Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear pushes to flip a Republican-friendly House seat in test of his political reach

Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

As the midterms near, potential 2028 presidential candidates are looking to prove their appeal in a range of House districts across the country. For Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear , it’s all about his state’s 6th Congressional District.

Beshear is making an all-out push to help a former aide, Zach Dembo, flip the Republican-friendly seat, a win that would further burnish the governor’s reputation as a Democrat who can win in red territory.

Beshear’s political action committee is spending about a quarter-million dollars on TV ads; Beshear has headlined a fundraiser for Dembo and is slated to do two more; he has filmed two ads with Dembo; and he has helped convince the state party to invest in the race.

Beshear even personally reached out to Hakeem Jeffries and other House Democratic leaders to ask for Dembo to be added to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s Red to Blue program, according to two sources familiar with the outreach. The DCCC did so last month, and a spokesperson for the committee told CNN that Beshear has been a “major asset” in the race.

“We’re helping in every way – fundraising, campaigning in person, some other things that you’ll see soon,” Beshear told CNN in an interview, noting he was born in the district and that it was “well-represented” by a Democrat — Ben Chandler — until 2013. “It’s time to have a voice that will actually support the district, and I know Zach Dembo pretty well.”

Dembo is a former federal prosecutor who worked as a policy adviser to Beshear and legislative director. His Republican opponent is Ralph Alvarado, a former state senator who won his primary with the help of an endorsement from President Donald Trump.

The Central Kentucky seat is open because the GOP incumbent, Andy Barr , is running for Senate.

While Trump carried the district by 15 percentage points in 2024, Beshear won it by about 20 points in his reelection campaign a year earlier. Dembo noted in a recent interview with CNN that the district has “a ton of people who voted for Andy Beshear and then voted for Donald Trump.”

Mark Riddle, a Democratic strategist from Kentucky, said Beshear’s heavy involvement could “make a big difference” in the race.

“It’s definitely a place where cost of living is hitting people, and I think politically getting a big win in Kentucky would send a strong message,” Riddle said.

Beshear already has his hands full as the chair of the Democratic Governors Association, a role that regularly takes him to states with competitive governors’ races. But a win in Kentucky’s 6th District would give him an achievement in the fight for control of Congress to tout in the nascent 2028 field.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, for example, has gone all in on trying to flip four of his state’s House seats as he runs for reelection himself.

Beshear has not shied away from the 2028 speculation surrounding him. He said during a book tour stop Tuesday in Washington, DC, that he was “not sure” he was done running for office, prompting a standing ovation. He later suggested to the moderator — Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, another potential 2028 contender — that they would “make a pretty good team.”

Back in Kentucky, Republicans have not publicly treated the 6th District race as competitively as Democrats have. But a super PAC linked to Trump is spending $840,000 on advertising there, according to AdImpact, and Democrats were previously encouraged the race was in play when Alvarado overhauled his campaign website to downplay his ties to Trump.

Alvarado’s campaign mocked Beshear’s support for Dembo in a statement for this story.

“It’s too bad Zach Dembo isn’t his own person and needs his political sugar daddy to hold his hand in the final stretch of this campaign,” Alvarado campaign manager Andy Westberry said.

Beshear has a personal history with Alvarado. Alvarado was the running mate for Republican Gov. Matt Bevin in 2019 when Beshear, then the state’s attorney general, defeated Bevin in a narrow and bitter contest. Beshear refers to Bevin as “Trump Lite” in his new book and still points to his 2019 race as a blueprint for Democrats.

The first ad in the race from Beshear’s PAC, In This Together, attacks Alvarado over his ties with Bevin, saying he “stood side-by-side with Bevin” when he pardoned a man convicted of raping a child in 2019. It was part of an 11th-hour flurry of pardons that Bevin issued days before he left office, drawing bipartisan backlash.

“Time and again, Alvarado chose his buddy Matt Bevin over protecting Kentucky families,” a narrator says.

Alvarado’s campaign responded to the ad by saying he “condemned Matt Bevin’s grotesque pardons” at the time, according to Louisville Public Media , though the outlet noted it could not find evidence of the condemnation.

伊芙琳·霍克斯坦/路透社

随着中期选举临近，2028年总统大选的潜在候选人正努力在全国各地的众议院选区证明自己的支持率。对于肯塔基州州长安迪·贝希尔来说，一切都围绕着他所在州的第六国会选区展开。

贝希尔正全力帮助他的前助手扎克·登博赢得这个共和党占优势的席位，如果获胜，将进一步巩固州长作为能够在共和党传统票仓赢得选举的民主党人的声誉。

贝希尔的政治行动委员会在电视广告上花费了约25万美元；贝希尔曾为登博主持过一次筹款活动，并计划再主持两次；他与登博一起拍摄了两则广告；他还帮助说服州党投资这场竞选。

据两位知情人士透露，贝希尔甚至亲自联系了哈基姆·杰弗里斯和其他众议院民主党领导人，请求将登博纳入民主党国会竞选委员会的“红转蓝”计划。民主党国会竞选委员会上个月采纳了这一请求，该委员会的一位发言人告诉CNN，贝希尔一直是这场竞选中的“重要助力”。

“我们正在尽一切努力提供帮助——筹款、亲自竞选，以及其他一些你们很快就会看到的举措，”贝希尔在接受CNN采访时表示，并指出他出生在该选区，而且直到2013年，该选区一直由民主党人本·钱德勒“代表”。“现在是时候让真正支持该选区的代表发出声音了，而且我非常了解扎克·登博。”

德姆博曾任联邦检察官，也曾担任贝希尔的政策顾问和立法主任。他的共和党对手是前州参议员拉尔夫·阿尔瓦拉多，他在唐纳德·特朗普总统的背书下赢得了初选。

由于共和党现任议员安迪·巴尔正在竞选参议员，肯塔基州中部地区的席位空缺。

虽然特朗普在2024年以15个百分点的优势赢得了该选区，但贝希尔在一年前的连任竞选中以约20个百分点的优势获胜。德姆博在最近接受CNN采访时指出，该选区“有很多选民先是投票给了安迪·贝希尔，然后又投票给了唐纳德·特朗普”。

来自肯塔基州的民主党策略师马克·里德尔表示，贝希尔的深度参与可能会对选情产生“重大影响”。

“肯塔基州的生活成本确实给人们带来了沉重的负担，我认为在政治上，如果能在肯塔基州取得重大胜利，将会发出一个强烈的信号，”里德尔说。

贝希尔目前已身兼民主党州长协会主席一职，经常需要前往各州参加竞争激烈的州长选举。但如果他能在肯塔基州第六选区胜出，就将为他在争夺国会控制权的斗争中赢得一项重要成就，从而在即将到来的2028年总统大选中大放异彩。

例如，宾夕法尼亚州州长乔什·夏皮罗全力以赴，试图在他自己竞选连任的同时，赢得该州众议院的四个席位。

贝希尔并未回避围绕他2028年竞选的种种猜测。周二，他在华盛顿特区的一次新书巡回宣传活动中表示，他“不确定”自己是否会停止竞选公职，此言一出，现场掌声雷动。随后，他向主持人——马里兰州州长韦斯·摩尔（另一位潜在的2028年总统候选人）——暗示，他们“会组成一个相当不错的团队”。

回到肯塔基州，共和党人公开表示对第六选区的竞选并不像民主党人那样积极。但据AdImpact报道，一个与特朗普有关联的超级政治行动委员会已在该选区投入84万美元用于广告宣传。此前，当阿尔瓦拉多修改其竞选网站以淡化他与特朗普的关系时，民主党人曾一度认为这场竞选充满变数。

阿尔瓦拉多的竞选团队就此事发表声明，嘲讽贝希尔对登博的支持。

“可惜扎克·登博不是个独立自主的人，他需要他的政治金主在竞选的最后阶段扶持他，”阿尔瓦拉多的竞选经理安迪·韦斯特伯里说。

贝希尔与阿尔瓦拉多颇有渊源。2019年，时任州检察长的贝希尔在与共和党州长马特·贝文的激烈角逐中胜出，当时阿尔瓦拉多是贝文的竞选搭档。贝希尔在新书中将贝文称为“小特朗普”，并始终认为2019年的竞选经验可以作为民主党的借鉴。

贝希尔的政治行动委员会“团结一致”（In This Together）在竞选中发布的第一则广告抨击阿尔瓦拉多与贝文的关系，称他在2019年赦免一名强奸儿童罪犯时“与贝文并肩而立”。这是贝文在卸任前几天匆忙发布的一系列赦免令的一部分，引发了两党的强烈反对。

“阿尔瓦拉多一次又一次地选择他的好友马特·贝文，而不是保护肯塔基州的家庭，”旁白说道。

据路易斯维尔公共媒体报道，阿尔瓦拉多的竞选团队回应这则广告时表示，他当时“谴责了马特·贝文令人作呕的赦免”，但该媒体指出，他们找不到谴责的证据。