The TV/radio ad spending in the Kentucky governor’s Republican primary has reached more than $10 million as the race heads toward its finality on May 16, according to Medium Buying, which tracks competitive ad planning and buying in political races.
Most of that money comes from former United Nations Ambassador Kelly Craft, who has spent more than $4.1 million through AxMedia for ad buys. Craft, along with the Commonwealth PAC that supports her, have spent $6.59 million, according to Medium Buying.Â
Craft’s latest ad starts with “My Old Kentucky Home” playing on the banjo with horses appearing in a field and the phrase “The Kentucky Promise” appearing on the screen.
“My dad taught me that a girl from Glasgow could be anything she wants to be,” the ad opens. “Built on that promise, this campaign has become a movement.”
The latest ad from Craft is the least negative and instead focuses on her growing up in Kentucky.
The GOP gubernatorial race has gotten nasty at points, with Craft polling at 24% and frontrunner Attorney General Daniel Cameron polling at 30%, trading barbs on the airwaves — mainly from the PACs supporting them.Â
The Commonwealth PAC supporting Craft, but isn’t tied to her campaign, didn’t raise funds in the past 15 days. This comes after reports showed that Craft’s husband, Joe Craft, a billionaire coal magnate, donated $1.5 million. They have run ads attacking Cameron’s record as a “soft on crime teddy bear.”
Bluegrass Freedom Action PAC, which supports Cameron, raised $811,000 and spent more than $1 million overall, with ads attacking Craft as “desperate.”
Cameron, and the BFA PAC, have spent $2.75 million.
Quarles jumped into the ad game in late April, and in his latest ad, titled “Mud Slingin,” he hits out at the Cameron and Craft campaigns for running negative campaigns.
“My momma used to say, ‘watch how a politician runs their campaign. It will tell you a lot about who they are,'” the ad starts, with Quarles appearing in a barn. “Negative ads, not showing up to debates, and not even traveling across the commonwealth to ask for your vote.”
In the ad, Quarles said he has traveled the state to earn votes, as he appears driving his red truck, talking with a man on a farm, and images of the Kentucky state Capitol building.
Quarles, and the Conservative Action PAC that supports him, have spent $623,000, according to Medium Buying.
The incivility in the race took to live TV in early May when Craft and Cameron traded barbs during a debate on Kentucky Education Television.
“The last 10 minutes or so are why people are sick of politics in America,” Keck said during the debate. “It’s ‘he said, she said, we’re going to spend a pile of money to tear each other down.'”