Mitch McConnell responds to Nate Morris attacks: 'We put KY on the map'

Austin Horn and Amancai Biraben, Lexington Herald-Leader on Aug 2, 2025

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MAYFIELD, Ky. — Mitch McConnell has heard the messaging, and he’s seen the ads.

Saturday morning, in front of a crowd of Republicans gathered before the famous political speaking event Fancy Farm, the retiring Senator offered his first direct rebuke of Nate Morris, a wealthy Lexington tech entrepreneur who’s been bashing McConnell’s record in his bid for the nomination in 2026 against Rep. Andy Barr and former Attorney General Daniel Cameron.

He began with a run-through of his Senate tenure, peaking as the longest-serving Senate party leader in American history.

“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.

All this took place moments after Morris delivered his own speech pitching himself as an antidote to McConnell’s calcified establishment record. Right now, Morris, who has not held elected office before, is the only candidate on television airwaves touting his record.

Morris’ first ad featured him hoisting a cardboard cutout of McConnell into a garbage truck. The rest of them have ended with the tagline “I’m a Trump guy, not a McConnell boy.”

That vibe wasn’t the dominant one in West Kentucky. Morris was hitting that message hard in front of a group of Marshall County Republicans Friday night when someone in the crowd interrupted him.

“Mitch is not running. What are you running on?” the man shouted.

It was Frank Amaro, Todd County Republican Party Chairman. Morris responded that he wanted career politicians out of D.C.

Amaro wasn’t sold.

“He keeps bashing Mitch McConnell like he’s running against Mitch McConnell,” Amaro told the Herald-Leader after the speech. “Mitch has helped Kentucky and the United States, especially our Supreme Court, more than any other U.S. senator in this country.

“So the garbage guy can take that.”

Amaro left Illinois nine years ago because of his political frustrations in the state. He wants a leader who addresses constituents directly, noting Barr and Cameron holding discussions to understand their concerns.

Morris’ strategy, Amaro thinks, is using Trump-style rhetoric — but he’s not sold it’ll work.

“Standing here and just, you know, being a rooster doesn’t do me any good,” he said.

West Kentucky reaction

Not everyone responded to Morris negatively.

Pat Marion, a retired facilities manager who moved to Benton from California two years ago, bought what Morris was selling at the GOP dinner event.

He said he listened to all three candidates carefully and left supporting Morris because of his anti-establishment message.

“The fact that he says Mitch McConnell doesn’t belong on some super high pedestal is refreshing. I think calling a spade is always a positive thing,” Marion said.

Marion called McConnell a “RINO,” short for “Republican in name only.” He said he should have left the Senate long ago, but acknowledged that he “did a great job on judges” in ushering in the Supreme Court of the United States’ 6-3 conservative majority.

Jerry Sells, a retired dentist from Marshall County, wasn’t as certain of who he’d support or how to take the anti-McConnell message.

“McConnell did a lot for West Kentucky, but in the past few months he’s kind of had a change of heart on some issues that have disturbed people,” Sells said.

“But I don’t think you should badmouth him,” he added.

Morris himself acknowledged that his message isn’t tailored to events like Fancy Farm, where many attendees are plugged in GOP politicos who support McConnell.

“I know in this room it makes some of you uncomfortable and some of the establishment uncomfortable,” Morris said. “But as an outsider and a disrupter, my job is not to make people comfortable, it’s to get results and to bring something totally different.”

McConnell ended his own speech with an attempt to remind the crowd of what he had done for them in his 40 years in office.

He said he had his staff tally up funding he personally directed into the state, “not some deal that a whole lot of people made,” using his Senate perch.

The total: $60 billion.

“Without the opportunities you gave me, Kentucky could never have punched above its weight and had the kind of influence we’ve had on national policy,” McConnell said. “We put Kentucky on the map. Let’s keep it there.”