A political ad featuring cardboard cutouts is drawing attention in Central Kentuckys congressional race, with Democrat Zach Dembo seeking to tie Republican Ralph Alvarado to former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin.Dembo stands by the ad , while Alvarado calls it insulting.In the ad, Dembo tells voters that Alvarado is basically the same guy as Bevin.Bevin has remained a controversial figure in Kentucky politics. He most recently made headlines after he was arrested in September on the set of a Christmas movie in Bourbon County.Bevin also faced criticism over a series of pardons he issued near the end of his term after losing the 2019 governors race. Those included pardons for people convicted of serious crimes, including murder and child rape.Alvarado was Bevins running mate in the 2019 election. But Alvarado told LEX News he is his own person and believes Dembos ad unfairly ties him to the former governor.Its insulting, is what it is, Alvarado said. When you dont have anything to run on, what you want to do is knock down other people, thinking thats going to make him look better.Alvarado said that after he and Bevin lost the governors race, he returned to his role as a Kentucky state senator. He said he was part of the Senates denunciation of Bevins pardons.A lot of things you saw with Bevin and his pardons and those sort of things, we denounced those in the Senate, Alvarado said. The Senate majority denounced those collectively, and I was part of that denouncement, calling for an FBI investigation into those.LEX News did not find speeches or interviews in which Alvarado publicly criticized Bevins pardons at the time. LEX News also found no evidence that Alvarado supported the pardons.Alvarados Senate record shows he was present when the Senate president condemned Bevins pardons. He later voted in favor of a proposed constitutional amendment that would have restricted a Kentucky governors ability to issue pardons near the end of a term.Dembo argues that Alvarados history with Bevin remains relevant because Alvarado agreed to join Bevins re-election campaign.My opponent signed onto that and said he shared Matt Bevins vision for Kentucky, Dembo said. Then he campaigned with him all over the state, and then after they lost, they continued to keep in touch after these terrible pardons.Dembo said Alvarado did not begin distancing himself from Bevin until doing so became politically expedient. This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy. ...read more read less