Kentucky Politics Insider: Trump, McConnell play nice & is Scott Jennings in for Senate?
Kentucky Politics Insider offers an analysis of Kentucky politics and the conversations that drive decisions. Email reporter Austin Horn at ahorn@herald-leader.com or ping him on social media sites with tips or comments.
Given their long history of working together — filled with ups and downs — it wouldn’t be totally accurate to call Sen. Mitch McConnell and President Donald Trump “strange bedfellows.”
But it is notable that McConnell has boosted Trump’s most recent legislative effort.
McConnell was a key ally in Trump’s push to pass his far-reaching budget bill, which extended many tax cuts and cut spending on Medicaid, among other things.
Though McConnell has supported the large majority of the president’s initiatives, the two have traded harsh words since Trump left office after his first term.
Trump has used a variety of derogatory terms to refer to McConnell, calling him “dumb” and insinuating he had a “death wish” for supporting a piece of legislation Democrats also backed. In this term, Trump has also reserved sharp criticism for McConnell for his opposition to the confirmation of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for health secretary.
In private, McConnell called the president a “despicable human being” and a “narcissist,” according to a recent biography of the senator.
The latest chapter in the hot-and-cold relationship took a warm turn, highlighted with McConnell’s social media post of a photo with Trump.
“I enjoyed celebrating the passage of One Big Beautiful Bill with President Trump and Senate Republicans tonight at the White House dinner,” McConnell posted to X Friday.
Jennings still flirtatious
When it comes to discussing the 2026 race for U.S. Senate, don’t forget about Scott Jennings.
The prominent pundit, who has risen to conservative celebrity status during the Biden and Trump years, made sure that won’t happen with his recent comments on a conservative podcast.
Eric Bolling, the host, mentioned that “a lot of people” had been talking about Jennings’ potential as a candidate for U.S. Senate. This is true, though talk has cooled somewhat since the field has solidified into three prominent Republicans: Rep. Andy Barr, former AG Daniel Cameron and Lexington tech entrepreneur Nate Morris.
The Dawson Springs native demurred in his response, saying he “hasn’t made any announcements about that,” and mentioning that he knew all three of the big name candidates well.
He was pretty clear on what, or who, could bring him into the fold.
“I do think politics is a team sport. I think Trump’s the head coach and eventually he’s gonna weigh in on this,” Jennings said. “My political advice would be to anybody ‘If he calls a play, we’re gonna have to run it, and I wouldn’t want to run against the president in Kentucky.’”
When pressed on if he’d run if Trump tapped him for the seat, Jennings was straightforward: “I pay close attention to everything the president says.”
Morris full of “it”
The contest for the Republican nomination to U.S. Senate has continued to heat up over the last week. The biggest case in point: an ad war between Morris and a political action committee supporting Barr.
Continuing with his focus on McConnell, Morris’ latest ad displays Cameron and Barr as literal puppets of McConnell. It claims that the two “stuck with” McConnell when he “pushed for amnesty for” undocumented immigrants.
McConnell has actually been a steadfast opponent of amnesty for undocumented immigrants throughout his Senate career, as evidenced by his comments and votes over the years.
The reference to “amnesty,” according to a Morris spokesperson, comes from McConnell’s support for a 2024 bipartisan immigration reform bill that Trump opposed. Most references to “amnesty” in that bill relate to a section that only allowed an emergency expulsion authority to fully activate when an average of 5,000 or more people entered the country illegally during a seven-day period, opening it up to such criticism when fewer than that number entered. Still, there was no amnesty for undocumented immigrants in the bill.
“I’m sick of watching the elites give handouts to illegals while working-class families struggle,” Morris said in the ad. “I’ll lead the fight against amnesty by stopping all immigration until we deport every single illegal immigrant in America.”
Morris has made leaning far right on immigration a part of his platform, calling for a complete moratorium on all immigration for a limited time.
He closed stating that he was “a Trump guy, not a McConnell boy.”
The ad is supported by a “seven-figure” overall television advertising campaign, Morris’ spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, the political action committee working to help elect Barr is hard at work to bring down Morris’ reputation among Republican voters before the first-time candidate even becomes a household name.
Focusing on the allegedly “fake” nature of Morris, the ad from Keep America Great PAC homes in on Morris’ business past. It references various actions taken on the subject of diversity.
“As a CEO, Morris was so woke, he signed a pledge promising to support DEI, his company even published a list of gay-owned stores and told employees to shop there,” the ad states.
It ends with an expletive-punctuated refrain: “Fake Nate Morris, fully woke, and full of s—.”
Dembo’s big haul
It’s always a head-turning event when a newcomer to politics launches a professional campaign for office.
Newly-minted Democratic candidate for Kentucky’s 6th Congressional District Zach Dembo did it again on Monday when he announced that he’d raised more than $160,000 just three days after launching his campaign.
Let’s first acknowledge that candidates very often get their campaign contributions lined up well before they actually enter the race. A quick burst of donations right after announcing is nothing new in politics.
But $160,000 is an impressive haul for a first-time candidate.
We won’t know how the full amount Dembo brings in compares to his peers until the next campaign finance deadline coming up in October. Former Democratic House Caucus Chair Cherlynn Stevenson and former Lexington-Fayette Urban County Councilman David Kloiber both posted respectable numbers in their June 30 reports, with Stevenson leading and Kloiber’s personal wealth meaning he could put in much more.
Money isn’t everything in Central Kentucky politics, though. Kloiber himself far outspent Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton in 2022 when he challenged her from his city council perch, but Gorton marched to an easy reelection victory.
