This story first appeared in the Kentucky Lantern, an outlet of States Newsroom. It's republished here as part of the Appalachian News Exchange reporting partnership to strength Kentucky journalism.
Gov. Andy Beshear chairs the Democratic Governors Association this year, and in that role he helps elect as many Democratic governors as possible in November.
Beshear’s super PAC, In This Together, made a $100,000 contribution in August to Project Battleground Georgia, a political committee supporting the election of Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms as governor of Georgia. Bottoms is the former mayor of Atlanta and is running against Republican Rick Jackson, founder and chief executive of a health care staffing and services company.
The donation, disclosed in a report filed with the Federal Election Commission this week, is among the largest contributions made by In This Together to help candidates in races outside Kentucky.
Also last month, the report filed by In This Together shows it made a $25,000 contribution to Affordable NM, a committee promoting the election of Debra Haaland as governor of New Mexico.
Haaland is a former member of the U.S. House and she served as Secretary of the Interior for President Joe Biden. She's running against Republican Greg Hull, a businessman and former mayor of Rio Rancho, New Mexico.
PAC buys Beshear books
In July, the Lantern reported the Kentucky Democratic Party paid $10,769.07 to Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Lexington for 521 copies of Beshear’s new book, “Go Forth and Do Likewise.”
In August, In This Together went forth and did likewise. Its recent report filed with the FEC shows In This Together paid $9,126.60 to Carmichael’s Books in Louisville. Beshear’s top political strategist Eric Hyers, who oversees the super PAC, confirmed in an email the payment was for copies of “Go Forth and Do Likewise.”
Hyers said the books were used to raise funds for the super PAC, but he did not respond to an emailed question on how many copies were purchased with the $9,126.60.
Beshear created In This Together soon after he won reelection as governor in 2023. He uses it as a platform to support his exploration of a run for the Democratic Party's 2028 presidential nomination.
The super PAC, which can accept contributions of unlimited amounts, has since raised about $9 million and used that money to make donations to candidates and causes that Beshear supports — both in and out of Kentucky. The money also pays the administrative costs of running the super PAC: the strategy consultants, fundraising consultants, compliance consultants, etc. on the Beshear political team.
The largest contributions made to In This Together listed in the recent report were three donations of $25,000 each from executives of financial services companies: Marc Spilker, of New York, an executive of GPS Investment Partners; Donald Mullen, also of New York, the chief executive of Pretium Partners; and Eric Mindich, of Miami Beach, who is identified in the report as a partner in Eton Park Capital.
Top lobbyists, according to how much they are paid
Lobbyists have long been the highest paid people who work in the Capitol. That fact is proven each time the groups that lobby the Kentucky General Assembly file periodic reports with the Legislative Ethics Commission, disclosing how much they pay their lobbyists.
The commission’s website tallies those numbers for each registered lobbyist. Reports covering the months since the end of the 2026 legislative session were filed last week. They show the top-paid lobbyist from Jan. 1 through Aug. 31 this year was Steve Huffman of Lexington, who was paid $913,200 for his eight months of work.
About 900 corporations, associations and other groups pay lobbyists to represent their interests before the legislature. And most professional lobbyists represent many groups. Huffman represents 24 groups. And here’s how he made $913,200 in eight months:
- Brightstar Global Solutions paid him $68,500;
- Keeneland Association, $52,000;
- CRH Americas, $50,500;
- Revolutionary Racing, $48,000;
- ViaPath Technologies, $48,000;
- Kentucky Association of Health Plans, $44,000;
- Revenue Based Finance Coalition, $41,000;
- American Municipal Power, $40,000;
- Buckhorn Children & Family Services, $40,000;
- Dismas Charities, $40,000;
- ECL Entertainment, $40,000;
- Elevance Health, $40,000;
- JT International USA, $40,000;
- Kentucky Broadband & Cable Association, $40,000;
- Kentucky Medical Services Foundation, $40,000;
- NetChoice, $40,000;
- The Red Mile, $40,000;
- Madison County, $35,000;
- Wrigley Media Group, $32,000;
- Kentucky Equine Education Alliance, $26,200;
- BitCoin Depot, $22,500;
- Duke Energy, $20,000;
- Jockey’s Guild, $20,000;
- Kentucky League of Cities, $5,500.
The Lantern previously reported in 2025, for the first time ever, ethics commission data showed compensation of particular lobbyists exceeded $1 million for a calendar year. The records showed Huffman was paid $1,153,500 that year, and lobbyist Patrick Jennings was paid $1,123,988 by his numerous clients.
Recent filings show Jennings ranks second in compensation through August 2026 at $880,685. These two are ahead of the pack as the third highest paid lobbyist is John McCarthy at $606,946.
Huffman, Jennings and McCarthy are hardly the only highly-paid lobbyists. The recent ethics filing shows they are just three of 35 lobbyists who, through Aug. 31, have already made more this year than Gov. Andy Beshear’s annual salary of $188,523.
