KY Politics Insider: Who’s funding anti-Massie PAC? New names for Senate, KY 6th
Kentucky Politics Insider offers an analysis of Kentucky politics and the conversations that drive decisions. Email reporter Austin Horn at ahorn@herald-leader.com or ping him on social media sites with tips or comments.
The advertising war against Rep. Thomas Massie, cheered on by a fellow Republican in President Donald Trump, is fully underway.
A political action committee named “MAGA KY” has spent well over $1 million running ads in Massie’s Northern Kentucky-centric 4th Congressional District in an attempt to erode his popularity among Republicans there.
Now, thanks to recent reports filed with the Federal Elections Commission, we know who’s been funding those attacks against Massie.
The answer is three GOP-aligned billionaire donors: Hedge fund managers Paul Singer and John Paulson, as well as a PAC with ties to Miriam Adelson, the widow of late Trump megadonor Sheldon Adelson. They’ve contributed a total of $2 million to the PAC.
Paulson gave the PAC $250,000, Adelson’s Preserve America PAC offered $750,000 and Singer gave MAGA KY $1,000,000.
MAGA KY is run by top Trump political lieutenants Chris Lacivita, a co-campaign manager to Trump’s 2024 campaign, and Tony Fabrizio.
Massie has been a continual thorn in Trump’s side throughout the president’s second term.
Massie was one of only two House Republicans to vote against Trump’s signature budget bill. He also was a vocal opponent of the president’s policy on Iran when he authorized strikes on nuclear facilities there and was insistent on the full release of files related to Jeffrey Epstein, which reportedly contain Trump’s name.
Massie pushed for this well before many of his GOP colleagues made the same argument.
Even before Trump’s second term, the two had bickered, with Trump calling him a “third-rate grandstander,” and Massie backing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis during the 2024 presidential primary.
Massie also has been more critical of Israel than most Republicans, including Trump. He broke with his party in voting against military spending to help the longtime U.S. ally, which has recently come under fire for blocking humanitarian aid into Gaza in its war against Hamas.
In a post to social media site X, Massie noted that Adelson, Singer and Paulson are all staunch supporters of Israel.
“Three billionaires from New York City and Las Vegas have funded a superPAC deceptively named Kentucky MAGA to run millions of dollars of negative ads against me because I vote against foreign aid for Israel and needless wars in the Middle East. Kentuckians aren’t falling for it,” Massie wrote.
The latest ad uses Massie’s no vote on Trump’s budget bill against him. He voted against it because it is projected to increase the U.S. budget deficit.
The latest ad asks, “Who is Thomas Massie fighting for?”
It responds that he isn’t fighting for various groups who are set to benefit, like police officers who got exempted from overtime taxes and seniors who are exempted from Social Security income taxes.
U.S. Senate rumblings
Democrats may not be done filing to run for U.S. Senate.
Though state House Minority Floor Leader Pamela Stevenson, D-Louisville, has been in the race for months, a couple Democrats with security resumes are rumored to be eyeing runs of their own.
Logan Forsythe is a personal injury attorney from Lyon County in Western Kentucky, now based in Lexington. A former U.S. Secret Service agent, the 36-year-old graduated from the University of Kentucky and completed his legal training at Northern Kentucky University.
Forsythe, who has been the subject of speculation regarding his intentions for the office for weeks, did not respond to a request for comment made through his law office.
Forsythe’s firm, Morgan, Collins, Yeast & Salyer, recently made a $25,000 donation to Gov. Andy Beshear’s personal political action committee, In This Together.
Another name to watch is Joel Willett, a Louisville native and former CIA officer detailed to the White House situation room during Democratic President Barack Obama’s second term.
Willett has written opinion pieces in Kentucky and Washington responding to President Donald Trump’s comments about the intelligence community during his first term.
During the 2019 fiasco surrounding a whistleblower alleging that Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former President Joe Biden’s son, Willett responded in the Washington Post with an op-ed detailing his experiences. He had sharp words for Trump at the time.
“What’s sadly becoming normal is Trump’s willingness to attack any individual or institution that challenges his behavior as ‘partisan’ or part of some ‘deep state’ conspiracy. It has become this administration’s reflex,” Willett wrote.
One year ago, Willett was named CEO of Cybermedia Technologies, a Washington-area technology company serving federal agencies.
Willett, 41, previously worked in private equity and as the CEO of a company contracting with the U.S. Navy.
A spokesperson for Willett declined to comment when contacted by the Herald-Leader.
A spokesperson for Stevenson’s campaign did not offer comment for this story.
While speculation about two of the state’s most prominent Democrats, Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman and top Beshear adviser Rocky Adkins, has abounded, both seem more likely to throw their hats in the ring for governor in 2027 at this moment.
Beshear’s camp has repeatedly shot down suggestions that he would seek the Senate seat.
Most attention on the race to outgoing U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell in 2026 has been paid to the three leading Republicans seeking the office: Former Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, Lexington tech entrepreneur Nate Morris and 6th District Rep. Andy Barr.
At Fancy Farm, the state’s biggest political speaking event, those three took the stage while Stevenson declined to speak.
A new name in Kentucky’s 6th District
The race to replace Barr is already crowded.
State Reps. Deanna Gordon of Richmond and Ryan Dotson of Winchester, as well as former state Sen. Ralph Alvarado, are running on the GOP side.
Lexington Democratic stalwarts in former state Rep. Cherlynn Stevenson and former Lexington Councilman David Kloiber, as well as Zach Dembo, a newcomer who has shown he can raise campaign dollars, are vying for the Democratic nomination.
Now, several insiders are talking about one possible new entrant: Lain Garrett, a Lexington Republican and finance professor at the University of Kentucky.
With a long Wall Street resume, Garrett likely has access to significant dollars through connections and his own checkbook. According to his LinkedIn, he was a senior vice president at Jefferies, a multi-billion dollar investment bank, for more than a decade and his last position in New York was as “Head of U.S. Regulatory Venues and Market Structure” for Bloomberg.
He is a University of Kentucky graduate who has served on the school’s Gatton College of Business and Economics Finance Advisory Board since 2020.
Garrett did not respond to an email inquiry about his thoughts on the race.
This story was originally published August 6, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
