By McKenna Horsley
Kentucky Lantern
FANCY FARM, Ky. — The top three Republican candidates hoping to represent Kentucky in the U.S. Senate — former Attorney General Daniel Cameron, U.S. Rep. Andy Barr and Lexington businessman Nate Morris — have been taking snipes at each other on the campaign trail this summer as they barrel toward the May 2026 primary, but they pulled out the stops for the annual Fancy Farm Picnic. They laid into the event’s tradition of trading zingers with opponents Saturday afternoon in the small West Kentucky town.
The picnic, a fundraiser for the St. Jerome Catholic Church, has historically brought together Democrats and Republicans for roasts from the stage as supporters and detractors yell and heckle. With Kentucky’s top Democrats, including Gov. Andy Beshear and Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman skipping the event Saturday afternoon, Republicans either joked at the lack of their presence or toward each other, in the case of the GOP Senate candidates.
Beshear said he had a scheduling conflict and Coleman said the stage should be reserved for candidates on the ballot.
Each Senate candidate tried to tie themselves closer to President Donald Trump, who has not made an endorsement in the race so far. Morris took it a step further by tying his opponents to U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, who is not running for re-election and who also spoke at the picnic.
Cameron won a coin toss to speak first. He joked about the lack of Democrats, saying “there aren’t even enough of them to run Joe Biden’s autopen.” Kentucky U.S. Rep. James Comer, also a speaker at the picnic, is leading a probe into the former’s president’s alleged use of an autopen to sign documents.
“But look, I understand why they aren’t here,” Cameron said of the Democrats. “They’re out searching for a national identity, which is going to be hard to find when they’re afraid of being misgendered.”
Cameron took some swipes at his opponents, saying Barr has voted with former Democratic U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and that Morris donated to former United Nation Ambassador Nikki Haley’s 2024 presidential campaign. Cameron also said Morris had supported diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives as a company executive in the past.
“Some would say his campaign reminds him of a fart: it stinks, it’s unproductive and it’s a sign that the emitter is full of crap,” Cameron said of Morris.
Cameron ended his speech by saying that he and his wife, Makenze, want their sons to grow up in a “a colorblind society — one based on merit and opportunity, not division and handouts.” He vowed to be focused on “the future, not the past,” as senator.
For the most part, Barr focused on his record in Congress and touting his support for Trump’s policies in office. He did tease Beshear for his absence and his rumored aspirations to run for president in 2028, saying that “Americans will soon learn what we Kentuckians already know — he’s as liberal as he is boring.”
“I’d say anyone could beat this guy, but I wouldn’t want to offend Daniel Cameron,” Barr said, referring to Cameron’s loss to Beshear in the 2023 governor’s race.
Barr added that he hopes Kentucky keeps “the tradition alive of Andy’s beating Daniels.”
But Morris was also the punchline of some of Barr’s remarks, calling him a “dumpster fire” and attacking his business record and his Haley donations as well.
Barr ended by promising to be a “friend” to West Kentucky, with several regional nods, like supporting the military at Fort Knox and cheering on Murray State University in sporting events.
Morris was critical of McConnell ahead of the picnic and opened by saying, “I didn’t realize this was bring your boys to work day,” referring to Barr’s and Cameron’s ties to the senior Kentucky senator.
Speaking last out of the three, Morris told the crowd that he wanted them to remember three things about him — that he supports Trump, he started a garbage company in Kentucky and that he’s “going to trash Mitch McConnell’s legacy.”
“The third one is pissing off a lot of people, but I have a serious question — who here can honestly tell me that it’s a good thing to have a senior citizen who freezes on national television during his press conferences as our U.S. senator?” Morris said, referring to 2023 episodes McConnell had in front of reporters.
Morris said that Barr and Cameron would continue the senator’s legacy in office, calling them the “McConnell boys.”
“To break some real news here, perhaps you could both show us the seat of your britches so we can finally understand where Mitch McConnell’s hand goes.”
McConnell spoke before the Senate candidates, but didn’t directly address them in his remarks. A longtime attendee, Fancy Farm organizers presented McConnell with a plaque before the speeches began to recognize his frequent participation.
However, McConnell did share some thoughts on the race during the Graves County GOP Breakfast earlier Saturday morning. The event’s attendees included Republicans from the region and around the state, as well as the GOP Senate candidates.
“Surely this isn’t true, but I’ve heard that one of the candidates running for my office wants to be different,” McConnell said. “Now I’m wondering how you want to be different from the longest serving Senate leader in American history. I’m wondering how you’d want to be different in supporting President Trump.”
McConnell then posed a “little quiz” to the crowd: “Which of Kentucky’s two Republican senators supports President Trump the most?” Multiple people in the crowd replied, “You.”
McConnell argued that he’s repeatedly supported Trump more often than U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, who did not go to the picnic this year, pointing out that Paul voted against the GOP spending megabill, while McConnell supported it. McConnell also had his staff tally up the money he’s brought to Kentucky while being in office for 41 years, saying the total was $60 billion.
“I leave by thanking you all for giving me this remarkable opportunity,” McConnell said.”Not just to help myself, not just to brag on how long I may have been there, but look at the difference that I’ve made to try to help us move into a different place — a place when they talk about Kentucky, they talk about how well we’re doing, not how many people we have, how well we’re doing.”
When McConnell stood before the crowd of Republicans, he received a standing ovation. Cameron and Barr also stood and clapped for McConnell while Morris stayed seated.
The lone Democrat
Only one Democratic candidate addressed the crowd at the Fancy Farm Picnic — John “Drew” Williams, who is challenging Comer in the 1st Congressional District. The district includes Fancy Farm and West Kentucky. He kept his remarks mostly focused on Comer’s record and told the crowd that he would offer them more public service if elected to Congress.
Comer spoke after Williams, but largely talked about national issues and made fun of Beshear. However, he did add that he didn’t know Williams’ name but still brought him a gift from Washington, D.C. A Comer supporter then came to the stage and held up a prop poster with an endorsement of “Comer’s opponent,” signed by Biden’s autopen.
Williams had a chance to campaign in a room of Democratic voters the Friday night before the picnic at the Marshall County Democrats’ Mike Miller Memorial Bean Dinner. In an interview with the Kentucky Lantern, he said he has wanted to speak at the Fancy Farm Picnic since he was in middle school, so he was excited for the opportunity.
However, he said he didn’t blame other Democrats like Beshear for not going to a “hateful space” but added that it “doesn’t mean that it has to stay that way.” He’d like to see the space become a way for candidates to have a conversation.
“I’d much rather me pick an issue, they pick an issue, and we come together. They don’t do that.”
During the dinner, Coleman reiterated that her decision to not go to the picnic this year was because she was not on the ballot. She said there were “so many obvious jokes” to make “but not much worth laughing about in this moment.”
She hinted that Kentucky’s statewide races in 2027, which would include the governor’s race to succeed Beshear, may bring her back to the picnic stage.
“We have to leave here tonight with a renewed sense of purpose,” she said. “We have to leave here and talk to our neighbors, listen to their concerns, and remind them that we are fighting for their kids’ and grandkids’ schools, for their families’ security and for a Kentucky where every person has a chance to thrive.”
Speaking to reporters after her speech, Coleman said that the Fancy Farm Picnic has become a “tradition for many, many years” for people in West Kentucky. She added that it’s an exciting year to have the first female emcee, Ashli Watts, the president and CEO of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce. But Coleman argued she showed up for rural people in other ways, like supporting the rebuilding efforts after devastating tornadoes in West Kentucky.
When asked if she thought Democrats should find an alternative event to the picnic, which has become dominated by Republican speakers in recent years, or if changes should be made to its format, she recalled the attempted assassination of Trump on the campaign trail and the attacks earlier this summer on Minnesota Democratic lawmakers, that left a state representative and her husband dead and seriously wounded a state senator and his wife.
“We got to think about the rhetoric. We’ve got to think about the way that we present things. And jokes are one thing, but it can get out of hand, and especially in an environment like that, I could see how it could,” she said. “So, I would leave it to the people who run the organization. I saw that they said they have to evolve with the times, and then got some primary candidates this year. I would encourage them to evolve with the times when it comes to rhetoric as well.”
Matthew Powell, a member of the Graves County Democratic Party, attended the dinner in a Beshear 2028 shirt. He said he likes Beshear because of what he’s done for the area during his response to tornadoes and floods, calling him a “champion for the working class and myself.”
Powell didn’t mind the governor skipping the Fancy Farm Picnic.
“His record speaks volume. He’s been in Fancy Farm and in Mayfield before, and when it counted. He was there with us in Mayfield, Kentucky, through the tornadoes and the flooding. So yes, he’s always there with us.”
Kentucky Lantern is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kentucky Lantern maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jamie Lucke for questions: info@kentuckylantern.com.