Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) is rallying behind America First businessman Nate Morris in Kentucky’s U.S. Senate race, signaling growing momentum for Morris’s outsider campaign to succeed retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) with a Trump-aligned conservative.
Calling Morris the “America First fighter [we need] in the Senate” and warning there’s “no time for squishy Republicans,” Banks on Thursday championed Morris as his choice in the state’s high-stakes election.
“I’m proud to endorse Nate Morris for the U.S. Senate in Kentucky. Our families come from the same place and share the same working-class roots. Nate understands, just like I do, that America is the greatest country in the world and always worth fighting for,” Banks said in a statement. “President Trump needs more allies in the Senate, and Nate Morris will never let him or Kentucky down.”
Morris welcomed the backing as a major show of confidence from one of the Senate’s most vocal conservatives.
“I’m incredibly honored to have the support of one of President Trump’s most staunch allies and one of the fiercest opponents of amnesty in the U.S. Senate,” Morris remarked. “I look forward to working with Sen. Banks to continue fighting for President Trump’s America First agenda and delivering real wins for America’s working class who have been ignored by career politicians for far too long.”
Morris’s campaign continues to draw endorsements from top America First leaders, with Banks joining a growing list of national figures backing his Senate bid, including Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk and the organization’s political arm, Turning Point Action. Morris also announced his campaign on Donald Trump Jr.’s podcast, Triggered, where he outlined his platform.
Morris, a ninth-generation Kentuckian and founder of the national waste management giant Rubicon, launched his campaign last month with a viral video declaring it’s “garbage day” in Kentucky. Riding on the back of a garbage truck, Morris tossed campaign signs and cardboard cutouts of McConnell, along with symbols of D.C. corruption, into the trash, vowing to clean up the political mess left by establishment Republicans.
The GOP primary is shaping up to be a test of whether or not McConnell’s brand of Republicanism still holds sway in Kentucky. Morris is challenging two candidates with deep ties to McConnell — Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) and former Attorney General Daniel Cameron — and has portrayed them as career politicians beholden to the failed Republican leadership of the past.
Morris’s campaign pitch centers on his pro-Trump, anti-amnesty stance, his working-class roots, and his record of building a billion-dollar business from a $10,000 loan. He has called for a total moratorium on immigration and pledged to stand with Trump on key priorities, including deportations, border security, and opposing the same establishment policies that have failed working Americans.
On X, Morris celebrated Banks’s endorsement by writing, “Jim is an America First leader in the Senate and I’ll stand with him to stop amnesty, deport illegals, and fight for President Trump’s MAGA agenda. We don’t need more Mitch McConnell-approved RINOs in KY — It’s time to put America First!”
