The competition for President Donald Trump’s endorsement is dominating the GOP primary to take U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell’s seat, with some candidates seeking to turn it into a battle over the longtime senator’s legacy.
The three most high profile GOP contenders in the race to replace McConnell shared the stage at a traditional church picnic in Fancy Farm, Kentucky, in early August.
All three candidates are running on similar conservative issues, with some nuance. At Saturday’s event, they espoused views on bolstering border security, bringing back coal, striking down diversity, equity, and inclusion and — above all else — unequivocally supporting Trump’s agenda.
But after Congressman Andy Barr and former Attorney General Daniel Cameron spoke, Lexington businessman Nate Morris focused on someone who’s not running for reelection — McConnell.
“For the first time since I was born, we have a chance to replace Mitch McConnell here in the Commonwealth with someone who's going to support our president in a state he won by 30 points instead of sabotaging him every chance they get,” Morris said at the Fancy Farm picnic. “Just because Mitch McConnell's name is not on the ballot doesn't mean his legacy is not on the line.”
Morris, who announced his campaign on Donald Trump Jr’s podcast and whose first campaign rally was hosted by Charlie Kirk, has made his campaign about trashing McConnell and tying his two opponents to him. His appearance at the Fancy Farm picnic and the events leading up to it were no different.
“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,” Morris said at Fancy Farm. “Where would you be without Mitch McConnell?”
McConnell’s approval ratings have polled poorly for a while. Since 2021 — when he said Trump is responsible for the January 6 insurrection — polling firm Morning Consult shows his approval rating has not risen above 36%. Their most recent polling shows 59% of polled Kentuckians disapprove of McConnell’s performance.
Even so, Morris’ strategy did not seem to hit home for some western Kentucky Republicans. At a Marshall County Republican dinner the night before the picnic, three of the contenders in the GOP primary for McConnell’s Senate seat addressed about a hundred Republicans.
Todd County Republican Party Chair Frank Amaro interrupted Morris’ speech, asking him what he stands for beyond disliking McConnell, who is not running for office.
“He keeps bashing Mitch McConnell like he's running against Mitch McConnell, and I'm sorry, Mitch has made some bad choices in life. Probably I have too, but overall, he's helped Kentucky and the United States,” Amaro told Kentucky Public Radio after the dinner.
Morris, who interned for McConnell’s office in 2000 and has donated to his campaign, isn’t the only candidate distancing himself from the Kentucky senator. Cameron, who once called McConnell a friend and a mentor, slammed him this year for not voting in favor of several of Trump’s cabinet selections.
“You should expect a senator from Kentucky to vote for those nominees to advance the America First agenda,” Cameron said in a social media post.
"Although Cameron has also criticized Morris, saying he shouldn’t “pick on an 83-year-old man.”
Ads paid for by the Keep America Great PAC — which Barr’s campaign promoted to reporters — also attacked Morris, in part by noting he had previously donated to McConnell. Barr too has referred to McConnell as a mentor in the recent past. Barr also acknowledged the role McConnell has played in building the statewide party.
“It's undoubted, undoubted that he built the Kentucky Republican Party,” Barr said. “That's why the name of the headquarters is the Mitch McConnell building.”
Even after his heckling the evening before, Morris went all in on criticizing McConnell at the picnic itself.
“I'm going to trash Mitch McConnell's legacy,” Morris said. “It's funny, you know, the third one is pissing off a lot of people, but I have a serious question: Who here can honestly tell me that it's a good thing to have a senior citizen who freezes on national television during his press conferences as our U.S. Senator?”
Morris also criticized McConnell for not backing Trump enough. This year, he voted against three of his cabinet picks and has criticized the president’s tariffs policies. Yet at other times he’s backed Trump — endorsing the president during his campaign, and fighting for several of his major initiatives like the tax and spending bill dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill.”
At the Republican breakfast the morning of the picnic, McConnell defended his record, noting the difference between his voting record and that of Kentucky’s junior Sen. Rand Paul.
“A little quiz: Which of Kentucky's two Republican senators supports President Trump the most? It's actually me,” McConnell said. “The big, beautiful bill is the president's single most important domestic achievement."
McConnell started going to Fancy Farm in 1984, when Democrats dominated the event. He touted that this is his 30th year attending. Now this quintessentially western Kentucky event is overwhelmingly Republican — only one Democrat spoke on the stage this year.
When McConnell started his Senate career, the western Kentucky House district had been represented by Democrats since 1865. As McConnell said at a Graves County Republican Party breakfast the morning of the picnic, things have changed.
“I'm so happy that you can't find a Democrat with a flashlight anymore down here,” McConnell said.
It’s a change that many have attributed at least in part to McConnell’s efforts in building up the Republican Party across the state. McConnell also touted the billions of federal dollars he says he is personally responsible for bringing to the state.
“Now I've heard, surely this isn't true, but I've heard that one of the candidates running from my office wants to be different,” McConnell said at the GOP breakfast. “Now I'm wondering how you'd want to be different from the longest-serving Senate leader in American history.”
Later in the day at the picnic, Morris’ booth featured a trash can holding a McConnell cutout. Sitting nearby, the chair of the Marion County Republican Party Mike Cecil says he’s neutral, but wishes candidates would follow one of former President Ronald Reagan’s rules.
“Thou shall not speak ill of our fellow Republicans,” Cecil said. “But this one candidate will, and he's running a negative campaign. I want to hear people say what they're for.”
Wayne Karem from Shelby County said he’s ready for a change and wants someone who can unite the Republican party.
"I think McConnell's done a great job, but it's time to get somebody new in there," Karem said.
Michael Gilbert from Paducah said he was relieved when McConnell announced he would step down, even though he did some good things for Kentucky in his time.
“We were proud of him for a while, but then he started kind of going off to the left a little and voting ways that we didn't agree with,” Gilbert said, referring to McConnell not voting in favor of all of Trump’s nominees.
Still others said they were sad to see McConnell’s long tenure in Washington end. Already the candidates and various PACs have been running ads throughout the state, attacking candidates for not supporting Trump enough or for having supported McConnell in the past.
State government and politics reporting is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
