LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) -- A lot of people have been paying attention to Amy McGrath's candidacy and whether radio host Matt Jones will join the Kentucky Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will face some opposition in his re-election bid.
Despite losing in the House district last year, a Madison County Republican is setting his sights on Kentucky's most powerful politician: Senator Mitch McConnell. Wesley Morgan is hoping people will give him a shot at McGrath or Jones or whomever wins the Democratic nomination.
"If I was Mitch McConnell,” said Wesley Morgan, “I wouldn't take it as granted as he thinks that his reelection is.”
Mr. Morgan is a businessman who lost his primary in 2018 to Representative Deanna Frazier, who went on to hold the seat for the GOP super-majority.
Recently we caught up with him at the Kentucky Farm Bureau Ham Breakfast where he voiced frustration that many are focusing on Leader McConnell taking on retired fighter pilot Amy McGrath while both still have to get through their party's primary.
“Mitch McConnell only has 33 percent approval rating in Kentucky,” he argued.
But can he beat Amy McGrath or Matt Jones or someone else?
“I'm the one who can beat them,” Morgan said, “Mitch McConnell can't beat her, his approval rating is so low that he is liable to lose to Amy McGrath.”
So we asked Mr. Morgan whether he could win a state-wide election considering that he failed to win in his home district in 2018’s primary.
“That is a fair question,” he agreed, “but the problem with that is it's because that I helped bring down Jeff Hoover, Speaker of the House, that they, the Republican Party, actually blackballed me, completely financed my opponent in that primary and I still only lost by 350 votes with absolutely the Republican Party against me. And that's because of Mitch McConnell and Jeff Hoover."
We've reached out to Leader McConnell but have yet to hear back.
But we have an update on the other side of the ticket. We ran into Congressman John Yarmuth today who said he supports a competitive Democratic primary and he chuckled when asked whether he would consider running against Mitch McConnell.
You can hear that full exchange and his answer here:
