Dembo ad ties Alvarado to former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin as congressional race heats up

LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX NEWS) — A political ad featuring cardboard cutouts is drawing attention in Central Kentucky’s congressional race, with Democrat Zach Dembo seeking to tie Republican Ralph Alvarado to former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin.

Dembo stands by the ad, while Alvarado calls it “insulting.”

In the ad, Dembo tells voters that Alvarado is “basically the same guy” as Bevin.

Bevin has remained a controversial figure in Kentucky politics. He most recently made headlines after he was arrested in September on the set of a Christmas movie in Bourbon County.

Bevin also faced criticism over a series of pardons he issued near the end of his term after losing the 2019 governor’s race. Those included pardons for people convicted of serious crimes, including murder and child rape.

Alvarado was Bevin’s running mate in the 2019 election. But Alvarado told LEX News he is his own person and believes Dembo’s ad unfairly ties him to the former governor.

“It’s insulting, is what it is,” Alvarado said. “When you don’t have anything to run on, what you want to do is knock down other people, thinking that’s going to make him look better.”

Alvarado said that after he and Bevin lost the governor’s race, he returned to his role as a Kentucky state senator. He said he was part of the Senate’s denunciation of Bevin’s pardons.

“A lot of things you saw with Bevin and his pardons and those sort of things, we denounced those in the Senate,” Alvarado said. “The Senate majority denounced those collectively, and I was part of that denouncement, calling for an FBI investigation into those.”

LEX News did not find speeches or interviews in which Alvarado publicly criticized Bevin’s pardons at the time. LEX News also found no evidence that Alvarado supported the pardons.

Alvarado’s Senate record shows he was present when the Senate president condemned Bevin’s pardons. He later voted in favor of a proposed constitutional amendment that would have restricted a Kentucky governor’s ability to issue pardons near the end of a term.

Dembo argues that Alvarado’s history with Bevin remains relevant because Alvarado agreed to join Bevin’s re-election campaign.

“My opponent signed onto that and said he shared Matt Bevin’s vision for Kentucky,” Dembo said. “Then he campaigned with him all over the state, and then after they lost, they continued to keep in touch after these terrible pardons.”

Dembo said Alvarado did not begin distancing himself from Bevin until doing so became “politically expedient.”

This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.