Dembo continues money surge in KY-06 Dem primary, Plucinski enters the GOP fray
The battle lines, and the resources available, in U.S. House races across Kentucky grew much clearer with the recent release of fundraising reports over the weekend.
In Central Kentucky’s 6th Congressional District, Democratic candidate Zach Dembo bolstered his lead in the money race over familiar Democratic names like former state representative Cherlynn Stevenson and former Lexington city councilman David Kloiber. Per records with the Federal Elections Commission covering the final quarter of 2025, Dembo ended the year with $343,000, almost $200,000 more than the closest competition.
On the Republican side, former state senator Ralph Alvarado continued to chug along, raising the most of any candidate with $218,000. He ended the quarter just shy of a half million on hand. Nicholasville businessman Greg Plucinski also made a splash, loaning his campaign more than $300,000 to kickstart his campaign.
The 6th Congressional District will likely be the most closely watched general election of any Kentucky U.S. House race in November. Though most outside observers predict it will remain in Republican hands after the departure of Rep. Andy Barr, who is running to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell, Democratic groups are targeting the district as an opportunity to potentially flip the balance of the chamber, where the GOP holds a slim majority.
In a statement, Dembo’s team said their report was a “clear sign” that Dembo is the strongest candidate and the “only Democrat that has the resources to compete and win in November.”
“Zach Dembo doesn’t have a personal fortune to lend his campaign, but he still raised more than the entire Democratic field combined for the second quarter in a row. Washington is broken, Central Kentuckians are sick of politics as usual, and they want a leader who works for them, not the establishment class,” said campaign manager Olivia Dupree.
Dembo, a former federal prosecutor, is in a field with Stevenson, the most established name in state Democratic politics; businesswoman and bourbon writer Erin Petrey; and Kloiber.
Alvarado and Plucinski are joined on the GOP side by Rep. Ryan Dotson, R-Winchester, a well-known conservative lawmaker.
Elsewhere in the state, most other congressional districts are attracting gobs of money. Rep. Thomas Massie’s primary fight against former state senate candidate Ed Gallrein has brought in millions; Rep. Morgan McGarvey, Kentucky’s lone Democratic representative, has continued his fundraising tear; and powerful GOP committee chairs Rep. Brett Guthrie and Rep. James Comer have raised a lot.
Central Kentucky Democrats
Dembo got the early support of Democratic megadonor Christy Brown, Louisville philanthropist of the Brown-Forman family, but expanded that to other big names in Kentucky politics. in the past quarter That list includes Transportation Secretary Jim Gray, the former mayor of Lexington and Democratic candidate for Congress and Senate, who gave Dembo $1,000.
Several of the top donors from the quarter came from Louisville and the surrounding area.
Here’s a list of other notable donors:
- Ann Bakhaus, chair of beverage distributor Kentucky Eagle, $3,500.
- William T. Young, Jr., son of late Lexington philanthropist William T. Young, $3,500.
- Augusta Holland, wife of philanthropist and former lieutenant governor candidate Gil Holland, $5,000.
- Former 3rd Congressional District representative John Yarmuth’s brother, William, and his wife Susan, $7,000 each.
- Jon Rabinowitz, chief operational officer at Morgan & Morgan and key Beshear ally. $1,000
Stevenson’s donor list includes about the same number of total donors, but far fewer contributing the maximum amount. One of those maximum donors is Micky Stefanov, the husband of Kentucky Democratic Party Executive Director Morgan Eaves. Eaves’ parents also contributed to Stevenson.
Stevenson, once a member of state House Democratic leadership before being unseated in 2024, spent slightly more than she brought in through the final quarter of 2025, with $107,000 coming in and spending $137,000. She has the most connections to state Democrats of any candidate, and has the endorsement of Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman.
Erin Petrey, a first-time candidate, businesswoman and bourbon writer, brought in slightly more than Stevenson during the quarter, but she loaned herself $50,000, almost as much as she raised from other donors. Petrey ended the quarter just behind Stevenson’s cash on hand figure.
Petrey received several donations from the greater Washington, D.C., area, where she lived before returning to Kentucky. She also received some from Kentuckians like Griffin VanMeter, owner of the Kentucky for Kentucky brand and current Lexington city council candidate, who gave Petrey $250.
Former Lexington city councilman David Kloiber is a potential X factor in the race. Previously a self-funder in his 2022 mayoral bid, giving that campaign more than $600,000, Kloiber has also largely self-funded his bid for the Democratic nomination to this congressional seat.
He raised about $19,000 during the quarter, ending the year with $144,614 on hand.
Republican KY-06 race
The biggest change in the money race for Republicans last quarter was the entry of Plucinski.
With his $305,000 loan to his campaign, Plucinski immediately gave himself enough money to potentially run plenty of television ads.
Plucinski appears to have made his money through the 2024 sale of Summit Biosciences, where he was president and chief operational officer. The company specialized in nasal sprays, and was acquired by larger pharmaceutical group Kindeva.
Aside from his self-loan, Plucinski raised $73,000 from other donors.
As was the case in previous fundraising quarters, Alvarado brought in the most from donors of any candidate.
Some donors were from Tennessee, where Alvarado served as commissioner of the Department of Health for 2 1/2 years. Many of them, like Ballad Health CEO Alan Levine, were involved in health care.
Here’s a rundown of some prominent people on Alvarado’s donor list:
- Mac Brown, former Republican Party of Kentucky chairman, $3,500.
- Chip Englander, consultant for the campaign who has ties to Trump as well as former Kentucky governor Matt Bevin, with whom Alvarado ran as a lieutenant governor candidate in 2019, $3,500.
- Doug and William Wilburn, of Lexington construction firm DW Wilburn, $3,500 each.
- Blake Brickman, former chief of staff for Bevin, $1,000.
Alvarado ended the year with close to half a million on hand: $486,000.
Dotson continued to bring in less than Alvarado but still ended the quarter with a sizable $331,000 in cash on hand sum.
He raised $1,000 from Steve Poe, owner of Louisville development firm Poe Companies. Dotson also got a $1,000 boost from the campaign fund of state representative Tom Smith, R-Corbin, who serves with Dotson in the state legislature. In all, Dotson raised a little more than $92,000 during the quarter.
Unlike the previous quarter, when Dotson loaned his campaign $200,000, he did not provide his campaign with any money during the final quarter of 2025.
Other Congressional races
One of the most closely watched congressional district primaries in the country, Rep. Thomas Massie’s tilt against Trump-endorsed candidate Ed Gallrein, got flooded with cash. Gallrein’s opening quarter attracted $1.2 million, and Massie, who has drawn the ire of Trump for his opposition to the president on several fronts, raised $638,000 in that period.
Massie ended the quarter with $2.19 million on hand, and Gallrein had $933,000.
Rep. Hal Rogers, the 5th Congressional District representative who is dean of the U.S. House, ended the year with more than $1 million on hand.
Rogers raised about $59,000 in the last three months of 2025.
Kevin Smith, a London attorney and former Republican political staffer who is running against Rogers, has not had to report his campaign finances since he filed for the office on the last possible to day to do so in early January.
Ned Pillersdorf, a Prestonsburg attorney known for his legal work on behalf of former clients of infamous fraudster Eric C. Conn, raised about $19,000 during the quarter and ended the year with $53,000 on hand.
Pillersdorf got a $250 contribution from Stephen Bright, a Kentucky attorney and Yale Law School professor famous for his defense of people on death row. Pillersdorf got the same amount from Louisville attorney David Tachau of the firm Tachau Meek.
1st Congressional District Rep. James Comer continued to pad his sizable war chest during the final three months of 2025. Bringing in about $353,000, he ended the year with nearly $3.4 million on hand.
Drew Williams, the only Democrat running against Comer, raised $16,000 and ended the year with a little over $8,000 on hand.
From his powerful perch as chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, 2nd Congressional District Rep. Brett Guthrie raised $577,000 and ended with $1.47 million on hand.
In Louisville, McGarvey, Kentucky’s lone Democratic representative of the 3rd Congressional District, raised $411,000 during the final quarter of 2025. He ended the year with $1.8 million on hand.
This story was originally published February 2, 2026 at 7:28 AM.
