Follow the Money: Churchill Downs gives big to groups helping Sen. Adams and other GOP candidates

Churchill Downs contributed $570,000 during the last three months to Republican PACs that have been spending big on independent advertising aimed at electing State Sen. Julie Raque Adams and other Republicans to the General Assembly in November.

The flood of campaign money from Churchill since July 1 is documented in disclosure reports filed last week by GOPAC Inc., the Republican State Leadership Committee, and the Commonwealth Conservative Coalition.

Combined with donations it made earlier this year, Churchill has contributed $712,500 this year to the three Republican committees combined.

These three committees combined have reported spending a combined $668,158 on independent ads to help Adams win reelection.

That’s far more independent spending than any other candidate for the Kentucky House or Senate has benefitted from this year.

Adams, of Louisville, is hoping to win her fourth consecutive term in the state Senate. She is opposed by Democrat Sarah Cole McIntosh, a former member of the Jefferson County Board of Education.

Adams chairs the Senate Licensing and Occupations Committee which handles legislation related to the horse racing and gambling legislation.

Records posted on the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance show that GOPAC, a long-established national Republican committee dedicated to helping elect Republicans at the state and local level, has reported buying $479,158 in advertising to independently support Adams’ election.

The Republican State Leadership Committee, also a national group that supports state and local GOP candidates, has bought $149,000 in ads supporting Adams or opposing McIntosh.

Election registry records show that GOPAC and the RSLC have bought ads in Kentucky this year only for Adams, and no other candidate.

Commonwealth Conservative Coalition is a Louisville-based Republican PAC registered with the Federal Election Commission that has spent money on advertising advocating the election of many Republican candidates for the Kentucky General Assembly including $40,000 in ads that oppose McIntosh.

KY teachers PAC donated to conservative group to try to influence GOP primaries

While the Commonwealth Conservative Coalition is a local PAC with many Kentucky donors, reports it has filed with the Federal Election Commission show it has been mostly funded this year by GOPAC and RSLC.

Those records show that GOPAC has given $450,000 to Commonwealth Conservative Coalition this year, and RSLC has given it $300,000. The combined $750,000 represents 53.4 percent of all the money contributed to Commonwealth Conservative Coalition this year through Sep. 30.

Disclosure reports filed with the Internal Revenue Service and Federal Election Commission show that Churchill Downs contributed:

• $270,000 in the recent quarter to GOPAC, bringing its total contributions to GOPAC for the year to $355,000.
• $250,000 in the recent quarter to the RSLC, bringing its total contributions to RSLC for the year to $307,500.
• $50,000 to Commonwealth Conservative Coalition on Sept. 8.

Churchill’s contributions represent only a small part of the total contributions taken in this year by GOPAC and RSLC, which work in all states and get contributions from across the country. (GOPAC reported getting $13 million in contributions in the recent quarter, RSLC reported getting $27 million in the quarter.)

Churchill is the largest donor from Kentucky, but at least 25 Kentucky-based corporations and associations that lobby the General Assembly have donated to one or both of these national Republican PACs. Reports show Sazerac Company, Louisville, has given $100,500, and Brown-Forman, of Louisville has given, $59,185.

And although lobbyists themselves are forbidden by state law from donating directly to the campaign committee of a candidate for the General Assembly, lobbying firms based in Kentucky are allowed to donate to groups like GOPAC and RSLC. 

And they do. 

So far this year Kentucky lobbying firms have donated a combined $150,000 to GOPAC and RSLC. Here’s the breakdown:  Commonwealth Alliances, $55,000; McCarthy Strategic Solutions, $45,000; Top Shelf Lobby, $25,000; HCM Governmental Relations, $10,000; Government Strategies, $10,000; and Stoll Keenon Ogden, $5,000.

GOPAC and RSLC also get their biggest contributions from some other groups that lobby the Kentucky General Assembly but are based in other states such as: Altria Client Services, of Richmond, Virginia; Reynolds American, of Winston Salem, North Carolina; the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, of Denver; and Charter Communications, of St. Louis.

Beshear’s big Pennsylvania donor gives more

Gov. Andy Beshear’s friend from Carlisle, Pennsylvania, is continuing to pour big money into the Beshear super PAC that is a forerunner to the  campaign for president that Beshear is exploring.

Ashish Patel donated another $150,000 to Beshear super PAC In This Together in August, bringing the total Patel has contributed to that PAC to $1 million, according to reports filed by In This Together with the Internal Revenue Service. All of that money was contributed since Aug. 1, 2025 and the recent contribution solidified Patel’s standing as the top donor to the super PAC since Beshear created it soon after his reelection as governor in 2023.

Beshear’s top political strategist Eric Hyers, who oversees In This Together, has declined to provide more identifying information about Patel. Louisville Public Media recently reported that Patel declined to provide more information about himself or why he supports Beshear in such a big way.

Patel has emerged as a big political donor in just the past 18 months. He has given more than 70 contributions to different political committees during that time according to reports filed with the IRS and FEC. But by far his largest contributions have been to Beshear’s In This Together. Also this year, Patel has donated $82,500 to the Democratic Governors Association, a group chaired this year by Beshear.

In This Together reported only two other large contributions in its recent report with the IRS: $100,000 from Andrew Hauptman, of Beverly Hills, California, founder of an investment firm called Andell Holdings who hosted a fundraiser attended by Beshear and other Democratic governors earlier this year for the DGA; and $50,000 from Nachiketa Bhatt, a regular donor to Beshear political committees. Bhatt, of Prospect, is identified in the report as an administrator of Healthy Living Primary Care.

Beshear formed In This Together to raise contributions that he, in turn, could donate to other political causes and campaigns around the country.

In This Together’s new report shows that it donated $275,000 in the last three months to Democratic political committees in Nevada, the site of a hotly contested  governor’s race this year. The Beshear PAC made much smaller contributions to political committees in South Carolina, Michigan, Maine and Wisconsin.