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

(CNN) — 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.”

Bad blood in Kentucky

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.

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