Washington, DC-based GOPAC dumps $30,000 into March 5 Special Election in last-ditch attempt to save Wheeler

"Hail Mary" from the Bevin-aligned Super PAC comes with just over one week until the Kentucky Senate special election

PIKEVILLE, KY — An out-of-state Republican Super PAC funded by corporations, casinos, and coastal elites has dumped nearly $30,000 into the special election for Kentucky Senate District 31. The group, GOPAC, began running pro-Wheeler ads on Eastern Kentucky station WYMT this morning.

"Based on the deceptive, negative campaign run by my opponent, I'm not surprised," said Darrell Pugh, Democratic nominee for the seat. "Most of those funding his campaign can't even vote for him. He's simply another puppet for Matt Bevin and out-of-state special interests -- I'm not surprised they're throwing money at him. But I'm not worried. I have been out talking to people who actually live in the district. They see right through the ridiculous campaign my opponent is running. We're not for sale."

According to financial disclosures and a 2018 review by the Courier Journal [1], GOPAC's largest contributors are corporations. The latest report on file with Federal Election Commission [2] shows the top states for individual contributors to GOPAC are New Jersey, Florida, and California. The group was active in the 2016 Republican takeover of the State House, investing $100,000 in ads, some of which featured Governor Matt Bevin (per the Lexington Herald Leader [3]). GOPAC has also paid expenses for Senate Majority Leader Damon Thayer on numerous out-of-state trips, including an exclusive, 5-star trip to England, which became the subject of investigation by the FBI [4].

The out-of-state independent expenditure by GOPAC continues a trend of outside money in support of Wheeler. Wheeler's first financial disclosure report [5] shows that less than 1/3 of his donors actually live in the district, compared to over 70% of Pugh's donors who can vote in the upcoming election.

GOPAC's ad buy [6] totals $29,000 and more than doubles the total ad buy on YMT in support of Republican Wheeler. (WYMT has posted $28,380 from Wheeler's campaign, according to FCC records of his first [7] and second [8] ad buys.) Pugh's campaign has purchased $14,365 of WYMT coverage to date, with their current ad buy only running through this Wednesday.

Darrell Pugh is the Democratic nominee to succeed Ray Jones in representing Kentucky State Senate District 31 in Frankfort. He is running against Republican Phillip Wheeler. The special election will be held on Tuesday, March 5.

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