Republican Senate candidates seeking to replace McConnell aim to define themselves at Fancy Farm

FANCY FARM, Ky. (AP) — A renowned Kentucky picnic turned into a rapid-fire Republican political skirmish on Saturday, as three candidates competing to succeed longtime U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell tried to pick apart one another while seeking early momentum in their 2026 primary campaign.

Taking the stage amid milder-than-usual temperatures at the Fancy Farm picnic in western Kentucky, the GOP rivals — U.S. Rep. Andy Barr, former state Attorney General Daniel Cameron and entrepreneur Nate Morris — turned up the heat in vying for the coveted Senate seat. Each tried to define himself and their opponents while speaking before a raucous crowd and a statewide TV audience.

Barr and Cameron ripped into Morris' business record as founder of a waste software company and questioned Morris' credibility as a supporter of President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement.

“Nate will do anything and say anything to run away from his past,” Cameron said. “You can’t claim to be MAGA when you build a company on ESG subsidies and DEI initiatives."

Barr quipped: “Nate calls himself the trash man, but dumpster fire is more like it.”

Morris — who is campaigning as a populist and political outsider — kept up his strategy of harshly criticizing McConnell’s legacy and trying to link Barr and Cameron to the venerable senator.

“If you want to know how Andy Barr or Daniel Cameron are going to act in the U.S. Senate – look no further than their ‘mentor’ Mitch McConnell,” Morris said.

“Both of these guys are very proud to tell you they wouldn’t have careers if it weren’t for Mitch,” Morris added. "Neither of these guys have built anything, done anything impactful, employed anyone.”

McConnell, a Fancy Farm participant for decades, didn't delve into the Senate race during his picnic speech Saturday. But he gave a spirited summary of his Senate career in a speech to a GOP breakfast gathering Saturday. He pointed to his record of steering enormous sums of federal funds to his home state to build or fix infrastructure, support agriculture and military installations and more.

McConnell, the longest-serving Senate party leader in U.S. history, revealed in February, on his 83rd birthday, that he won’t seek another term in Kentucky and will retire when his current term ends.

With Democrats mostly skipping the picnic's political speeches, the crowd was divided among supporters of GOP candidates, cheering their favorite and jeering rival candidates.

Speaking at Fancy Farm — where picnic organizers like to say the mouthwatering barbecue is hot and the political rhetoric even spicier — is considered a rite of passage for candidates seeking statewide office in the GOP-leaning Bluegrass State. Kentucky's 2026 primary election is next spring.

Beside hurling insults at their rivals, the Senate candidates tried to define themselves at the picnic.

Barr portrayed his congressional experience as an advantage setting him apart. He represents a district stretching from central Kentucky’s bluegrass region to the Appalachian foothills. Barr said he helped shape and pass Trump's massive tax cut and spending reduction legislation.

“Some politicians like to say ‘I’m a Trump guy,’ " Barr said. “They talk about supporting the president. But I’m the only candidate in this race who’s actually doing it -- day in and day out in Congress.”

Cameron, who is Black, used his speech to rail against diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

Cameron said he and his wife want their sons to “grow up in a colorblind society, one based on merit and opportunity, not division and handouts. We don’t need America built on diversity, equity and inclusion. We need America built on merit, excellence and intelligence.”

Morris touted his hard-line stance on immigration. He supports a moratorium on immigration into the United States until every immigrant currently in the country illegally is deported.

The three GOP rivals kept to one script they have all shared — lavishing praise on Trump. One of the biggest questions in the campaign is whether Trump will make an endorsement, seen as potentially decisive in determining who wins the primary.

Democratic Senate candidate Pamela Stevenson was invited but opted to skip the picnic. Kentucky hasn’t elected a Democrat to the Senate since Wendell Ford in 1992. The lone Democratic candidate who spoke at the picnic on Saturday was congressional candidate John “Drew” Williams.

FILE -Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the former Senate Republican leader and member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, leaves the chamber as the Senate votes to reject a war powers resolution authored by Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, aimed to affirm that Trump should seek authorization from Congress before launching more military action against Iran, at the Capitol in Washington, June 27, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite), File)

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., looks at a phone held by his wife, Elaine Chao, at the annual Fancy Farm picnic Saturday, Aug. 2, 2025, in Fancy Farm, Ky. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speaks at the annual Fancy Farm picnic Saturday, Aug. 2, 2025, in Fancy Farm, Ky. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

FILE -Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the former Senate Republican leader and member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, leaves the chamber as the Senate votes to reject a war powers resolution authored by Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, aimed to affirm that Trump should seek authorization from Congress before launching more military action against Iran, at the Capitol in Washington, June 27, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite), File)

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Voters in Kosovo cast ballots on Sunday in an early parliamentary election in hopes of breaking a political deadlock that has gripped the small Balkan nation for much of this year.

The snap vote was scheduled after Prime Minister Albin Kurti's governing Vetevendosje, or Self-Determination, party failed to form a government despite winning the most votes in a Feb. 9 election.

The deadlock marked the first time Kosovo could not form a government since it declared independence from Serbia in 2008 following a 1998-99 war that ended in a NATO intervention.

The prime minister's party is again the favorite in the race, but it is unclear whether it will manage to muster a majority this time in the 120-member parliament, after other mainstream parties refused an alliance.

After voting Sunday, Kurti urged Kosovo's 1.9 million voters to turn out in large numbers to grant “more legitimacy for our institutions.”

“Once the election result is known, we will do our best to constitute a new parliament as soon as possible and to proceed with the election of the new government,” he said.

According to Kosovo’s election laws, 20 parliamentary seats are automatically assigned to ethnic Serb representatives and other minority parties.

Another inconclusive vote would further deepen the crisis. Kosovo has not approved a budget for next year, sparking concern over the already poor economy in the country of 2 million people.

Lawmakers also are set to elect a new president in March as current President Vjosa Osmani’s mandate expires in early April. If this fails too, another snap election must be held.

The main opposition parties are the Democratic League of Kosovo and the Democratic Party of Kosovo. They have accused Kurti of authoritarianism and of alienating Kosovo’s U.S. and European Union allies since he came to power in 2021.

Lumir Abdixhiku from the Democratic League of Kosovo urged voters to "move away from the gloom, the deadlock and the division that has accompanied us for these years.”

A former political prisoner during Serbia’s rule in Kosovo, the 50-year-old Kurti has taken a tough stand in talks mediated by the European Union on normalizing relations with Belgrade. In response, the EU and the United States imposed punitive measures.

Kurti has promised to buy military equipment to boost security.

No reliable preelection polls have been published. Kurti's party at the previous election won around 42% of the votes while the two main rival parties had together around 40%. Analysts say that even the slightest changes in numbers on Sunday could prove decisive for the future distribution of power.

Ilmi Deliu, a 71-year-old pensioner from the capital, Pristina, said he hoped the election will bring a change or “we will end up in an abyss.”

"Young people no longer want to live here,” he said.

Tensions with restive ethnic Serbs in the north exploded in clashes in 2023 when scores of NATO-led peacekeepers were injured. In a positive step, ethnic Serb mayors this month took power peacefully there after a municipal vote.

Kurti has also agreed to accept third-country migrants deported from the United States as part of tough anti-immigration measures by the administration of President Donald Trump. One migrant has arrived so far, authorities have told The Associated Press.

Kosovo has one of the poorest economies in Europe. It is one of the six Western Balkan countries striving to eventually join the EU, but both Kosovo and Serbia have been told they must first normalize relations.

Supporters of Belgrade-backed Srpska Lista prepare to go at a polling station and cast their ballots in an early parliamentary election in the northern Serb-dominated part of ethnically divided town of Mitrovica, Kosovo, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Bojan Slavkovic)

A voter arrives at a polling station in an early parliamentary election in the northern Serb-dominated part of ethnically divided town of Mitrovica, Kosovo, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Bojan Slavkovic)

A voter prepares her ballot at a polling station in an early parliamentary election in the northern Serb-dominated part of ethnically divided town of Mitrovica, Kosovo, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Bojan Slavkovic)

People walk past a giant banner of the leader of VV (Selfdetermination) political party Albin Kurti, in the capital Pristina on Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

People waiting in the iluminated bus station with banners of LDK (Democratic League of Kosovo) leader Lumir Abdixhiku in capital Pristina on Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)