Overview
- Trump endorsed Rep. Andy Barr on Friday and said he asked businessman Nate Morris to step aside with an unspecified ambassadorship offer, after which Morris exited and endorsed Barr.
- Following the endorsement, Senate Majority Leader John Thune and NRSC Chair Tim Scott backed Barr, signaling party consolidation behind his bid for Mitch McConnell’s open seat.
- Barr returned to barnstorming the state as the Republican primary approaches on May 19 in a contest that had featured Barr, former Attorney General Daniel Cameron, and the now-departed Morris.
- Cameron is recalibrating without Trump’s support, calling the maneuvering “politics at its worst” while arguing Kentucky voters, including some who already cast absentee ballots for Morris, should decide on their own terms.
- The shake-up ends a three-way fight that once drew $10 million in backing for Morris from Elon Musk and underscores how a promised ambassadorship can be used to clear a primary field.