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Every August in western Kentucky, politicians face energetic crowds at the Fancy Farm Picnic. And this year, the event turned into a debate over Senator Mitch McConnell's legacy as he prepares to step down after four decades in office. Sylvia Goodman from Kentucky Public Radio has more.
SYLVIA GOODMAN, BYLINE: The three most high-profile GOP contenders in the race to replace Senator McConnell shared the stage at this traditional church picnic in Fancy Farm, Kentucky. Raucous crowds jeered, cheered and heckled at the top of their lungs.
(CHEERING)
GOODMAN: The candidates have pretty similar conservative platforms overall, with a few nuances, whether that's on economic policy, immigration or bringing back coal. They also have something else in common.
(SOUNDBITE OF MONTAGE)
DANIEL CAMERON: I'll be a senator focused on the future, not the past - focused on supporting President Trump's America First agenda.
NATE MORRIS: I'm an America First conservative who supports Donald Trump a hundred percent of the time.
ANDY BARR: In the United States Senate, I'll continue to be the president's No. 1 ally.
GOODMAN: That was former state Attorney General Daniel Cameron, Lexington businessman Nate Morris and Congressman Andy Barr. In the race to win Kentucky's soon to be open Senate seat, the candidates are battling for President Donald Trump's endorsement. Morris in particular argues that the senior senator from Kentucky actively tries to sabotage the president.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MORRIS: I'm going to trash Mitch McConnell's legacy.
GOODMAN: To say that at this annual picnic is striking, given that many of the people there have voted for McConnell for decades. McConnell has not universally supported the president. In 2021, he said Trump was responsible for the January 6 insurrection. This year, he voted against three of his cabinet picks. Yet, at other times, he's backed Trump - endorsing the president during his campaign and fighting for several of his major initiatives.
At the Republican breakfast the morning of the picnic, McConnell defended his record, noting the difference between his voting record and that of Kentucky's junior senator, Rand Paul.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MITCH MCCONNELL: Which of Kentucky's two Republican senators supports President Trump the most?
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: You do.
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: You.
MCCONNELL: It's actually me.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: McConnell.
MCCONNELL: The Big, Beautiful Bill is the president's single most important domestic achievement.
GOODMAN: McConnell first started going to Fancy Farm in 1984, when Democrats dominated the event.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MCCONNELL: Well, this is my 30th Fancy Farm.
GOODMAN: Now this quintessentially western Kentucky event is overwhelmingly Republican. Only one Democrat spoke on the stage this year. When McConnell started his Senate career, the western Kentucky House district had been represented by Democrats since 1865. That's right - more than a hundred years. As McConnell said at a GOP breakfast the morning of the picnic, things have changed.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MCCONNELL: I'm so happy that you can't find a Democrat with a flashlight anymore down here.
(APPLAUSE)
GOODMAN: Later in the day at the picnic, Morris' booth featured a trash can holding a McConnell cutout. Sitting nearby, the chairman of the Marion County Republican Party, Mike Cecil, says he's neutral, but...
MIKE CECIL: Thou shall not speak ill of a fellow Republican. I want to hear people say what they're for.
GOODMAN: Wayne Karem from central Kentucky says he's ready for a change.
WAYNE KAREM: I think McConnell's done a great job, but it's time to get somebody new in there.
GOODMAN: Michael Gilbert from western Kentucky said he was relieved when McConnell announced he would step down, even though he did some good things for Kentucky in his time.
MICHAEL GILBERT: We were proud of him for a while, but then he started kind of going off to the left a little and voting ways that we didn't agree with.
GOODMAN: Already, the candidates and various PACs have been running ads throughout the state, attacking candidates for not supporting Trump enough or for having supported McConnell in the past.
For NPR News, I'm Sylvia Goodman in Fancy Farm, Kentucky. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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