Kentucky Senate Republican candidates Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) and former state Attorney General Daniel Cameron have refused to back President Donald Trump’s call to scrap the Senate filibuster, while businessman Nate Morris endorsed the president’s move.
The filibuster has become a litmus test as the midterm elections rapidly approach. In the three-way election to replace the outgoing Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), only Morris heeded Trump’s call to scrap the filibuster, with Barr and Cameron refusing to back the move.
Morris said:
It’s unfortunate that it’s come to this, but Democrats have made it crystal clear they’re going to nuke the filibuster the first opportunity that they get. They’ve declared war on us. We don’t need more feckless Republicans who refuse to fight back. President Trump needs fighters – not Mitch McConnell handpicked career politicians. We need to kill the filibuster, end blue slips and finally get to work delivering the agenda the President was overwhelmingly elected to deliver on. Andy Barr and Daniel Cameron will do what the insiders want; I’ll stand with Trump when it matters most.
In contrast to Morris, spokespeople for Barr and Cameron refused to answer Politico‘s requests for comment.
In fact, Barr and Cameron were the only two Senate Republican candidates nationwide to respond to the filibuster question.
It may not surprise readers why Cameron and Barr have refused to say whether or not they back the president’s call to eliminate the filibuster, as Barr has admitted that he considers McConnell his “mentor.”
“I liked what my mentor Mitch McConnell said … He said I think my adversaries will be disappointed that I still have gas in the tank. As long as he wants to remain in the Senate, I’m with him,” Barr has said.
“Oh, I don’t know, we’re pretty aligned on most things in terms of our conservative views. I don’t have anything I’ve probably disagreed with him on,” Cameron said in 2019, admitting that he could not think of one time he disagreed with McConnell in private or public.
In a February interview, McConnell bragged about telling the president “no” when the president asked to scrap the filibuster.
Morris has warned that Democrats will eventually end the filibuster, questioning if the GOP would be “smart enough” to move first:
Ending the filibuster is about getting tough. Democrats have already declared war on our courts and legislature, they’ve held the government hostage and tried to kill the filibuster the last time they controlled the Senate. Anyone who still thinks they wouldn’t do it again the second they get power back is living in a fantasy. Democrats will end the filibuster, the only question is: Will Republicans will be smart enough and strong enough to act first?
Support for ending the filibuster has continued to grow among President Trump’s biggest advocates in the Senate — Sens. Jim Banks (R-IN) and Bernie Moreno (R-OH).
“I do agree with him. I understand why he’s frustrated. The government shutdown is the Democrats’ fault; it’s unacceptable,” the Hoosier conservative said. “We have a short period, window of time, to do the things that we promised our voters that we would do. The filibuster is standing in the way of balanced budgets and cutting spending, on top of other things like passing vote ID laws.”
“Maybe it’s time to think about the filibuster,” Moreno said, adding, “Let’s just vote with Republicans. We’ve got 52 Republicans. Let’s go and let’s open the government. It may get to that.”
