The super PAC serving as a forerunner to Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear’s anticipated presidential campaign stepped up its fundraising in the second half of 2025, thanks in large part to a Pennsylvania donor who gave a whopping $450,000.
The super PAC is called In This Together, and the top donor over the six-month period is Ashish Patel, of Carlisle, Pennsylvania. In a report filed Monday with the Internal Revenue Service, In This Together disclosed that Patel — who never before contributed to a Beshear political committee —made three contributions of $150,000 each between Aug. 1 and Dec. 16.
Patel was, by far, the largest donor over the period, although several others are listed as having given $100,000: Churchill Downs; Lexington Trots Breeders Assn. (The Red Mile); Andrew Nathan Schwartzberg, a real estate developer, and a New York-based company identified as 313 West Main St Realty, which secretary of state records show owns a nursing home in Ohio County in Western Kentucky.
Altogether, the Beshear super PAC reported raising nearly $2.9 million during the six-month period. That’s twice as much as it reported raising in the first half of 2025.
Beshear created In This Together soon after winning reelection as governor in 2023. The super PAC allows Beshear to keep his political operation intact as it raises money and contributes part of that money to candidates Beshear supports across the country. The PAC is a means to win friends in other states if, as most political observers expect, Beshear announces a campaign for the Democratic nomination for president in 2028.
Disclosure reports filed by In This Together show that it spent nearly $800,000 during the six-month period. About $525,000 of that was for consultants, fundraisers, travel, lodging and other expenses; about $272,000 went out in contributions to support Democratic candidates and committees across the country.
Eric Hyers, who managed Beshear’s campaigns for governor and oversees his ongoing political operation, did not respond to most questions emailed to him by the Kentucky Lantern seeking more details on the disclosures filed by the super PAC in recent days with the Federal Election Commission and the Internal Revenue Service. The questions sought details on two big donors Ashish Patel and 313 West Main St Realty, sought clarification on some numbers within the disclosures and asked why Beshear draws so many big contributions from gambling interests.
Hyers did give an overall assessment of In This Together’s fundraising during the period. “ITT is generating support from Kentucky and across the country because people are tired of the divisive, mean-spirited politics pitting Americans against each other. The country is exhausted,” Hyers said. “Gov. Beshear has a proven ability to win tough elections and then govern in a way that brings people together, and ITT supports people who do the same.”
Here’s a closer look at the contributions and spending.
The biggest donors
Patel was identified in the original report filed with the IRS on Monday as a physician who worked at Reading Hospital. But Tuesday morning Louisville Public Media reported Reading Hospital’s website did not list a doctor named Ashish Patel. Later Tuesday morning, In This Together corrected its filing with the IRS changing Patel’s occupation to self-employed “investor.”
Hyers did not return an email and phone call from the Kentucky Lantern seeking an explanation as to why Patel was misidentified in the original filing.
Regardless of occupation, Ashish Patel, of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, is listed as a regular donor to Democrats in recent years. (Databases of the FEC and watchdog group OpenSecrets list 26 contributions by Patel totaling about $120,000 since 2019. In addition, the Virginia Public Access Project’s database shows Patel listed as giving $100,000 last year to Democrat Abigail Spanberger’s successful campaign for governor of Virginia. (Patel is also identified as a physician for Reading Hospital in the report Spanberger filed with Virginia election regulators.)
The donor list disclosed by In This Together did not list the address or other identifying information for an entity listed simply as 313 West Main St Realty LLC, which gave $100,000. Records of the Kentucky secretary of state say this business provides “health services” in Ohio County, is owned by Richard Platschek and has its principal office in Brooklyn, New York.
Platschek previously has made small contributions to Beshear’s 2023 campaign, to the Kentucky Senate’s Republican caucus and to the PAC of the association for Kentucky’s nursing home owners.
Schwartzberg is a wealthy developer who specializes in affordable housing. And his $100,000 donation late last year brings the total he has given to Beshear’s super PAC to $575,000. He is the largest donor to the Beshear super PAC since it was formed two years ago.
The list of donors also shows that the racing/gambling industry continues to be a significant supporter of Beshear political committees. In addition to Churchill Downs and The Red Mile each giving $100,000, ECL Entertainment, of Las Vegas, gave $35,000. ECL runs Kentucky Downs racetrack in Franklin. And all three tracks operate lucrative gambling halls where bettors wager on historical racing machines and make sports bets.
Who got the donations
In This Together reported making about $272,000 in contributions to other candidates and committees across the county during the six months. The largest contribution was $40,000 to the campaign of Spanberger, Virginia’s new governor.
The committee gave 32 other smaller contributions. Among them were $25,000 each to the New Jersey Democratic State Committee and an Arizona PAC called Copper State Values and $20,000 to the Democratic Party of South Carolina.
In a key presidential primary state, In This Together gave $5,000 each to the New Hampshire Democratic Party, the New Hampshire House Democratic Victory Committee and the campaign of Democrat Chris Pappas who is running for the U.S. Senate.
And it made two contributions to candidates within Kentucky: $2,200 to the campaign of Will Moynahan for judge on the Kentucky Court of Appeals and $2,000 to Democratic state Rep. Erika Hancock, of Frankfort.
In This Together’s recent reports show large expenses for strategic consulting, fundraising consulting, digital consulting and other administrative costs. It also reports numerous airfare and travel costs associated with travel across the country to raise money and spread Beshear’s name. (Lodging expenses listed show stays in hotels in Las Vegas; San Francisco; Chicago; New York, Southern California and Charleston, South Carolina.)
Other big donors
Other than those listed above, here are other big donors to In this Together during the last half of 2025:
Door Dash Inc., San Francisco, $50,000
Peter Morton, West Hollywood, California, $50,000
Jim Beam Brands, Louisville, $50,000
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Washington, D.C., $50,000
The Bipartisan Network, Washington, D.C., $50,000
Rachna Gandhi, Irving, Texas, owner of MDofficeManager, $50,000
Lisa Lourie, Wellington, Florida, owner of Spy Coast Farm and regular big donor to Beshear, $50,000
Robert Friedman, Santa Monica, California, partner in YF Properties, $50,000
Carpenters Legislative Improvement Committee, Washington, D.C., $50,000
Plumbers Pipefitters Local 502, Louisville, $50,000
William P. Butler, Covington, CEO of Corporex, $35,000
William and Barbara Young, Lexington, W.T. Young LLC, $30,000
Nachiketa Bhatt, Prospect, $25,000
C.J. May, Lexington, May Commercial Group Inc., $25,000
Indiana Kentucky Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters, $25,000
Shannon Collins, Pine Top, professor at Kentucky Community and Technical College System, $25,000
Misdee Wrigley Miller, Sarasota, Florida, Hillcroft Farm, $25,000
Committee to Expand the Middle Class, San Rafael, California, $25,000