Latest news with #KentuckyElection
Washington Post
01-07-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
Kentucky Senate hopeful says Mitch McConnell doesn't deserve lifetime achievement award
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Republican businessman Nate Morris has declared that Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell doesn't deserve a lifetime achievement award from their home state political party, as the first-time candidate ratchets up his attacks against the former Senate leader he hopes to succeed in next year's election . Morris, a tech entrepreneur, has turned McConnell into his own punching bag — a strategy seen as an attempt to reinforce his political outsider status and win over President Donald Trump's MAGA base.
Yahoo
30-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Nate Morris rolls out campaign alongside Charlie Kirk, with harsh shots at Mitch McConnell
SHEPHERDSVILLE, Ky. — On stage with several high-profile conservatives behind him, Republican Nate Morris entered the race for retiring U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell's seat with a message: It's time to take out the trash. "Mitch McConnell has been in the Senate since before the internet was created. That's crazy to think about," Morris said June 30 at a rally just south of Louisville, alongside popular GOP media host Charlie Kirk. "Then you start thinking again — what does he know about you? ... We're getting crushed by the elites in Washington who know nothing about Kentucky, who know nothing about our people." Morris is the third notable Republican to enter the closely watched race, joining seven-term U.S. Rep. Andy Barr and former Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron. While each has worked to put distance between themselves and McConnell — a towering figure in Bluegrass State politics who's become a toxic brand in the party due to his icy relationship with President Donald Trump, Morris has been particularly harsh in his criticism of the seven-term senator set to leave office at the end of 2026. In his first ad released last week, Morris — who built a fortune at Rubicon, a waste management company he founded and ran for many years before stepping down as CEO months after the company went public in 2022 — speaks to viewers about his upbringing and beliefs while riding in a garbage truck, throwing away cardboard cutouts of McConnell and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, along with a TV showing images of Barr and Cameron. "I know a little bit about garbage," Morris says in the ad, touting his business acumen. "And Mitch McConnell? He's trashed Trump, and for over 40 years, he's been dumping on us." He told a similar story at the event in Shepherdsville, with a hundreds-large audience that included a number of Republican state legislators, including Reps. Josh Calloway, John Hodgson and TJ Roberts, along with Sens. Mike Nemes and Aaron Reed. Carrie Sanders McKeehan, a Louisville Republican running for a House seat in 2026, said she came to listen to Kirk but was intrigued by Morris' story — and brash attitude toward McConnell. "It's a bold move," she said. "... But he doesn't have anything to lose. He's coming out of civilian life, never been in politics. He doesn't have anything to lose." Kirk is in his corner. The Turning Point USA founder and well-known right-wing speaker announced the Shepherdsville rally before Morris' announced his campaign but indicated on social media that it was organized with the Lexington businessman in mind, promoting Morris' candidacy to his 5.1 million X followers as a chance to "defeat the McConnell machine." On stage June 30 with Morris, Kirk said he wouldn't attack Barr or Cameron, two candidates Morris has said would be "puppets" for the man they're hoping to replace. But the "McConnell mafia," a repeated reference to the senator and his supporters, have "let down" Kentucky during his time as the Senate's GOP leader, which spanned from 2007 through 2024. "You deserve senators that should go to the U.S. Senate and say 'No compromising. We're no longer going to send money to Ukraine if our southern border is wide open.' That should be non-negotiable for the senators of Kentucky," Kirk said. "You guys deserve leaders that go to Washington, D.C., and say 'You know what? I'm going to help President Trump on the mass deportation agenda in every single way possible.' And also, you deserve leaders in Washington, D.C., that will at least vote for Trump's cabinet." The president's eldest son has also shown support for Morris. Morris first announced his campaign on Donald Trump Jr.'s "Triggered with Don Jr." podcast on June 26, and while the host didn't outright endorse him, the show promoted Morris as "for the people, not the elites. He later called Morris' first campaign ad "one of the most amazing things I've ever seen." Morris has also appeared on former Breitbart News executive director Steve Bannon's show. The president's endorsement hangs over the race — though Trump has not indicated who he will support, or if he'll even offer an endorsement. He publicly backed Cameron early in the Republican primary in Kentucky's 2023 gubernatorial race — during which Cameron subsequently cruised to a win against his GOP opponents but lost to incumbent Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear in the general election by about a 5% margin. Barr and Cameron have been critical of Morris, with Barr calling him a "fraud" in a campaign statement released after Morris entered the race, while Cameron has called him a "globalist who dons a MAGA hat and pretends to be America First now that we are on the rise." At the rally at Shepherdsville's Parquet Springs Conference Centre, Morris dug in on his Bluegrass State roots. He's a ninth-generation Kentuckian raised in a blue-collar family, he said, with his wife, mother and grandfather among the crowd. Morris spoke in support of U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and of the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency's cost-cutting efforts, along with clean air and water, "especially in Eastern Kentucky." The audience responded with big cheers when Morris and Kirk spoke about mass deportation efforts, keeping transgender women out of women's sports and Vice President JD Vance, a friend of Morris who he said encouraged him to get in the race about a year ago. Murmurs of disapproval could be heard when the pair spoke about money for Ukraine — "the first thing I would do as a senator (is) all funding to Ukraine stops" — and Zohran Mamdani, the likely Democratic candidate for mayor of New York City who is a frequent target of Kirk and Morris. "This race is going to get really rough. It's going to get really rough," Morris said. "I'm not a politician. I don't need the job. I've done very well. I don't need the money. ... I'm here because this isn't Mitch's seat. Everybody says this is Mitch's seat. You've all heard people say that. You know what? It's your seat. It belongs to you." Speaking to reporters after the event, Morris said it would take "millions" of dollars to win the race, and he's "going to spend whatever it takes to be successful." He has not yet filed a financial report with the Federal Election Commission. He also acknowledged he worked as an intern for McConnell for "about three and a half months" in 2000, though "the last 10 years have been a complete disaster." "The things that he has done to the president, especially in this administration, have been inexcusable," he said. "Mitch has had trouble for a very, very long time not representing Kentucky, and I think it's a growing sentiment." The primary election for the Senate seat won't take place until next May. But Morris won over at least one Kentucky Republican in Kitty Lepera, an Okolona resident who came to listen to Kirk and left the June 30 rally "very impressed" with Morris. She's voted for McConnell many times in his career, she said, though her support in 2020 was rooted in her opposition to Amy McGrath, his Democratic opponent. There's "no way (she) would ever vote for him again," she said, and Morris has her attention. "I like the fact that he is a non-career politician. He's not a politician to begin with," she said. "I think we need that fresh start in our Congress." Reach Lucas Aulbach at laulbach@ Reach Hannah Pinski at hpinski@ This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Nate Morris takes jabs at Mitch McConnell in rally with Charlie Kirk
Washington Post
26-06-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
Kentucky Senate hopeful Nate Morris pledges his loyalty to President Trump
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Republican businessman Nate Morris entered Kentucky's competitive campaign Thursday to succeed longtime Senate power broker Mitch McConnell , branding himself as a political outsider and loyal supporter of President Donald Trump's MAGA movement. Morris joins U.S. Rep. Andy Barr and ex-state Attorney General Daniel Cameron as GOP heavyweights vying for their party's nomination next spring in the Republican-leaning Bluegrass State. He said his campaign would become a referendum on McConnell's Senate record, and he tried to link his two Republican rivals to the senator, though Morris has his own past ties to McConnell.
