Fifty years ago, a constitutional amendment approved by Kentucky voters was implemented that dramatically reformed the state’s judicial system, including changing all judicial races from partisan to nonpartisan.
For the third consecutive election cycle in Kentucky, that principle of a nonpartisan judiciary is being challenged in a high-profile race, with Republican and Democratic officials lining up to support and contribute money to opposing candidates.
Court of Appeals Judge Will Moynahan was appointed to his central Kentucky district last year by Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, and is running to hold onto that seat this fall. He faces Fayette Circuit Judge Lucy VanMeter, who has served two four-year terms in that county position.
In June, a nonpartisan judicial watchdog group voiced its concerns about the race, as Beshear attended a campaign fundraiser for Moynahan and appears in a photo with the judge on his campaign website. Much like the criticism and concerns the group raised in other high-profile judicial races in 2022 and 2024, the Kentucky Judicial Campaign Conduct Committee issued a statement warning that these actions blur the important distinction between partisan politics and judicial elections.
“Partisan politicians shouldn’t raise money for Kentucky judicial candidates, and judicial candidates should not use endorsements by partisan politicians, implied or explicit,” said KJCCC chair Charles Boteler on behalf of the nonpartisan committee, which has advocated for the integrity of judicial campaigns for 20 years.
Since that statement in June, the race between Moynahan and VanMeter has drawn even more partisan activity, with Beshear’s super PAC stepping up its support and more than a dozen Republican state lawmakers contributing to VanMeter, including several in leadership positions.
Boteler told Kentucky Public Radio this week that the trend on both sides is concerning, especially if partisan PAC spending reaches the level of hundreds of thousands of dollars, as it did in the 2022 and 2024 races for Kentucky Supreme Court races.
“Politics and law are similar, but they're not the same,” Boteler said. “And we fear that an increased partisanship in the selection of judges in Kentucky will weaponize the judiciary and make it more like the partisan branches of government.”
In 2022, the KJCCC criticized partisan campaigning in a Supreme Court race that drew huge spending from partisan PACs, as well as the race for a key Franklin Circuit Court position, which broke a record with more than $1 million of spending.
The group also criticized both sides of a Supreme Court race in 2024, where Beshear’s super PAC and another affiliated group spent $500,000 on ads to support the election of Supreme Court Justice Pamela Goodwine — whose win created the vacancy that allowed Beshear to appoint Moynahan to the Court of Appeals. An impeachment petition was later filed by a GOP official against Goodwine, who argued she should have recused herself from a case due to the spending by the Beshear PACs and another PAC that received $300,000 from teachers unions.
Boteler says such partisan activity and spending on judicial races remains a concern, whether it is by Republicans or Democrats.
“If someone has raised a whole lot of money for you and then has an issue before the court, that has to be a concern, especially if it's connected to partisan divides,” Boteler said.
Beshear’s political operation backs Moynahan
Judge Moynahan’s campaign was not just boosted by Beshear’s presence at a fundraiser, but also received financial contributions from In This Together — the governor’s PAC — and other current and former Democratic officials.
In This Together PAC had already contributed the maximum $2,200 to Moynahan’s primary election account late last year, and pitched in another $3,500 to his general election account in August — the new and higher maximum donation, per a new state law that went into effect this summer.
Additionally, Kentuckians for Good Judges — the PAC that spent a half million dollars on ads to elect Goodwine in 2024 — was reactivated last week in a filing by its chairman Eric Hyers, the top political strategist of Beshear and In This Together. Kentuckians for Good Judges indicated it will spend money to help elect Moynahan, but has not yet reported any contributions or spending.
Asked about the concern of the KJCCC, Hyers fully stood by the governor’s involvement in the race.
“Now more than ever, the country needs good judges who follow the rule of law,” Hyers said. “Governor Beshear believes that Judge Moynahan is one such judge and he has the governor’s full endorsement.”
In an interview with Kentucky Public Radio, Judge Moynahan said he has a long track record of nonpartisan service in the military and federal court system, and would not let Beshear’s support affect his judgment on the bench.
“I'm grateful for the confidence Gov. Beshear placed in me, but I don't serve a particular governor or political party or any constituency,” Moynahan said. “I serve the people of Kentucky, and my responsibility is to apply the law fairly and impartially in every case that comes before me.”
Asked about the controversy over Goodwine from the past year and if he would recuse from cases where the governor was a party, Moynahan said he would “certainly recuse if it was required, or if there was an appearance of any impropriety, or any case that people thought I had some kind of predetermined view of a case.”
Moynahan added that recusals are fairly easy when it comes to the Court of Appeals, as panels of three judges are selected for cases out of the 14 appellate judges. He said that he believes he could preside over a case fairly where the governor's administration was a party, but would review potential recusal “in a more in-depth fashion” if Beshear was personally a party to a lawsuit.
He had no comment on the 13 Republican state lawmakers donating to his opponent’s campaign.
There are 14 different Court of Appeals judges in Kentucky, with two each in seven districts. They preside over cases appealed from circuit court, with their rulings sometimes appealed up to the Supreme Court. Beshear is extremely popular among voters in this central Kentucky district of eight counties surrounding Lexington, where he won reelection by a wide margin in 2023.
Beshear is not the only current elected Democratic official to aid Moynahan, as his filings show that Congressman Morgan McGarvey of Louisville hosted a campaign fundraiser for him in April.
Moynahan also received a $3,500 contribution in August from Democratic Majority Action PAC, which is run by Amy McGrath, a three-time Democratic candidate for federal office in Kentucky. Another $12,000 has been contributed by the PACs of labor unions that typically give to Democrats, including $2,200 from the Jefferson County teachers’ union.
Former two-term Democratic state auditor Crit Luallen also hosted a Moynahan fundraiser, as did close relatives of a former Beshear cabinet official and the executive director of the Kentucky Democratic Party. More than a dozen former Democratic elected officials also contributed to Moynahan, as well as some of the top Democratic donors in recent years, such as Louisville philanthropist Christy Brown, University of Kentucky trustee Todd Case and attorneys Jon Rabinowitz and Hans Poppe.
Only two current Democratic state lawmakers have made small contributions to Moynahan’s campaign, including Sen. Reginald Thomas of Lexington, who gave $250 to both Moynahan and VanMeter.
Moynahan’s campaign had raised a total of $436,000 as of the most recent filing deadline in early September, which is slightly behind the $468,000 raised by VanMeter’s campaign.
Republican lawmakers back VanMeter
Judge VanMeter’s campaign haul has been aided by 13 contributions coming directly from state lawmakers in the Republican supermajority.
This includes $1,000 contributions in August from Republican Senate President Robert Stivers and House Speaker David Osborne. Other members of GOP leadership to contribute to VanMeter are Rep. Steven Rudy of Paducah ($1,000) and Sen. David Givens of Greensburg ($2,200).
In addition to the other state lawmakers, two attorneys for House Republicans contributed, as did Frankfort lobbyist John McCarthy, who also serves in leadership with the Republican Party of Kentucky.
Asked if the GOP lawmakers’ contributions to VanMeter creates a potential conflict, a spokesperson for the Senate Republican majority said it does not rise to the same level as Beshear’s activity in the race.
“President Stivers does not believe his contribution, by itself, creates a conflict,” the GOP statement read. “He and the General Assembly expect every judge to decide cases impartially, including those involving the legislature or governor. Kentucky’s courts have hardly been a rubber stamp for the General Assembly.”
The GOP statement went on to cite the controversy over the spending in the Goodwine race and her failure to recuse from a key case, adding that Beshear “has openly endorsed a Supreme Court candidate and participated in fundraising for judicial candidates, including Judge Moynahan in this race. That involvement belongs in any discussion about appearances.”
VanMeter’s campaign did not return a request for comment on partisan contributions in her race, but previously commented to the Kentucky Lantern in a story about concerns over Beshear’s support for Moynahan. The campaign said judicial elections “are not about partisan politics: they are about experience, integrity, and a commitment to the fair administration of justice,” adding that she will serve “with fairness and impartiality, regardless of political affiliation.”
In contrast to Moynahan’s list of donors, the VanMeter campaign has been able to pull in donations from several bipartisan former officials in the Lexington area. These Democratic donors include former state auditor Adam Edelen, former secretary of state Alison Lundergan Grimes, former state representative and Kentucky Democratic Party leader (and Grimes’ father) Jerry Lundergan, and former state representatives Kelly Flood and R.J. Palmer.
Another unique aspect of VanMeter’s donor list is that it includes four former justices of the Kentucky Supreme Court — including, unsurprisingly, her husband, former Chief Justice Laurance VanMeter.
In addition to receiving $500 contributions from former Justices Lisabeth Hughes, Mary Noble and John Minton, the latter two justices are profiled speaking about their support for VanMeter in two campaign videos that are more than a minute long.
Minton and Noble both stressed VanMeter’s experience in state courts as both an attorney and judge, but another campaign video featuring former prosecutor Lou Anna Red Corn and defense attorney Burl McCoy added a message about ignoring politics.
“In a race that’s nonpartisan, your vote shouldn’t be about politics,” they said in turns. “It should be about who has the right experience.”
‘The new normal’
In an interview with Kentucky Public Radio, former Chief Justice John Minton said he is concerned about the continuing trend of politics bleeding into judicial races, as nonpartisan elections were “one of the pillars” of the constitutional judicial reform 50 years ago.
“I am concerned about the injection of big money from partisan sources into judicial races, that sort of transforms this into some sort of political contest,” Minton said. “This ought to be about the qualifications of the candidate, regardless of her or his political affiliation.”
Minton noted that he, Noble and Hughes are not regarded as hard right conservatives or Republicans, and they’re choosing to back VanMeter because they’ve seen her commitment in the courtroom, “regardless of how she may be registered politically.”
While Moynahan does have less experience in Kentucky state courtrooms, he does have a diverse legal background, which began after he served 40 combat missions as a fighter pilot in the Navy. Moynahan served as a clerk for the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, then as a federal prosecutor for the decade leading up to his appointment by Beshear.
Asked about the critique that he has less experience in state courts, Moynahan countered that he has more experience in appellate courts, where he clerked at the federal level for five years.
Boteler, the chair of the judicial watchdog group KJCCC, says he fears that the partisan money creeping into the Court of Appeals race is “the new normal” for high-profile judicial races in Kentucky, but is hopeful his group can create awareness of the issue and lead to a possible solution in the coming years.
“I don't know that there's that much we can do to clear the waters in this current Court of Appeals race in central Kentucky, but as chair of our committee, I hope that we can begin a discussion in Kentucky about judicial selection,” Boteler said.
In states with fully partisan judicial races, some have become national races with overtly political messaging and a jaw-dropping amount of spending. There’s no better example than the Wisconsin Supreme Court race from last year, in which $144.5 million was spent, including nearly $50 million by near-trillionaire Elon Musk.
“I don't know why we would want to partisanize judicial elections now when we look at all the partisan wars that are going on in this country,” Boteler said.
