What you missed at Fancy Farm ‘25: Watts shines, McConnell-Morris & many zingers
Kentucky’s oldest, largest and folksiest political speaking event played out this weekend at the 145th Fancy Farm Picnic in West Kentucky.
Locals and out-of-towners descended on the unincorporated town of Fancy Farm to eat pork and mutton sandwiches, locally grown tomatoes and sweet corn, drink Sun Drop, play bingo and listen to some of the state’s most notable Republicans — along with one Democrat — shout political jabs over the jeers and heckles of a raucous audience.
Each year brings a different slate of speakers and notable moments to the picnic hosted by St. Jerome Catholic Church. Here are our takeaways from this year’s famed political picnic.
Fancy Farm emcee doled out sharpest, wittiest barbs
Ashli Watts, the president and CEO of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, was Fancy Farm’s first female emcee in its 145-year existence.
“I am the first woman to ever emcee this picnic in 145 years, which I guess makes me the official Fancy Farm DEI hire,” Watts said.
“This is my first time up on the stage, and that meant 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,” she said. “Truly, nothing gets you ready for the job than having political jokes mansplained to you.”
She ribbed nearly every one on stage, including Republican Rep. James Comer, who’s running for reelection. His 1st Congressional District initially included much of West Kentucky before it was redrawn in 2022 to more of a horse-shoe shape, snaking along the Tennessee border before reaching into swaths of central Kentucky, including Frankfort.
Watts said she lives in Frankfort but the four-hour drive wasn’t that bad, “thanks to the General Assembly and my friend, Congressman Jamie Comer, I never even had to leave the 1st Congressional District. Just amazing how that works,” she quipped.
Watts offered to pass around a church offering plate to help with Daniel Cameron’s lagging fundraising efforts, behind his opponents, Rep. Andy Barr and Nate Morris, all three of whom are vying to replace outgoing U. S. Sen. Mitch McConnell.
She also jabbed Morris for making McConnell a focal point of his campaign and the flagging finances of the company he founded and took public, Lexington-based waste group Rubicon. Morris on Saturday brought a life-size cut-out of McConnell and stuck it in a trash can.
“Nate, since you haven’t lived in Kentucky for a while, I wanted to make sure you knew that Sen. McConnell is not running for office again. Seems like there might be some miscommunication,” she said. “You can stop using him in all your campaign ads. He is retiring, leaving the U.S. Senate — kind of like how Rubicon left the New York Stock Exchange.”
Watts then swatted at an invisible wasp.
“Sorry guys, there’s a wasp up here. Speaking of wasps, Congressman Andy Barr is also here,” she said, referencing White Anglo-Saxon Protestants, a demographic of often affluent Americans.
“Nothing says MAGA like a Brooks Brothers-wearing attorney from the Chevy Chase neighborhood in Lexington,” she added.
She also saved some jokes for Democrats.
Watts mentioned that she’d heard more Democrats were coming to the picnic, but it turned out that Sen. Robin Webb, R-Grayson, who recently switched parties, was supposed to be the driver.
Watts also presented a “golden glove” in absentia to Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, who attended a Democratic Governors Association event at the end of last week and did not show at Fancy Farm.
“For catching all the easy wins lobbed over by the Kentucky General Assembly,” Watts joked.
Nate Morris took his anti-McConnell message far
Morris stuck to his message of “taking out the trash.”
It mostly served as a metaphor for getting rid of the old political guard. But the Morris camp showd some flair, with the candidate pulling up to Fancy Farm riding a garbage truck and his supporters donning orange vests and banging on metal lids throughout the event.
The content of Morris’ speech focused largely on his opponents’ connections to McConnell, referring to them as the senator’s “boys” several times. Morris interned for Mcconnell at the start of his political career, but Cameron’s professional career has been much more closely linked, and Barr has garnered the backing of many longtime McConnell supporters.
“Both of these guys are very proud to tell you that they wouldn’t have careers if it weren’t for Mitch. Neither of these guys have built anything, done anything impactful, employed anyone, but boy, do they know how to take direction from a decrepit mob boss,” Morris said.
The GOP crowd at Fancy Farm, often full of political obsessives and this year heavily GOP-leaning, wasn’t always welcoming to Morris’ message. The crowds gathered in support of Barr and Cameron tried to drown Morris out more than their other opponent.
Some audible displeasure was expressed when Morris called back to the highly-publicized moments when McConnell froze on camera.
“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 television during national press conferences, to be our United States Senator? It seems, to me at least, maybe just maybe, Mitch’s time to leave the Senate came a long time ago,” Morris said.
McConnell, who attended the early part of the speaking, left before the Senate candidates took the stage.
McConnell clapped back
McConnell’s speech on stage at Fancy Farm was the only one met with a wall of sound from the other side of the aisle.
The crowd chanted “ceasefire now,” in reference to the conflict in Gaza started by Hamas’ surprise attack killing 1,200 Israelis; now, more than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed in the ensuing war. They made it difficult to make out what the 83-year-old was saying from the stage.
But McConnell’s message was heard loud and clear during a GOP breakfast Saturday morning, though. He doesn’t appreciate Morris’ approach.
“Surely this isn’t true, but I’ve heard that one of the candidates running for my office wants to be different,” McConnell said. “Now, I’m wondering how you’d want to be different from the longest-serving Senate leader in American history. I’m wondering how you’d want to be different in supporting President Trump.”
He also posed a question to the crowd, which gave him a lengthy standing ovation when he took the stage.
“A little quiz: Which of Kentucky’s two Republican senators supports President Trump the most?”
“You,” the crowd bellowed.
Lone Democrat was drowned out by Republicans
John “Drew” Williams, a West Kentucky native who is running against Comer, was the only Democrat who spoke at this year’s Fancy Farm.
“Let’s make some noise for the Democr… I mean, the guy running against Jamie Comer,” Watts said of Williams.
Williams, 32, a graduate of Murray State University and boat-dock builder, said he wants to bring “community-first” values to the 1st Congressional District, by supporting policies that benefit middle-class Kentuckians and help them build generational wealth, combat poverty, afford health care and groceries.
As the lone Democrat there, Williams said he wants to build a table with a seat for everyone, “because James Comer doesn’t give us a seat at his table. He raised $7.8 million for his campaign,” Williams said. “You don’t have a seat at his table. Special interests do. Corporations, organizations, party leaders and lobbyists do.”
“I’ve been listening to people’s needs without political power. All I ask is that we come to the table (and work through) these issues with dignity,” he added. “You deserve to trust your government. Here is your opportunity to have true representative democracy. I think I’m ready for the task of representing you, because I am you.”
To Comer, he said, “I don’t see you unless it’s to benefit you. He’s not like us.”
Comer retorted by saying, “my opponent next year . . . I honestly don’t know his name.”
Aside from Williams, each of the Republican Senate candidates spent time castigating their opponents, convincing the crowd they were the one most closely allied with President Donald Trump, and insulting Democrats.
During the post-Fancy Farm KET show, panelist and political consultant Amy Wickliffe remarked on the superficiality of the event, for the most part. Cameron, Morris and Barr largely only mentioned what they’re against — porous borders and gender-affirming health care, for instance — and not policy they hope to enact.
“Hopefully, as the campaign unfolds, we will actually start to hear what the candidates want to do. What is their proposal to serve as U.S. senator from Kentucky, and not just why everyone else is bad,” Wickliffe said. “At some point we want to hear what you want to do and not just that they’re going to be there to hear Trump’s agenda. What are you going to do for Kentuckians?”
GOP swipes at the news media
As a result of Trump’s budget cuts, more than a billion in federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was rescinded last month. Those claw backs have impacted PBS and NPR affiliates across the country, including in Kentucky, where local radio stations held emergency fundraising drives to make up the cost difference.
Kentucky Educational Television, or KET, a PBS affiliate, initially announced it would not cover Fancy Farm this year as a result of those cuts. A last-minute cash infusion from the Chamber of Commerce allowed the station to attend and live-broadcast the event.
State Rep. Kim Holloway, R-Mayfield, mocked KET and its viewership numbers over what others called a “bail out.”
“I’m not sure how much it took, but it probably would’ve saved the Chamber a ton of money had it just rented a Prius, so KET could drive down here with both of its viewers in the backseat,” Holloway said.
Comer criticized news outlets the most, a few times even referencing the “liberal media” interchangeably with mention of Democrats and Beshear.
Comer also provided some political analysis on Beshear’s presidential aspirations. He cited Beshear’s performance in the nearby rural, majority-Democratic four Kentucky counties that border the Mississippi river as evidence his presidential hopes are ill-suited to beat Republican contenders in 2028.
“In Andy Beshear’s last two governor races he only got 33% of the vote in those counties where over 50% of the registered voters were Democrats. My friends in the media, if you can’t get half the Democrats to vote for you against Matt Bevin, then good luck against J.D. Vance, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.”
This story was originally published August 4, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
