Scoop: Mega-MAGA candidate pushes to deport "every single illegal immigrant"
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Then-Rubicon CEO Nate Morris speaks with guests at a reception in Lexington, Kentucky on April 6, 2022. (Photo by Jon Cherry/Getty Images for Concordia
Kentucky Senate candidate Nate Morris is rolling out a new ad that ups the ante on mass deportations right as a fresh debate over amnesty roils MAGAworld.
Why it matters: Morris is casting himself as the most pro-Trump candidate in the GOP primary against Reps. Andy Barr and former state Attorney General Daniel Cameron — both of whom have ties to retiring former Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
- And he's leaning into one of MAGA's most foundational issues to do it.
- "I'm sick of watching the elites give handouts to illegals while working-class families struggle. I'll lead the fight against amnesty by stopping all immigration until we deport every single illegal immigrant in America," Morris says in the ad.
- "I'm a Trump guy, not a McConnell boy," Morris concludes in a barb at Barr and Cameron.
Between the lines: The ad, launching Friday as part of a seven-figure buy that's running statewide on broadcast and streaming platforms, hits on a GOP third rail right as Republicans convulse over how to tackle the millions of immigrants in the U.S. illegally.
- MAGA raged against suggestions from Trump that undocumented immigrants in the agriculture and hospitality industries could receive deportation protections.
- Critics called those proposals tantamount to "amnesty," which Trump denied, instead labeling the prospect a "work program."
- A new bipartisan House bill that would offer legal status to undocumented immigrants who have been in the United States since before 2021 is being met with the same hostile reaction by MAGA. Barr is not involved with or supportive of the legislation.
- Morris himself has taken a hardline immigration stance, having advocated for a moratorium on all immigration to the U.S. until every undocumented immigrant is deported.
Zoom out: Morris is centering much of his campaign on honing his MAGA bona fides.
- The businessman has touted his outsider status, declared he stands with Trump "100%" and hammered McConnell, a Trump foe and establishment stalwart.
- Morris has also blitzed MAGA media to increase his name recognition with movement loyalists, appearing on "War Room," "The Charlie Kirk Show," Benny Johnson's podcast, Vince Coglianese's show in Dan Bongino's old time slot, Breitbart radio and more.
"We don't care about traditional D.C. media because those aren't where our voters are," one strategist close to Morris said.
- "Kentucky GOP Primary voters are watching War Room, listening to Charlie Kirk and reading Breitbart. We also have a candidate whose aggressive style and unapologetically America first message is a perfect fit for MAGA media," the strategist added.
What they're saying: Barr's campaign said the congressman "has never supported amnesty and never will" and bashed Morris' "new attempt to play MAGA on TV" as "lame."
- Meanwhile, Cameron's campaign claimed Morris has a "credibility problem" — pointing to a website it set up knocking him — and said "he's spending a lot of money hoping you'll forget his past."
Editor's note: The story has been updated with further response from Barr.
