Some came by car, others by bus. One came on a garbage truck. At the annual St. Jerome Picnic in Fancy Farm, pageantry is the name of the game. The quintessentially western Kentucky event is the traditional launch to the state’s election season and a proving ground for candidates and elected officials alike.
It’s not an election year in Kentucky, but a spectator wouldn’t know it as the top three GOP candidates vying for the chance to fill U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell’s seat battled it out in front of a boisterous crowd. Republican Congressman James Comer also faced off against his Democratic opponent John “Drew” Williams, who was also the only Democratic politician to accept an invitation to the picnic.
Ashli Watts, the president of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, emcee’ed the event, a choice that drew the criticism of the Kentucky AFL-CIO labor union. Watts was the first woman to emcee the proceedings in the picnic’s145-year history, and jokingly called herself a “DEI hire.”
“I got a lot of advice, some solicited, a lot unsolicited, and I just want to take a moment to thank all the men out there who gave me so much unsolicited advice,” Watts said. “Truly, nothing gets you ready for the job [more] than having political jokes mansplain to you.”
While each candidate faced their share of jeers and cheers, the soon-to-retire McConnell got plenty of boos, partially from his own party, this year. McConnell shared the stage with a trio of candidates contending for his seat — one of whom has centered his campaign around criticising the 83-year-old senator.
This was McConnell’s 30th year coming to the annual picnic, his first one being in 1984. He said the political tides have shifted in far western Kentucky, where Democrats once dominated the event’s stage.
“I can't think of any place I'd rather be on the first Saturday in August than right here,” McConnell said. “Back in the old days, there were only a couple of Republicans here: me and a county chairman. Ah, how things have changed.”
Watts jokingly took aim at all three of the candidates seeking to replace McConnell.
“All three of these men have spent months trying to get the endorsement of President Trump,” Watts said. “As a lifelong connoisseur of chick flicks, let me put it in terms that you all might understand: When it comes to Trump, he's just not that into you.”
Spotlight on the GOP Senate primary
By far the most raucous portion of the Saturday event was when the three top candidates for the GOP Senate primary took their turns at the podium, pitching themselves to replace U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell.
All three pitched themselves as conservative Republicans who would work to support President Donald Trump’s vision for the country. All in all, the candidates are running on fairly similar issues — bringing back Kentucky coal, supporting tariffs and continuing the administration’s border policy and deportation campaign.
Lexington businessman Nate Morris has centered his campaign on criticism of McConnell, saying he does not support Trump as much as he should. Morris compared McConnell to former President Joe Biden — saying he is “mentally incompetent" — and continued to accuse his opponents of being McConnell “puppets.”
“Both of these guys are very proud to tell you. They wouldn't have careers if it weren't for Mitch,” Morris said. “Neither of these guys have built anything, done anything impactful, employed anyone, but, boy, did they know how to take direction from a decrepit old mob boss. I mean, where would you be without Mitch McConnell?”
Morris was perhaps the most heckled of the three candidates, with Cameron and Barr supporters drowning him out at various points. Morris himself has donated to McConnell in the past and previously interned for his office; he was an intern for both McConnell and McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao.
Cameron lobbed jabs particularly at Morris, saying he isn’t a true “Make America Great Again” Republican and that his campaign reminds him of flatulence.
“It stinks, it's unproductive and it's a sign that the emitter is full of crap,” Cameron said.
Cameron also focused on his opposition to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, which Trump has targeted as “discriminatory.”
Congressman Andy Barr, who represents the Lexington area, spoke a great deal about his relationship with Trump, saying he is the only candidate who has experience passing legislation to support the president’s agenda.
Barr spent more time attacking Morris than he did cracking jokes at Cameron’s expense — criticizing the policies of the waste and recycling company he founded.
“Nate calls himself the garbage man, but ‘dumpster fire’ is more like it,” Barr said.
U.S. Rep. James Comer v. John "Drew" Williams
Despite the fact that Comer was there as a sitting Congressman running for reelection next year, others floated the possibility he could run for governor again. Several Republicans both at the picnic and at a Republican breakfast that morning encouraged him to run for the seat in 2027, currently held by Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear.
Comer, who has represented parts of central and western Kentucky in Congress since 2016, spent much of his time on stage highlighting recent Republican policy wins – like stronger border patrol – and his role championing GOP causes as chair of the House Oversight Committee. However, he remained tight-lipped on stage about whether he is considering running for Kentucky’s highest office again.
The congressman also took time to thank Kentucky’s outgoing senior senator for his time in office – commending McConnell for the role he played in shaping the U.S. Supreme Court in 2016, which has since gained a conservative supermajority.
“More than anything, as the one guy in Congress who has fought the deep state and won, I want to thank Senator McConnell for keeping Merrick Garland from being on the Supreme Court.”
The Kentucky Republican congressman took aim at news coverage from what he called the “liberal media.” Comer criticized coverage from media outlets regarding the origin of the COVID-19 virus, allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election, financial dealings of former President Joe Biden and Biden’s mental health status during his term in the White House.
As chair of the House Oversight Committee, Comer led investigations into the Biden family’s business dealings and is currently investigating the former president’s mental capacity while he was in office and his use of an autopen. The congressman referenced that investigation with a jab at John “Drew” Williams, his presumed 2026 general election opponent. At the end of his speech, the congressman broke out a posterboard with Biden’s autopen-generated signature joking that the former president had endorsed his opponent.
Williams, meanwhile, tried to set himself apart from Comer as a person born and raised in far western Kentucky, claiming that he would put rural community needs first if elected to office.
Speaking over the jeers from the strong legion of Comer supporters, Williams alleged the Republican incumbent put the wants and needs of corporations and lobbyists over his constituents.
“We can build a new table that invites all of our people back together to meet them where they are, to hear their stories and reconnect our community to its roots. We have to build this new table, because James Comer doesn't give us a seat at his table,” Williams said.
The Democratic candidate said, if elected, he would cast votes in Congress based on “community-gathered data” that would come from debates, round-table discussions and town hall events – the latter of which Comer has been criticized by some for avoiding in recent months.
No More Dems?
Democrats have largely avoided Fancy Farm in years when gubernatorial and other constitutional office elections are not being held. That trend continued again at this year’s event.
Neither of Kentucky’s statewide Democratic office holders – Beshear and Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman – accepted invitations to the annual Graves County event this year. Coleman said the Fancy Farm Picnic “should be reserved for candidates who are on the ballot” – but the lieutenant governor did speak Friday evening at the Marshall County Democratic Party’s annual Bean Dinner, held about 40 miles from the St. Jerome picnic fairgrounds.
Williams was the only Democratic candidate for a Kentucky office to speak at Saturday’s event. State Rep. Pam Stevenson of Louisville, who is running for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate seat McConnell is vacating next year, declined her invitation to speak at Fancy Farm.
This year was the fewest number of Democrats on the Fancy Farm stage since 2021, when Democratic officials skipped the event over concerns surrounding a rise in COVID-19 cases at the time.
Typically, the Fancy Farm political speaking planners invite those in statewide offices and elected officials who represent Graves County in state and federal governments. The last Democrat who represented Graves County at the state level was former Rep. Fred Nesler, who left the House in 2012. Republicans currently control all of the state House and Senate offices representing western Kentucky.
“Fancy Farm has always been a proud bipartisan Kentucky political tradition, but it doesn't seem like the Democrats think so, since only one Democrat accepted the invitation to speak,” Watts said during her opening remarks. “In fact, the Republicans voted this morning at the Graves County breakfast to change the name of this picnic to the One Big, Beautiful picnic.”
Beshear was also a frequent source of criticism, with several Republicans criticizing his out-of-state travel that many have interpreted as a precursor to a potential presidential run.
“I guess he couldn't find the time between Vogue magazine photo shoots and measuring Oval Office drapes,” Barr said. “Of course, the liberal media is fawning all over him, but Americans will soon learn what we Kentuckians already know: he's as liberal as he is boring.”
State government and politics reporting is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
