Andy Beshear launches PAC to spend on candidates across the US, in Kentucky

On the heels of a decisive electoral victory, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has launched a political action committee to assist like-minded politicians across the country.

Beshear launched In This Together PAC Sunday evening, a political action committee which says it will work to elect “good people” that reject “the anger politics that have come to dominate our country.”

“The PAC will be supporting candidates who are good people that are focused on the everyday challenges that the American people face — like good jobs, access to health care, strong infrastructure, public safety — and candidates who push back against anger politics,” Beshear said in an interview with the Herald-Leader. “We’re looking for people that will run for the right reasons, and even when they are attacked with the with with the politics of anger, division and hate, refuse to get into it.”

The governor ran his 2023 campaign against Republican challenger Daniel Cameron with a similar message at the forefront, arguing he would focus on moving Kentucky “not to the right or the left, but forward.”

In This Together PAC is run by Outperform Strategies, a Louisville-based firm led by Beshear’s 2019 and 2023 campaign manager Eric Hyers and his wife Nicole Kayner, Hyers told the Herald-Leader. After Beshear’s win, Hyers told several outlets that aspects of the campaign could be replicated on a national level.

Beshear’s decisive 5-percentage-point victory has bolstered speculation about his potential to run for higher office, including president. But Beshear has repeatedly asserted he plans to serve out his full term and said as much in an interview Monday.

He also explicitly ruled out vying for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination should Democratic President Joe Biden, who is 81 years old, drop out.

“That’s completely off the table,” Beshear said. “I committed to the people of Kentucky that I’m serving this entire second term, and I’m going to do it.”

But what does the move say about Beshear’s plans after his second term concludes in 2027?

Al Cross, a longtime political commentator and journalist in Kentucky, called the move “a way to run for president without running for president.”

The creation of In This Together PAC affords the governor a chance to travel across the U.S. and network with wealthy donors as well as other politicians whose support could prove important for a later run for office.

When asked if the creation of the group meant he has interest in running for president in 2028, when Biden will be termed out or a Republican will be finishing their first term, Beshear demurred.

“I don’t think anybody should interpret it that way,” Beshear said. “This PAC is just a continuation of why I got into government and politics: I want to create a better commonwealth and a better country for my kids and everyone else’s. This is an opportunity to ensure that our blueprint for winning in tough states helps other good people bring good policy and good results and a better way of life to more people across the United States.

“At end of the day, we have to be out there strongly pushing against the politics of of division.”

Beshear added that the political action committee could also help his work as governor by keeping Kentucky’s “seat at the table.”

“Whether it’s in the political or the policy-making rooms in Washington, D.C., or anywhere else in the country right now, Kentucky is top of mind and not overlooked like it has been for so long,” Beshear said.

Such political action committees are common for federal politicians — the majority of Kentucky’s Washington delegation have their own PACs that support other candidates across the country — but more rare for governors. Cross said he could not recall a Kentucky governor creating such a group.

Beshear joins a handful of prominent Democratic governors, all of whom have generated some amount of presidential buzz, to have created an organization to assist candidates all over the country. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and California Gov. Gavin Newsom have their own federal political action committees. Illinois Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker has also launched his own political advocacy nonprofit.

Who will the group support?

Beshear said the “strong focus” of In This Together PAC will be working in politically red or purple states.

“There is already a significant amount of money and numerous groups across the board that play in strongly blue states for Democratic candidates. That’s not where additional effort is needed,” Beshear said.

When asked if his group will support any Republicans or independent candidates for office, Beshear said it will back “any candidate that we believe is in it for the right reasons.”

Weeks before launching In This Together PAC, Beshear said he’d be interested in helping North Carolina Democratic Attorney General John Stein in his bid for governor this year. He confirmed in an interview he planned to support Stein with the political committee’s dollars.

Aside from Beshear’s victory, Kentucky Democrats have not had a particularly successful political run since the state House became the last southern legislative chamber to flip red. Republican state legislators outnumber Democrats 4 to 1 and Beshear has been the only statewide Democrat to win office in the last eight years.

When asked if In This Together PAC would support Democratic state legislators, Beshear said that it would support “both candidates inside and outside of Kentucky,” but it wouldn’t substitute the money he’s helped raise into the Kentucky Democratic Party’s coffers.

“That along with direct contributions and the caucuses will be the primary support for legislative candidates in Kentucky,” Beshear said.

Outside perspective

Cross said the PAC and its work could prove opportune for Beshear to test his “political muscle and skillset.”

“It’s a different skillset running for president than governor,” Cross said. “There’s such a broader, more highly sensitive group of interests that you have to deal with. You can’t lay your fingers on them in the same way that you can if you’re in one state… It’s much, much more complicated.”

With a rematch of former Republican President Donald Trump and Biden appearing likely, political burnout among voters is high. A majority of American voters don’t want to see the two at the top of the ticket.

Beshear said he aims to “push through the noise” of media and voter focus on the top of the ticket.

“I think this PAC is aimed at pushing through the noise of a presidential election just like we did this last year,” Beshear said. “It’s about ensuring that people see the candidate for what they can do and how they are going to change the lives of the people that they serve. Far too many elections get caught up in whatever race is above them on the ballot, and I think that hurts governance throughout the country.”

In this environment, Cross guessed Beshear’s message about changing the nature of American politics is likely to fall on some receptive ears.

“I think you’ll find a lot of people willing to donate to that cause — but in any cause like this it’s all about the messenger. He has to be an effective messenger to fill the vessel with the cash.”