Kentucky Democrats accuse Republican congressional candidate of scrubbing Trump from his website

LEXINGTON, Ky. (ABC 36 NEWS NOW) – The Kentucky Democratic Party is accusing Dr. Ralph Alvarado, the Republican running for central Kentucky’s open congressional seat, of removing mentions of President Donald Trump from his campaign website.

An NBC News report found changes on Alvarado’s website, prompting criticism from Democrats. Alvarado’s campaign, however, says they have proudly touted the president’s endorsement.

Kentucky Democratic Party Chairman, Coleman Elridge, responded to the NBC report, saying in part:

“Alvarado is now desperately trying to cover up his support for the president’s policies that are making everyday life impossible for Kentucky families.”

Alvarado’s campaign manager, Alex Westberry, pushed back, saying in part:

“The socialists are going to have to do a lot better than this nonsense to win this district. We’ve proudly touted the endorsement, and our website still features a photo of Ralph with President Trump.”

When LEX News checked Alvarado’s website Wednesday morning, a photo of Alvarado with Trump was located in a gallery under the media section.

A comparison of the current website and an archived version shows some differences. In the archived version, the photo appeared on the main page alongside text that read: “Ralph was one of President Trump’s earliest supporters, and now he’s stepping up to fight alongside him in Washington to fire up the economy, secure our border, and stop the woke agenda.”

The current version of the site reads: “Ralph is stepping up to bring independent leadership to Washington, lower the cost of living, strengthen Kentucky’s economy, and deliver practical solutions that put Kentucky families first.”

The current site generally focuses on Alvarado touting “independent leadership for Kentucky.”

In past interviews with LEX News, Alvarado emphasized bipartisanship. The day after he won the primary, Alvarado spoke about working across party lines when the Kentucky House and Kentucky Senate were controlled by different political parties.

“Democrats looked at my bills — they like them. They want to add their own flavor to it. I looked at their amendments. I was okay with it, sold it to my leadership, added it to my bill and I became the mule, if you will. I got a lot of bills through both chambers at the time,” Alvarado said.

However, Democrats are calling the website change a bait-and-switch. Alvarado’s opponent, Democrat Zach Dembo, said in part:

“Ralph is back at it again, claiming to be Trump’s guy when it helped him and then deleting any mention of the president because the latest poll told him he should.”

Alvarado’s campaign reiterates they have proudly touted the president’s endorsement.