LEXINGTON, Ky. — Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear is pointing to a new campaign finance law as potentially advantageous to Republican Senate President Robert Stivers if the Manchester lawmaker decides to seek the governor’s office, though Stivers said Wednesday he did not request the provision. Hou se Bill 139, an omnibus elections measure that passed over Beshear’s veto Tuesday, allows sitting lawmakers to transfer remaining legislative campaign funds to an account for seeking statewide constitutional office — including governor, attorney general, secretary of state, treasurer, auditor or agriculture commissioner. According to Kentucky Registry of Election Finance records, Stivers’ 2024 general election account contains approximately $250,000, accumulated even though he faced no challenger in the 25th Senate District. The Senate president, who has led the chamber since 2013, has used some campaign funds to support other Republican candidates. “Robert Stivers’ account seems pretty large,” Beshear said during his weekly press conference Wednesday. “I don’t think that’s either legal and/or fair” to allow him to transfer those funds to a statewide race when federal candidates like U.S. Rep. James Comer cannot do the same. Beshear also drew parallels to 2011, when former Republican Senate President David Williams, now a circuit court judge, ran against Beshear’s father, former Gov. Steve Beshear, without the benefit of transferring campaign funds. That rule was not available then. Stivers deflected the governor’s remarks Wednesday evening, saying, “Is he afraid I’ll run against him, against something?” He quipped that Beshear “would be an easy target.” “I’m not ruling anything out, but I did not ask that that provision be put in there,” Stivers said. The 2027 gubernatorial race will feature an open seat, as Beshear is term-limited. Rumored Republican candidates include Secretary of State Michael Adams and Comer. On the Democratic side, Lieutenant Governor Jacqueline Coleman and senior adviser Rocky Adkins are seen as potential candidates. HB 139 represents one of several major legislative victories for the Republican supermajority this session. The General Assembly overrode nearly all of Beshear’s vetoes Tuesday, the final day before the 2026 legislative session adjourned Wednesday. Beyond campaign finance changes, the bill also increases individual contribution limits to $3,500 per election and removes Social Security cards and federal food assistance cards from the list of acceptable voter identification documents. This article was generated by AI (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) based on source material from Kentucky Lantern, enriched with 3 web searches. The original source is available at https://kentuckylantern.com/2026/04/16/stivers/. The post Beshear flags law change that could aid Stivers in future governor bid appeared first on The Lexington Times. ...read more read less