Kentucky Senate candidate calls ethics investigation ‘weaponizing government’: Here’s why

LEXINGTON, Ky. (FOX 56) — Former Attorney General Daniel Cameron took to social media on Wednesday in response to an ethics investigation stemming from donations he allegedly solicited in 2023 from a recovery center his office reportedly investigated in 2022.

“They want to charge me with an ethics violation over a bogus two-year-old claim from an investigation I recused from, and campaign donations I refunded,” the Republican 2026 Senate candidate said in a video he posted on X. “I hope you see this for what it is – this isn’t ‘ethics’—it’s Democratic lawfare.”

The Associated Press reported in 2023 that Cameron had directly solicited donations the previous year from leaders of Edgewater Recovery Centers, a Kentucky drug treatment organization that had been investigated by his office in 2022.

Cameron said his campaign had since repaid the donation money.

“This is the definition of political persecution. It’s the exact same thing they tried to do to President Trump,” Cameron said on Wednesday. “But like President Trump, I won’t let the left beat me.”

Cameron announced on Feb. 20 that he would be running to fill Mitch McConnell’s Senate seat against Andy Barr and Nate Morris. A poll released by Cameron’s campaign on April 21 showed him leading ahead of Rep. Barr by 26 percentage points.

The opened investigation into Cameron’s solicitation of donations from Edgewater in 2022 remains ongoing by the Kentucky Executive Branch Ethics Commission.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.