Scoop: New Republican Senate candidate in Kentucky to team up with top Trump ally
FIRST ON FOX - Republican businessman and entrepreneur Nate Morris, the newly announced Senate candidate in the 2026 Kentucky race to succeed retiring former longtime GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell, will team up with a top ally of President Donald Trump.
Morris, who is showcasing his political outsider credentials and his support for Trump's MAGA movement, will be joined at a campaign event just south of Louisville, Kentucky, on Monday morning by conservative leader Charlie Kirk.
The news was first shared with Fox News on Friday.
Kirk, a MAGA world rock star and ally of Trump and the president's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., leads the influential Turning Point USA youth organization.
It's likely that Kirk, who has praised Morris, will endorse him when the two team up on the campaign trail.
Morris joins Rep. Andy Barr and former Kentucky Attorney General and 2023 GOP gubernatorial nominee Daniel Cameron in the race for the Republican Senate nomination in the red-leaning state.
The GOP nomination, which will be decided in next spring's Kentucky primary, will likely turn into a battle for Trump's support.
A campaign release announcing Morris' candidacy described him as "a staunch ally of President Trump" who would "be a warrior for the America First agenda" in the Senate.
And Morris declared his candidacy during an interview on "Triggered," a popular podcast hosted by Donald Trump Jr., who has praised him.
He's also a personal friend of Vice President JD Vance.
Morris has been a leading voice in Kentucky this year in his criticism of McConnell, who has long been a top GOP Trump antagonist.
He pilloried McConnell, who stepped down from his Senate GOP leadership position, for the senator's votes against top Trump Cabinet nominees. And he blasted Barr and Cameron – who was once seen as a McConnell protege – for not aggressively criticizing the senator for his votes.
McConnell announced on his 83rd birthday in February that he wouldn't seek re-election next year. McConnell has held the seat since 1985 and is the longest-serving senator in Kentucky history.
Morris said the GOP Senate primary will be "a referendum on Mitch McConnell's record, it's a referendum on Mitch McConnell's legacy."
And he aimed to tie Barr and Cameron to the senator, claiming that "you have two McConnellites who owe everything to Mitch McConnell versus the outside business guy that's running as the MAGA candidate. I think that contrast is gonna be very, very striking to Kentuckians all over the state because they've had enough of Mitch."
But Barr's campaign quickly returned fire, arguing that "Nate Morris is pretending to be MAGA now, but he can't run from all the liberal trash in his past."
And Barr took to social media to highlight that "I'm the ONLY candidate in this race who has a RECORD of supporting President .@realDonaldTrump and advancing the MAGA agenda. President Trump and I will continue to Make America Great Again when I'm in the U.S. Senate."
Cameron, in a social media post, also criticized Morris, charging his new rival is "a globalist who dons a MAGA hat and pretends to be 'America First' now that we are on the rise."
Morris, in announcing his bid, showcased his family's blue-collar roots.
According to a bio released by his campaign, he's a ninth-generation Kentuckian with family ties to Appalachia, was raised in a union household by a single mother, and attended public schools, his campaign bio said.
The campaign said 19 of Morris' relatives worked at a local auto plant, where his grandfather served as the union leader.
While Morris can't compete with Cameron and Barr when it comes to name recognition in Kentucky, he'll be able to launch ads highlighting his bio using the wealth he earned as an entrepreneur.
Morris founded Rubicon on a $10,000 line of credit and turned it into one of the country's largest waste and recycling companies.
In a campaign launch video, Morris said: "I know a little bit about garbage. And Mitch McConnell? He's trashed Trump and for over 40 years, he's been dumping on us."
"Let's dump career politicians and take out the trash in Washington," he added.
Morris currently serves as chairman and CEO of Morris Industries, which he founded in 2010.
"When I came into the world, my mother was on food stamps. We have been fighting and scrapping for everything we have like most Kentuckians," Morris said.
"I have been able to live the American dream because of how great this country is."
The Morris campaign is being led by veterans of the 2024 Trump-Vance campaign, including veteran pollster Tony Fabrizio, strategists Andy Surabian, Chris Grant and data consultant Tim Saler.
An outside group supporting the Morris campaign is being overseen by Trump-Vance 2024 veterans Arthur Schwartz, Luke Thompson and Cliff Sims.
With two-term Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear and Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman both passing on a Senate run, state House minority floor leader Pamela Stevenson is making a bid.
But it's been over three decades since a Democrat won a Senate race in Kentucky.
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