Andy Beshear’s national PAC still hauling in cash. See where it’s coming from
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Beshear's PAC raised over $618K in early 2025, mostly from Kentucky sources.
- Top donations include $100K from TDA Properties and $90K from Ullico Management.
- PAC spending heavily backed firms tied to communications, strategy and polling.
As Gov. Andy Beshear continues to stoke intrigue around his potential presidential ambitions, he’s also continued to bring in cash to a political action committee that could help serve those ends.
Beshear’s In This Together PAC received more than $618,200 in the first half of the year, according to records with the Federal Elections Commission.
Most of the money came from Kentucky sources.
Spending during that half-year period was $341,000, leaving the group with $496,100 cash on hand to end June.
TDA Properties, a real estate company in Elizabethtown that goes by the name “The Land Store,” led all contributors with $100,000 given. The company, led by Tim Aulbach, specializes in farm sales, subdivisions and large-scale developments like shopping centers.
ECL Entertainment, a gaming company that owns The Mint Historical Horse Racing facilities in Bowling Green, Franklin and Williamsburg as well as Kentucky Downs race track, gave the group $75,000. Historical Horse Racing is a slot-like type of gaming recently legalized by the Kentucky state legislature. Beshear has long been a supporter of the horse industry in its endeavor to grow the presence of those facilities.
The largest out-of-state contribution came from Ullico Management, an insurance company focused on serving workers unions that gave the PAC $90,000.
Among the notable political names included in the contribution list: David Kloiber. His Kloiber Management Services firm donated $2,000 to the PAC. Kloiber, a former Lexington-Fayette Urban County councilman, is currently running for the Democratic nomination to the open 6th Congressional District seat.
Other big contributing organizations include:
- Law firm Morgan, Collins, Yeast & Salyer: $25,000
- Louisville power provider LG&E: $10,000
- Guthrie-based civil engineering firm McGhee Engineering: $10,000
- Tompkinsville drilling firm Rock Solutions: $7,500
- Tompkinsville construction company Cleary Construction: $7,500
Other potential Democratic contenders for the White House in 2028 have been making similar moves.
Pete Buttigieg, a candidate in 2020 who later became transportation secretary, led all the rumored candidates raising $1.6 million in the half-year period. California Gov. Gavin Newsom raised about $200,000, but had already shoveled tons of cash into his Campaign For Democracy PAC, ending the period with $4.4 million cash on hand.
Of the $341,000 spent by Beshear’s PAC, the biggest expense on the report was to GPS Impact, an Iowa based political firm that the PAC gave $129,000. Iowa still holds a relatively early spot on the list of Democratic presidential primary states, though its traditional first place in the order was bumped in 2024 in favor of South Carolina.
The second-biggest recipient was Outperform Strategies, the consulting firm of Beshear’s chief political strategist Eric Hyers, at $43,800. Elias Law, a D.C.-based firm run by prominent Democratic lawyer and influencer Marc Elias, was paid $30,000. The PAC gave $25,000 to Against the Odds, LLC, a business run by Beshear fundraiser Lucas Johnson.
Public Policy Polling, a firm long aligned with the Beshear family, was paid $18,000. Providence, Rhode Island, compliance company CFO Compliance got $17,500. Capital Strategies of California was paid $15,000.
The PAC paid Lauren Hitt, a Washington communications heavyweight, $12,000. Hitt led communications for the campaigns of progressive star Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and also served as the senior national spokesperson for the 2024 presidential campaigns of former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris.
The max individual amount one can contribute to a PAC like In This Together is $5,000 annually. Donors pitching in that amount include Beshear’s own father, former Gov. Steve Beshear; lobbyists Bob Babbage and Sherman Brown; Yolanda Ali, wife of the late boxer Muhammad Ali; state Finance and Administration Cabinet Secretary Holly McCoy-Johnson; and CBD and THC gummy company Cornbread Hemp co-founder Jim Higdon.
Max donations linked to two current members of the University of Kentucky board of trustees were also made: David Figg of Beaver Dam donated the max amount and Hal McCoy of Hopkinsville, the husband of appointee Elizabeth McCoy, did the same. Frank Shoop, a Georgetown car dealer and banker, honorary lifetime board member who just resigned from his post and regular Beshear fundraiser, also donated $5,000.
More information regarding the PAC’s finances will be made available when a separate report it’s required to file to the Internal Revenue Service goes public later this month.
Beyond the political action committee, Beshear’s nonprofit 501(c)(4) group Heckbent has been raising and spending money. As a 501(c)(4) group, also known in politics as a “dark money” entity, Heckbent is not required to publicly disclose its donors, unlike political action committees akin to In This Together.
