The new addition connects by a breezeway to the older house that has served as headquarters to the Republican Party of Kentucky in Frankfort, Oct. 9, 2025. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Tom Loftus)
FRANKFORT — Two more big contributions this summer from special interests — $100,000 from Bean Suntory and $75,000 from Boeing — brought the total raised by the Republican Party of Kentucky to expand its state headquarters to $4.2 million.
That money was raised over the past three years — an effort nearly totally funded by massive contributions from a mere 21 donors, nearly all of them corporations or other entities with significant lobbying presences in Washington and/or Frankfort.
U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell spoke at a groundbreaking for an expansion of the RPK headquarters named for him, Sept. 5, 2024, in Frankfort. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Tom Loftus)
A report recently filed by the Republican Party of Kentucky Building Fund with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance listed the two additional contributions and the project’s expenses between July 1 and Sept. 30. Both the whiskey giant Bean Suntory and the aircraft manufacturer Boeing had made previous contributions to the Republican Party of Kentucky’s Building Fund. (A complete list of totals given by all of the large donors is listed below.)
Kentucky Lantern first reported in early 2023 that the state Republican Party had launched the fundraising drive to expand its headquarters in Frankfort — a drive that got off to a spectacular start with a donation of $1 million from pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, apparently the largest donation ever made to a Kentucky political party fund.
State and federal laws limit the amount any person can give to a state political party to $15,000 per year. And before 2017 state law banned corporations from making contributions.
But that year the Republican-controlled Kentucky General Assembly passed a law to make it easy for the GOP to raise the millions it would need to vastly expand its headquarters. That law let political parties establish separate building funds that could accept donations of unlimited amounts from corporations or people.
The Republican Party of Kentucky headquarters is in south Frankfort, about five blocks from the Capitol. It is called the Mitch McConnell Building in honor of Kentucky’s senior senator who is credited with leading the party from decades of minority status to its current dominance in Kentucky politics.
The nearly completed expansion connects the existing headquarters to a new 6,800-square-foot structure on an adjacent vacant lot. The new structure is designed to conform to the residential nature of the neighborhood. It includes a 160-seat auditorium.
Ground was broken for the project last summer.
Reports filed by the RPK Building Fund since early 2023 with the election registry show that $4,206,675 has been raised for the project since late 2022, and that through Sept. 30 the fund has spent about $3,826,000. Those reports show nearly all of that has been paid to three contractors: $3,294,000 to Branscum Construction, of Russell Springs; $261,500 to Stengel-Hill Architecture, of Louisville; and $180,000 to Haney Consulting for fundraising consulting. Haney Consulting is headed by Laura Haney, McConnell’s longtime fundraising consultant.
The Republican Party of Kentucky did not immediately respond to a phone call from Kentucky Lantern or to an email asking questions about the project and the contributions that funded it.
The Kentucky Democratic Party has not used the 2017 law to launch any fund drive. In the recent quarter, the Democratic Party Building Fund reported just $137 in receipts, $1,681 in expenses, and a fund balance of $284,952 as of Sept. 30.
The sign on the lawn of Republican headquarters in Frankfort honors the U.S. Senate’s longest-serving party leader. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Tom Loftus)
Donors to Republican Party of Kentucky’s Building Fund
Pfizer Inc., New York, New York, $1,000,000
NWO Resources, Greenwood Village, Colorado, $500,000
Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., New York, New York, $300,000
AT&T, St. Louis, Missouri, $300,000
Verizon, Washington, D.C., $300,000
Brown-Forman Corp., Louisville, $300,000
The Boeing Company PAC, Arlington, Virginia, $250,000
Beam Suntory, New York, New York, $200,000
Altria Client Services (Philip Morris USA), Richmond, Virginia, $150,000
Sazerac Inc., Louisville, $150,000
Microsoft Corp., Reno, Nevada, $125,000
Comcast Corp., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, $100,000
Churchill Downs, Louisville, $100,000
Keeneland, Lexington, $100,000
Barbara R. Banke Revocable Trust, Geyserville, California, $100,000
Airbnb, Inc., San Francisco, California, $50,000
Delta Air Lines, Atlanta, Georgia, $50,000
National Thoroughbred Racing Assn., Lexington, $50,000
The Jockey Club, New York, New York, $50,000
Rescare Inc., Louisville, $12,500
Toyota Motor North America Inc., Plano, Texas, $10,000
Nine small donations, $9,175
Source: Reports filed by Republican Party of Kentucky Building Fund with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance
