Zach Dembo is a former federal prosecutor who is endorsed by Governor Andy Beshear, veterans, and teachers. He’s signed onto End Citizen United’s Unrig pledge to refuse corporate PAC money, ban Congressional stock trading, and crack down on dark money. He has a real shot at flipping Kentucky’s 6th Congressional District to help Democrats win back the House.
Dembo’s Republican opponent, Ralph Alvarado, is a long-time politician who exemplifies status quo political corruption. He’s funded by Republican PACs that are funded by billionaire mega-donors. His career is rife with conflicts of interest. He owns significant amounts of stock in several companies—like NVIDIA and the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing—that profit from data center expansion. While he was serving as Kentucky state senator, Alvarado also served as a medical director for nursing homes in Kentucky that were reportedly deemed substandard. While he was in the legislature, Alvarado championed legislation that protected the nursing home industry from malpractice and wrongful death suits. Kentuckians deserve better than someone who’d rather protect his industry and profits than people.
Democracy News: Why are you running for Congress?
Dembo: I’m running for Congress because corruption ended my public service unexpectedly. I was an eighth-grade English teacher. I was on active duty in the United States Navy. I was a prosecutor at the Civil Rights Division in D.C. and then worked for Governor Andy Beshear here in Kentucky. And finally, I had what I thought was going to be my last job, my dream job, being a federal prosecutor here in Lexington, fighting corruption.
But then under this administration, the mission of the Department of Justice was politicized, it turned into the president’s personal law firm. The decisions that rank-and-file law enforcement and career prosecutors were making were being overturned and interfered with. Folks were fired for doing their job. It was clear that that was not consistent with the oaths that I had sworn to the Constitution four times. And so, I concluded that the right thing to do was to resign rather than risk being put in the situation of being given an illegal order. And then the question was, well, how do I continue in public service? How do we keep fighting against corruption? It seemed like there was a huge opportunity for change, and that’s why I got in the race.
Democracy News: What have you been hearing from people in your district about how Big Money has corrupted our politics?
Dembo: No matter where I am, in Lexington or in the rural counties of the district, everyone agrees that D.C. politics as usual is not working for us here in Central Kentucky. This is a time when so many of us, especially here in Central Kentucky, are really hurting. It’s really hard to make ends meet, especially for our farming communities here, diesel being well over $6 is an existential threat to people’s livelihoods.
People bring up the idea that politicians are in it for themselves; that they’re in it to line their pockets, and that they’re bought and sold by big money, dark money, etc. Everyone’s seeing this terrible juxtaposition of people here having to decide which groceries they can afford while at the same time folks in D.C. are getting richer and richer, being able to get rich trading stocks or crypto, and it just leads them to the conclusion that the system is rigged.
The other thing I’d say is I really don’t think this is about Democrat versus Republican. I’m a Democrat but I don’t co-sign everything that every Democrat in America does because I definitely don’t agree with it. All I care about is what matters in these 16 counties. This race is about challenging the corrupt status quo. It’s about whether you want someone who will fight to change the status quo or someone who has benefited from the corrupt status quo and intends to continue benefiting from it. My opponent has got up to $500,000 in data center development stocks.
I’m a former corruption prosecutor who’s never run for office and doesn’t owe either party anything. And my opponent has run for office six times, he’s a career politician who took votes specifically designed to benefit his own financial interests. He was the medical director of several substandard nursing homes, and he passed a bill, championed a bill, sponsored a bill designed to make it harder to sue and investigate substandard nursing homes, and was unapologetic about it. He’s still the medical director of several substandard nursing homes.
Democracy News: When you’re in Congress, what will you do to help working people?
Dembo: To help working folks, the first thing we have to do is be laser focused on costs and bring them down. The good news is that the only reason these costs were allowed to go so high is because this spineless Congress has not been doing its job, and so all we need is for Congress to do its job.
For example, these tariffs have added at least $1,000 to every American household. They’re just taxes being passed on to us. Congress has the power to control tariffs, and there may be a couple of good tariffs, there that might actually protect American industries. But most of them are being done based on tweets and tantrums and egos, and we are treating trade allies as enemies and vice versa. And so, Congress needs to step in get rid of these tariffs that have been crushing Kentucky industries like bourbon, like soybean farmers, like the horse industry, like cattle farmers, and that would bring down prices.
Another big issue, of course, is the economic fallout of this war in Iran. This has been a complete disaster. This administration has achieved none of its strategic goals. Service men and women have been put at risk. We’ve lost 18 of service members, including two Kentuckians. And everyone is paying the price here back home, and that’s something else that Congress, if it had a spine, could stop. As a veteran, that’s something that’s important to me.
The third thing on cost is reversing these terrible Medicaid cuts. They haven’t taken effect yet. They’re going to hurt working people who rely on Medicaid, because of the health impact. And rural hospitals are a huge source of jobs, so if they shut down, the impact on our rural economies is going to be a huge issue.
After stemming that damage, we need to try to restore trust between Congress and the American people. Congress’s approval rating is lower than the IRS! That’s because they’ve forgotten what their job is. They think their job is to line their own pockets and get reelected.
I was proud to come out with an anti-corruption platform that has common sense things like a call to ban stock trading for members of Congress, and banning them from lobbying for life. If you choose to be a member of Congress, you shouldn’t turn around and lobby your colleagues. We have been proud to not accept a dollar of corporate PAC money. Even if was going to put us at a financial disadvantage compared to my opponent, it was important to me that people not question where my loyalties are, because my loyalties are to my family, friends, and neighbors here in Central Kentucky.
Democracy News: Can you tell me about your decision not to take corporate PAC money?
Dembo: It was not a hard decision at all. There was obviously pressure from well-meaning folks who want us to win and pointed out that my opponent will take any money that comes his way. He’s taken money from AIPAC, from corporate PACs. Any money out there, he’ll take it. But we haven’t taken any corporate PAC money, and we’ve still managed to have a cash on hand advantage over our opponent. Our message has resonated, and so we’ve had huge numbers of individual donors who’ve been willing to put their stake in this campaign. But even if we hadn’t raised money, it would still have been the right thing to do. There are some things that are gray areas. For me, this is not a gray area.
Democracy News: With everything that’s happening in the country, how are you coping?
Dembo: Campaigning has been exhausting, but it has given me a great deal of hope. Pretty much everyone I’ve met has been very hardworking and they’re doing their best in difficult situations.
I loved being a prosecutor, but that meant seeing people at their very worst and in terrible situations, people who committed crimes, victims of crime. I worked with an amazing team, but that it was a pretty dark view of humanity. Now, I’m meeting all different kinds of people, and even if they’re not going to vote for me, they’re nice and curious, and willing to talk. That’s the part I’m enjoying the most.
That’s something that gets lost when we view politics through the lens of the media. They would have you believe that a Democrat here in rural Kentucky has more in common with a Democrat in Manhattan or Los Angeles than they do with their own neighbor, or that a Republican has more in common with a Texan or a North Dakotan than their own neighbor. I’m not seeing that when I’m out here talking with folks, so that’s given me a lot of hope.
You can learn more about Zach Dembo here.