The shadow primary to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell was already in full swing. Now it\u2019s coming out into the open.<\/p>\n

The former Senate GOP leader’s departure was not unexpected \u2014 he spent the opening days of his final term in the Senate shooting down President Donald Trump\u2019s Cabinet picks. But his official upcoming exit poses a question for Kentucky Republicans: Do they want his replacement to be a protege with an independent streak or a loyal foot soldier for Trump and his MAGA movement?<\/p>\n

Who\u2019s in or considering:<\/b><\/p>\n

\n
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron<\/b>: Cameron, who lost a 2023 bid to oust Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, launched a Senate run<\/a> just hours after the announcement by McConnell, who is his mentor. Cameron was widely seen as the former Senate majority leader\u2019s heir apparent. He has high name recognition from his past statewide run and was the state\u2019s first Black attorney general.<\/li>\n
GOP Rep. Andy Barr<\/b>: Barr, first elected in 2012 to a Lexington-based seat, had been considering a run before McConnell\u2019s announcement. He reiterated his interest<\/a> in a statement after McConnell bowed out and said he will make a decision soon. But Barr is set to face some early opposition in any statewide bid. The anti-tax Club for Growth fired off a warning of sorts<\/a> last week when it dropped a TV ad slamming Barr, a senior member of the House Financial Services committee, over over his vote to raise the debt ceiling and working on behalf of \u201cwoke Wall Street\u201d banks.<\/li>\n
Businessperson Nate Morris:<\/b> Morris, the founder of one of the country\u2019s largest waste and recycling companies, had previously said he was \u201cseriously looking\u201d at a run for governor or Senate. On Thursday, he went direct-to-camera at CPAC<\/a> to slam Barr and Cameron as puppets of McConnell who \u201crefused to call out Mitch McConnell for the sabotage of Trump\u2019s agenda.\u201d But he did not address his own future.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Who\u2019s out:<\/b><\/p>\n
\n
Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear<\/b>: Beshear is term-limited and can\u2019t seek reelection, but he\u2019s not interested in moving to the Senate, his spokesperson Eric Hyers said, dealing a blow to Democrats who hoped he would put the state in play for them. Beshear addressed his future broadly during a virtual appearance at Blue Light News\u2019s Governors Summit on Thursday. Asked if he plans to stay involved in politics, he said: \u201cI love this country and I hate to see how divided it is. If there is an ability or another opportunity to [fix America\u2019s problems], it\u2019s something I\u2019d consider.\u201d<\/li>\n
GOP Rep. James Comer<\/b>: The House Oversight Committee chair will not pursue a run for Senate, \u201cbut is strongly considering a run for Governor in 2027,” spokesperson Austin Hacker said in a statement. Comer, whose Oversight Committee hearings often devolve into personal, partisan spats, has sought to position himself as a leading antagonist of former President Joe Biden.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The shadow primary to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell was already in full swing. Now it\u2019s coming out into the open. The former Senate GOP leader’s departure was not unexpected \u2014 he spent the opening days of his final term in the Senate shooting down President Donald Trump\u2019s Cabinet picks. But his official upcoming exit poses […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6388\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}