arguing the federal ban on corporate contributions is unconstitutional when applied to contributions from a close family member.
The country’s highest court denied his motion.
True wrote in the news release that he was “pleased beyond measure” for the Lundergan family.
“This is a worthy application of the pardon power: A mistake motivated by a father’s love for his daughter. But with or without the pardon, Jerry always works to make the world a better place in which to live.”
The elder Lundergan has been heavily involved in the state Democratic party for decades since narrowly losing to Steve Beshear, who later became governor, for a Lexington-based state House seat in 1975. He later served two stints in the Kentucky House and was chair of the state party at two separate times, in the 1980s and in the 2000s.
His daughter rose through the ranks of state politics as one of just two Democrats in statewide office during the administration of former Republican governor Matt Bevin.
She faced her own controversy while in office, eventually leading to ethics charges against her related to her access and sharing of voter data. Those charges were reversed last year in a Franklin Circuit Court ruling.
This story was originally published January 20, 2025 at 12:22 PM.
