05/19/2026
American Promise Statement on Historic Outside Spending in Midterm Primaries
May 19, 2026 – As voters in six states head to the polls for primary elections today, American Promise released the following statement from CEO and cofounder Jeff Clements on the growing role of outside money in primaries — including Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District, now the most expensive U.S. House primary in American history:
“Today, voters in Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District are casting ballots in what has become the most expensive U.S. House primary in American history — more than $32 million in total ad spending for a race in a district that isn’t even expected to be competitive in November.
The people of this district are watching their congressional race get decided — or at least heavily shaped — by outside money from billionaires who do not call Kentucky home, or corporations and interest groups far from the Northern Kentucky area.
This is what our modern campaign finance system produces because the Supreme Court has given outside interests the constitutional right to spend unlimited sums trying to determine the outcome of local races. Neither Kentucky voters nor the state legislature can change that. Neither can Congress.
Americans across the political spectrum — left, right, and everywhere in between — believe their elections should be decided by the people who actually live there. But under today’s federal court-made rules, states are prevented from putting that principle into practice.
American Promise is working to change that through a constitutional amendment that would restore to states and Congress the authority to set the rules for election spending. Twenty-five states — from Idaho and Oklahoma to New York and California — have already signaled they’re ready to ratify such an amendment if Congress passes it.
Elections like today’s in Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District show how urgent our cause is.”
