Kentucky

Scramble for McConnell's Senate seat underway with signs of a bruising GOP primary ahead

Published

10 months ago

February 21, 2025

Scramble for McConnell's Senate seat underway with signs of a bruising GOP primary ahead

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The scramble to fill Mitch McConnell’s Senate seat in Kentucky began as soon as the long-serving Republican lawmaker revealed he won’t seek reelection in 2026.

Former state Attorney General Daniel Cameron jumped into the campaign Thursday, looking for a political comeback after losing his bid for governor in 2023. Elsewhere in the GOP, U.S. Rep. Andy Barr signaled he would announce his plans soon and said he’s been encouraged by his support as he considers a Senate run. Businessman Nate Morris has signaled his strong interest in the Senate race, too.

Another prominent Kentucky Republican, U.S. Rep. James Comer, will not run for the Senate next year but is “strongly considering” a run for governor in 2027, a Comer spokesman said.

Although the prize is a Senate seat that will be open for the first time in more than 40 years, leading Kentucky Democrats did not rush to embrace the challenge in a state that has turned solidly Republican in recent years. The two Democrats holding statewide office — Gov. Andy Beshear and Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman — signaled Thursday that they won’t enter the Senate race.

McConnell announced to his Senate colleagues on Thursday that he will retire when his current seventh term ends.

The longest-serving Senate party leader in U.S. history, McConnell relinquished his leadership post after the November 2024 election. His departure will mark the loss of a powerful advocate who steered large amounts of federal money to Kentucky. But his popularity with Republicans back home sagged after his relationship with President Donald Trump cratered.

Some Kentuckians worried that his departure would mean a loss of influence for the state.

“Someone will serve in his seat, but they will not step into his shoes in terms of seniority that he has built as the longest-serving senator in Kentucky history,” GOP political consultant T.J. Litafik said.

A top legislative Democrat, state House Minority Floor Leader Pamela Stevenson, recently filed to raise money for the Senate race. She would become the state’s first Black U.S. senator if she were to win.

Whoever wins the Democratic nomination won’t have history on their side. The last Democrat to win a Senate race in the Bluegrass State was Wendell Ford in 1992.

Meanwhile, jockeying on the Republican side after McConnell’s announcement previewed what looks to be a bumpy primary. Sniping began after Cameron signaled his Senate intentions by posting on X: “Kentucky, it’s time for a new generation of leadership in the U.S. Senate. Let’s do this.”

That provoked a bare-knuckled response from Barr’s camp. Barr spokesman Tyler Staker said Cameron had “embarrassed” Trump and the GOP by losing the governor’s race to Beshear. Staker added the party needs “proven winners,” perhaps foreshadowing Barr’s pitch for a coveted Trump endorsement.

Cameron, who also would become the state’s first Black U.S. senator if he won, fired back, saying, “You get outside of his district, nobody knows who Andy Barr is.”

Cameron told The Associated Press that he’s in the race to succeed his one-time mentor, having formerly worked as McConnell’s legal counsel. He has been planning a political comeback since his defeat in 2023. He said his values align with Kentucky voters and touted his support for Trump.

“Serving in the Senate, I’m going to make sure I stand up for the ‘America First’ agenda and the values of Kentucky,” Cameron told the AP in a phone interview Thursday evening.

A presidential endorsement, if it’s forthcoming, could tip the scales in bright red Kentucky.

“If Trump endorses, it would likely — very likely — be determinative,” said Scott Jennings, a Republican political strategist. “His influence in the party is unquestionable and Kentucky Republicans would respond to his judgment for sure.”

Things could change, of course. The party in the White House typically loses ground in midterm elections. A downward shift in the economy or any negative impact of tariffs on bourbon and other Kentucky-made products could diminish the value of Trump’s endorsement with some Kentuckians. Republicans in Washington are weighing potential cuts to Medicaid, a health care lifeline for many people in Kentucky.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee said the now-open Kentucky Senate seat in 2026 would create “an additional defensive headache” for national Republicans.

Trump has previous ties with both Cameron and Barr. He endorsed Cameron’s run for governor about 11 months before the 2023 gubernatorial primary. Cameron never looked back in winning the nomination but lost to Beshear, who won a second term. In 2018, Trump gave Barr a boost by campaigning for him when the congressman faced a tough Democratic challenge in a closely watched House race.

Meanwhile, Morris has cast himself as a political outsider. While Cameron and Barr jockeyed behind the scenes while awaiting McConnell’s decision on the 2026 race, Morris bluntly said it was time for McConnell to retire. He ripped into the senator for opposing a trio of Trump nominations, and accused his potential GOP rivals of lacking the backbone to speak out about the McConnell votes.

“Anyone afraid to upset the establishment will undoubtedly be too cowardly to deliver real, conservative results for the American people,” Morris said in a recent Kentucky newspaper op-ed.

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Kentucky

Kentucky ‘playing with joy’ heading into volleyball championship match

Published

4 hours ago

December 20, 2025

Press Room

Kentucky ‘playing with joy’ heading into volleyball championship match

KANSAS CITY, MO ― On Thursday, No.1 Kentucky punched its ticket to the NCAA volleyball championship match by winning a five-set thriller against No. 3 Wisconsin that defied logic.

“Congrats, guys. We couldn’t have played any worse,” head coach Craig Skinner told his team in the huddle after Kentucky dropped the first set, 25-12, with a .056 hitting percentage.

The Wildcats, who will play Texas A&M for the national championship on Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC), did not lead in a single major statistical category against the Badgers, but it didn’t matter. Kentucky clawed back and evened the match 1-1. The two teams traded blocks, kills and long rallies until late in the fourth set when two Badgers’ errors left the door open for the Wildcats. Kentucky, seemingly powered by Wisconsin’s mistakes, stormed out to a 6-1 lead in the fifth set. But, the Badgers weren’t done.

Fueled by massive nights from Mimi Colyer and Carter Booth, Wisconsin kept coming and pushed Kentucky to the brink. It took a colossal push from outside hitter Eva Hudson (29 kills on .455 hitting, seven digs), freshmen Kassie O’Brien and Trinity Ward, libero Molly Tuozzo (17 digs) and Brooklyn DeLeye (15 kills, 14 digs) to fight off the Badgers. Hudson slammed the door on Wisconsin’s title hopes with two final kills, but it was DeLeye’s defense in the fifth set (six digs) that made the difference.

“The cool thing about this team, I thought we’d done it all, and I thought we found every possible way to win, and tonight was a different way,” Skinner said after the Wildcats beat Wisconsin. “The way they played, the heart that they show is immeasurable. I keep telling them they’re transformational leaders in the way they go about it, what they’ve done for the sport.

” Proud of them. But the job isn’t finished.”

The Wildcats said they knew from the first practice in January that they would be playing for a national championship. Hudson revealed this week she didn’t think any growing (from the beginning of the season until now) was needed. She said she knows Kentucky is ready. In her opinion, it’s just a matter of soaking in the environment.

Deleye echoed Hudson’s sentiment about taking it all in. Yet, the junior did admit an underlying thought; none of the players on the Wildcats’ roster have been to a Final Four. Only Skinner has been to the national championship stage and won. He was an assistant on the 2020 team that brought a trophy back to Lexington.

Deleye shared that all year long, the Wildcats have been talking about their “why.” She says there’s a lot of pressure that comes with volleyball, especially in the SEC tournament and NCAA tournament, where they earned wins over UCLA, Creighton and Wisconsin. Yet, Deleye and Hudson both agreed the Wildcats are just out there to have fun and “play with joy.”

“In the last few games, have drawn smiley faces on our hands or somewhere where we can see it to remind us to play with joy,” Hudson said. “Some of the best times in volleyball, and when we’re really playing well, is when we’re all playing with joy and bouncing off one another. Kind of have those reminders in those pressure situations, too, is a really good thing.”

Kentucky said in the midst of their joy and between sets, they look one another in the eyes. Everything is moving at such a fast pace that the Wildcats want to take the time to connect and say “I got you” to each other to promote unity. They needed that same reminder deep in the match against Wisconsin when the season and a possible championship were on the line.

In a sequence that seemingly went unnoticed, DeLeye and Tuozzo took a brief moment to look at each other and nearly simultaneously make a “mask on” gesture. However, Tuozzo later explained that it wasn’t a “mask” she and Deleye were proverbially putting on. It was a helmet.

“Helmet on, ready to dig,” Tuozzo said matter-of-factly.

Deleye added when there’s an open hole or the block is not there, someone will typically step up into the seam, and “whatever happens happens.” Kentucky will live with the results, knowing it put its “body on the line.” With two losses this season and an impressive 28-match winning streak that also includes an October victory over the Aggies, Kentucky has maintained its composure throughout the NCAA tournament.

The Wildcats have taken multiple moments during the Final Four to talk about how their “accountability partners” have helped them. Players on the roster have someone who can pick them up on days when they may struggle and remind them not to get caught up in what they aren’t doing. That collective support and belief in one another started at the beginning of the season and has translated into joy at the highest levels of volleyball, something that has even impressed Skinner, who is in his 21st year of coaching.

“Because they play with such joy, I want to coach more players like that. I want players that you don’t really have to coach body language and enthusiasm,” Skinner said. “If you do, you’re spending all your effort on the wrong things. We can spend our energy on how do we put the pieces togetherand form a system to go around that.”

“(It’s) trying to find those people that are driven internally, and have an enthusiasm, infectious enthusiasm for life. Those guys, being around them every day, I look forward to that.”

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Kentucky

No. 12/13 Kentucky Tops Wright State on Friday

Published

17 hours ago

December 20, 2025

Press Room

No. 12/13 Kentucky Tops Wright State on Friday

Clara Strack scored 26 points and grabbed seven rebounds as No. 12/13 Kentucky thumped Wright State 96-53 on Friday night inside Historic Memorial Coliseum.

Three other Cats also scored in double figures. Tonie Morgan had 18 points, six rebounds and six assists. Freshman Kaelyn Carroll made six threes on her way to a career-high 18 points. Asia Boone hit five threes en route to a 17-point night.

Wright State scored first on a three, but Kentucky got baskets from Strack and Morgan to lead 4-3. After WSU scored, Amelia Hassett drained a three and the Cats led 7-5. Wright State tied the game at 7-7 before Morgan and Strack scored to give UK an 11-7 lead. However, Wright State scored the next four to tie the game again.

Strack made two free throws, and Morgan made one, to give the Cats a three-point lead. A Boone three extended the lead to 17-11. Strack scored two more buckets and the Cats had a double-digit advantage. A Morgan three-point play capped the 13-0 run that gave UK a 24-11 lead. Kentucky would lead 31-13 after one quarter.

Wright State opened the second quarter with an 11-4 run to cut the Kentucky lead to 35-24. However, the Cats responded in a big way. Threes from Josie Gilvin and Boone gave UK a 17-point lead. A Morgan layup, two Strack free throws, and threes from Strack and Carroll (three times) compiled a 22-0 run that ended the half. Kentucky led 57-24 at the break and Strack led all scorers with 18 in the first 20 minutes.

In the third quarter, WSU scored first on a free throw but a Strack basket gave the Cats a 59-25 lead. After three Wright State points, UK got layups from Morgan and Jordan Obi to lead 63-28. After a Raiders’ three, Kentucky went on an 11-4 run, sparked by another three from Carroll, to lead 74-35. The Cats would lead 74-37 after three quarters.

Kentucky scored first in the final stanza on a Strack basket. After WSU scored twice, Carroll hit another three to make it 79-41. Kentucky would build the lead to as many as 46 (96-50) before settling for the 43-point victory.

The Cats now take a break for the holidays before hosting Hofstra on December 28. Tipoff for that game is set for 2 p.m. ET and the game can be seen on SEC Network Plus.

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Kentucky

Kentucky will have Flexible Recruiting Operation in New Territories

Published

1 day ago

December 19, 2025

Press Room

Kentucky will have Flexible Recruiting Operation in New Territories

Will Stein‘s play-calling mantra is simple: Feed the Studs. It only works if you have studs. Kentucky must acquire talent to be competitive. It starts in the upcoming transfer portal, but there are long-term deficits that must be remedied by high school recruiting. Stein is building a staff that has cut its teeth on the trail.

One of the first things we learned about Joe Price, the new Kentucky wide receivers coach, is that he is known in the Lone Star State as East Side Joe. That is a reference to his hometown of Houston, a talent hotbed in the state of Texas. Safeties coach Josh Christian-Young just spent a couple of years at Houston after four years in New Orleans at Tulane.

New offensive line coach Cutter Leftwich first called Denton, Texas, home. He played college football in Louisiana at McNeese State, and spent time coaching at UTSA and North Texas. Kentucky’s two new coordinators each cultivated reputations as excellent recruiters and are coming to Lexington via the state of Texas and Louisiana.

Are you picking up the geographical theme yet?

Texas and Louisiana produce some of the most talented football players in America, not only in terms of quality, but quantity. In the 2025 On300 rankings, Texas led the way with 42 players, while Louisiana contributed a dozen, tied for the sixth-most. The issue is that Kentucky hasn’t gotten a lot of those players over the years. Might a tide finally be turning?

Sloan has Adaptable Recruiting Pitch

Within his first 24 hours on the job, Joe Sloan flipped four-star wide receiver Kenny Darby from LSU to Kentucky. Sloan’s connections in the state of Louisiana quickly paid dividends. He cultivated those connections for more than a decade in the Boot, but those weren’t always there for the former East Carolina quarterback from Virginia.

“I was 26 years old when Skip Holtz hired me at Louisiana Tech, and I had never been to Louisiana. He said, ‘Hey, what do you think about recruiting Baton Rouge?’ I said, ‘All right, that sounds good to me,’” Sloan recalled on Wednesday.

“He gave me, it was really nice a Crown Vic. The first one, it was a light baby blue. The second one was red, cherry red. It was nice; rolled down there and we started just developing relationships.”

You can expect Stein’s staff to lean on prior relationships to bring players to Kentucky. Jay Bateman has plenty of those in the DMV, the same region where the Wildcats recruited Josh Paschal. However, Kentucky can’t just rely on Texas, Louisiana, and the DMV to build a roster. Sloan believes this staff has the tools to adapt and find the best players from near and far to suit up in Kentucky blue.

“Recruiting it’s a people business. Coaches, mentors, and family members, they want to know that you have a plan for their son, on and off the field, to develop them to their fullest potential. What I look forward to is the opportunity to develop relationships right in all the areas that we’re going to recruit. I think that’s what it’s going to be,” said Sloan.

“That’s what it’s about, having open doors, answering the phone, creating relationships, and developing a trust with the people around the players that we’re going to recruit, that we’re going to take care of those young men. That’s what I’m going to do, that’s what I’ll continue to do, and that’s what we’ll do here at Kentucky as an entire program. So in terms of, I don’t know that it’s just one area, it’s more about the ability to develop those relationships and the excitement to do that, and I’m fired up.”