How much did Amy McGrath, Charles Booker & newcomer Dems raise for US Senate?
Though Kentucky remains a strong Republican-leaning state, a couple of Democrats are raising serious cash in their efforts to replace outgoing Sen. Mitch McConnell in 2026.
Amy McGrath, previously a 2020 Democratic candidate against McConnell, led all Democrats in raising more than $1.3 million.
McGrath also spent the most by far, dropping $1,025,000 in October, November and December. That left her with $337,000 on hand to start 2026.
Not too far behind McGrath was Louisville horse trainer Dale Romans.
A political newcomer who says he wants to govern in the mold of a centrist Democrat like former West Virginia senator Joe Manchin, Romans raised $763,000 in the final quarter of 2025.
Of that total, $230,000 came in the form of a personal loan Romans made to his campaign. Spending less than McGrath, Romans ended the year with $576,000 on hand.
Romans’ campaign inaccurately reported it had raised more than $750,000 in the first week of fundraising since its November launch. Its fundraising report showed that the number was closer to $425,000.
When asked by the Herald-Leader to explain the discrepancy, a spokesperson wrote that some donations that were committed but not actually received were counted in that “more than $750,000” figure.
“The FEC report is correct; the miscount occurred when the $750,000 number was initially shared after that first week back in November. Some commits were mistakenly included in the number released in November 2025,” the Romans campaign spokesperson wrote.
Charles Booker, who was narrowly defeated by McGrath for the nomination in 2020 and was the nominee in 2022, raised about $77,000 in the four weeks since he launched his campaign in early December. He spent only $3,000, leaving him with $74,000 on hand to start the year.
Booker still caries debt from vendors for his 2022 campaign, when he easily won the Democratic nomination but was defeated by Sen. Rand Paul by 24 percentage points. According to a filing from that campaign, it still owes almost $90,000.
Lexington attorney and former U.S. Secret Service agent Logan Forsythe reported raising just $7,000 over the quarter. He’s brought in about $46,000 since joining the Democratic primary in mid-September and ended the year with a little over $3,000 on hand.
House Minority Floor Leader Pamela Stevenson, D-Louisville, has yet to file her campaign fundraising report for the last quarter of 2025. According to her last report, reflecting campaign activity from her April launch up to Sep. 30, Stevenson had spent most of the $260,000-plus she raised, and had more debt ($64,000) than cash on hand ($25,000).
Report details
True to her history as a successful fundraiser, McGrath easily led the pack in terms of money brought in throughout her campaign, which began in early October, last year.
In 2020, McGrath raised millions, spending $90 million in her ill-fated effort to beat McConnell. The longtime senator ended up winning by 20 percentage points; this year, McGrath says, could be different because she outperformed the presidential result in 2020, and the seat is open this time around.
Though McGrath got a number of donations from Kentuckians, the strong majority of her maximum donations — either $3,500, the max amount for primary campaigns, or $7,000, when the other half must be put aside for general election purposes — came from out of state.
Of the 71 people who donated $3,500 to McGrath’s campaign, 10 had Kentucky addresses. More came from the state of Montana, where 13 people donated $3,500. Of the 19 people who donated $7,000 to McGrath, one donor had a Kentucky address.
McGrath spent more than $504,000 — close to about half of her total $1,025,000 in spending — on digital fundraising consulting with the firm Authentic Campaigns.
Romans got big boosts from the horse racing community and those with ties to Kentucky politics. Those donations include:
- Bill Carstanjen, Churchill Downs CEO, $3,500.
- Evelyn Benoit, New Orleans horse trainer, $3,500.
- Frank Bernis, Louisville jockey agent, $3,500.
- Terry Finley, owner of West Point Thoroughbreds, $3,500.
- Bret Jones, president of Airdrie Stud and son of late former governor Brereton Jones, $3,500.
- Jerry Lundergan, former Kentucky Democratic Party chair, $3,500.
- Kenny McPeek, trainer of Kentucky Derby-winning Mystik Dan, $3,500.
- Todd Pletcher, two-time Kentucky Derby-winning trainer, $3,500.
- Jon Rabinowitz; COO of Morgan & Morgan, close ally of Gov. Andy Beshear, $3,500.
- Frank Shoop; businessman, longtime Democratic donor and former University of Kentucky board of trustees member, $3,500.
- John Velazquez, three-time Kentucky Derby winning jockey, $3,500.
Booker had the least amount of time to fundraise in 2025 of the candidates, launching his campaign in December.
He got donations from one notable national politician: former Democratic governor and presidential candidate Deval Patrick. Now a private investment entrepreneur, Patrick gave Booker the maximum donation.
Also donating the maximum amount were professor and author Emily Bingham, of the once-dominant Louisville media family, and her husband, entrepreneur Stephen Reily.
