2026-09-24T09:00:29.089Z / 美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）
随着中期选举临近，潜在的2028年总统竞选人纷纷试图在全美各地的多个国会选区证明自己的号召力。对肯塔基州州长安迪·贝希尔而言，关键在于该州第6国会选区。
贝希尔正全力以赴帮助前助手扎克·登博拿下这个共和党传统优势席位，一旦获胜，将进一步巩固这位民主党州长作为能在红州获胜的政客形象。
贝希尔的政治行动委员会将投入约25万美元用于电视广告宣传；贝希尔已为登博主持一场筹款活动，并计划再出席两场；他与登博合拍了两支竞选广告；还说服州民主党委员会为该竞选投入资金。
广告反馈
据两位熟悉此次游说的消息人士透露，贝希尔甚至亲自联系哈基姆·杰弗里斯等众议院民主党领袖，请求将登博纳入民主党国会竞选委员会的“从红转蓝”项目。该委员会已于上月同意这一请求，其发言人告诉CNN，贝希尔是此次竞选的“重要助力”。
“我们在各方面提供帮助——筹款、当面拉票，还有其他你们很快就能看到的举措，”贝希尔在接受CNN采访时表示，他指出自己出生在该选区，直到2013年之前，该选区一直由民主党人本·钱德勒“代表得力”。“现在是时候拥有真正能为选区发声的代表了，我对扎克·登博非常了解。”
登博曾是联邦检察官，担任过贝希尔的政策顾问和立法主任。他的共和党对手是拉尔夫·阿尔瓦拉多，这位前州参议员在唐纳德·特朗普总统的背书支持下赢得了党内初选。
由于共和党现任议员安迪·巴尔参选参议院，肯塔基州中部这个席位目前处于空缺状态。
尽管特朗普在2024年大选中以15个百分点的优势拿下该选区，但贝希尔在一年前的连任竞选中以约20个百分点的优势赢得了该选区。登博在最近接受CNN采访时指出，该选区“有大量选民既投了安迪·贝希尔的票，又投了唐纳德·特朗普的票”。
肯塔基州民主党策略师马克·里德尔表示，贝希尔的深度参与可能会“对竞选产生重大影响”。
“这里的生活成本确实让民众不堪重负，我认为在肯塔基州取得重大胜利将传递强烈的政治信号，”里德尔说。
作为民主党州长协会主席，贝希尔已经忙得不可开交，这一职位经常需要他前往州长竞选竞争激烈的州。但如果能在肯塔基州第6选区获胜，将为他在2028年新兴的总统竞选阵营中增添一项争取国会控制权的政绩。
例如，宾夕法尼亚州州长乔希·夏皮罗就在自己参选连任的同时，全力帮助拿下该州的四个国会席位。
贝希尔并未回避外界对其2028年参选的猜测。他周二在华盛顿特区的图书巡回宣传活动中表示，自己“不确定是否已结束公职竞选”，这番话引发了全场起立鼓掌。随后他对主持人、同为2028年潜在竞选人的马里兰州州长韦斯·摩尔表示，他们“会组成一支相当不错的团队”。
回到肯塔基州，共和党方面并未像民主党那样将第6选区的竞选视为势均力敌的竞争。但据广告影响监测机构AdImpact的数据，一个与特朗普有关联的超级政治行动委员会正投入84万美元在该选区投放广告。此前，阿尔瓦拉多全面修改竞选网站以淡化与特朗普的关联，曾让民主党人一度认为该选区有争取空间。
阿尔瓦拉多的竞选团队在针对此次报道的一份声明中嘲讽了贝希尔对登博的支持。
“可惜扎克·登博没有自己的主见，需要他的政治靠山在竞选最后阶段牵着他的手走完全程，”阿尔瓦拉多的竞选经理安迪·韦斯特伯里说道。
贝希尔与阿尔瓦拉多有着私人恩怨。2019年，阿尔瓦拉多是共和党州长马特·贝文的竞选搭档，而当时担任州司法部长的贝希尔以微弱优势险胜贝文，那场竞选竞争激烈且充满火药味。贝希尔在其新书中称贝文是“低配版特朗普”，并仍将2019年的竞选视为民主党人的竞选蓝图。
贝希尔的“携手共进”政治行动委员会推出的首支竞选广告抨击阿尔瓦拉多与贝文的关联，称其在2019年贝文赦免一名被判性侵儿童的罪犯时“站在贝文一边”。这是贝文离任前几天发布的最后一批赦免令中的一项，引发了两党反弹。
旁白说道：“一次又一次，阿尔瓦拉多选择了他的好友马特·贝文，而非保护肯塔基州的家庭。”
阿尔瓦拉多的竞选团队回应称，据路易斯维尔公共广播电台报道，阿尔瓦拉多当时“谴责了马特·贝文令人发指的赦免行为”，但该媒体指出，并未找到相关谴责的证据。
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear pushes to flip a Republican-friendly House seat in test of his political reach
2026-09-24T09:00:29.089Z / CNN
As the midterms near, potential 2028 presidential candidates are looking to prove their appeal in a range of House districts across the country. For Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, it’s all about his state’s 6th Congressional District.
Beshear is making an all-out push to help a former aide, Zach Dembo, flip the Republican-friendly seat, a win that would further burnish the governor’s reputation as a Democrat who can win in red territory.
Beshear’s political action committee is spending about a quarter-million dollars on TV ads; Beshear has headlined a fundraiser for Dembo and is slated to do two more; he has filmed two ads with Dembo; and he has helped convince the state party to invest in the race.
Ad Feedback
Beshear even personally reached out to Hakeem Jeffries and other House Democratic leaders to ask for Dembo to be added to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s Red to Blue program, according to two sources familiar with the outreach. The DCCC did so last month, and a spokesperson for the committee told CNN that Beshear has been a “major asset” in the race.
“We’re helping in every way – fundraising, campaigning in person, some other things that you’ll see soon,” Beshear told CNN in an interview, noting he was born in the district and that it was “well-represented” by a Democrat — Ben Chandler — until 2013. “It’s time to have a voice that will actually support the district, and I know Zach Dembo pretty well.”
Dembo is a former federal prosecutor who worked as a policy adviser to Beshear and legislative director. His Republican opponent is Ralph Alvarado, a former state senator who won his primary with the help of an endorsement from President Donald Trump.
The Central Kentucky seat is open because the GOP incumbent, Andy Barr, is running for Senate.
While Trump carried the district by 15 percentage points in 2024, Beshear won it by about 20 points in his reelection campaign a year earlier. Dembo noted in a recent interview with CNN that the district has “a ton of people who voted for Andy Beshear and then voted for Donald Trump.”
Mark Riddle, a Democratic strategist from Kentucky, said Beshear’s heavy involvement could “make a big difference” in the race.
“It’s definitely a place where cost of living is hitting people, and I think politically getting a big win in Kentucky would send a strong message,” Riddle said.
Beshear already has his hands full as the chair of the Democratic Governors Association, a role that regularly takes him to states with competitive governors’ races. But a win in Kentucky’s 6th District would give him an achievement in the fight for control of Congress to tout in the nascent 2028 field.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, for example, has gone all in on trying to flip four of his state’s House seats as he runs for reelection himself.
Beshear has not shied away from the 2028 speculation surrounding him. He said during a book tour stop Tuesday in Washington, DC, that he was “not sure” he was done running for office, prompting a standing ovation. He later suggested to the moderator — Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, another potential 2028 contender — that they would “make a pretty good team.”
Back in Kentucky, Republicans have not publicly treated the 6th District race as competitively as Democrats have. But a super PAC linked to Trump is spending $840,000 on advertising there, according to AdImpact, and Democrats were previously encouraged the race was in play when Alvarado overhauled his campaign website to downplay his ties to Trump.
Alvarado’s campaign mocked Beshear’s support for Dembo in a statement for this story.
“It’s too bad Zach Dembo isn’t his own person and needs his political sugar daddy to hold his hand in the final stretch of this campaign,” Alvarado campaign manager Andy Westberry said.
Beshear has a personal history with Alvarado. Alvarado was the running mate for Republican Gov. Matt Bevin in 2019 when Beshear, then the state’s attorney general, defeated Bevin in a narrow and bitter contest. Beshear refers to Bevin as “Trump Lite” in his new book and still points to his 2019 race as a blueprint for Democrats.
The first ad in the race from Beshear’s PAC, In This Together, attacks Alvarado over his ties with Bevin, saying he “stood side-by-side with Bevin” when he pardoned a man convicted of raping a child in 2019. It was part of an 11th-hour flurry of pardons that Bevin issued days before he left office, drawing bipartisan backlash.
“Time and again, Alvarado chose his buddy Matt Bevin over protecting Kentucky families,” a narrator says.
Alvarado’s campaign responded to the ad by saying he “condemned Matt Bevin’s grotesque pardons” at the time, according to Louisville Public Media, though the outlet noted it could not find evidence of the condemnation.
发表回复