Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) is proving to be an unassuming yet prolific campaign asset for Republicans as he crisscrosses the country to fundraise and boost morale for Senate candidates in competitive races.
The 74-year-old folksy conservative’s unfiltered one-liners to reporters, during congressional hearings, in frequent media appearances, or even to his own colleagues, as well as his growing presence on TikTok with 855,000 followers, make him a popular surrogate for those on the ballot courting votes and dollars from the party’s base.
Some of his most recent stops were on conservative turf in Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska to stump for Senate candidates who have found themselves in surprisingly competitive races as Democrats look to flip the chamber. And he’s eyeing visits to roughly a half-dozen other states in the coming weeks.
But he credits the demand, at least in part, to his willingness to dish out hard truths that Republicans can’t escape blame for Americans’ anxieties about affordability.
“I’m telling the voters the truth. I’m not going to tell the voters, ‘Oh, it’s President Biden’s fault, and it’s not that bad. You shouldn’t believe your own lying checkbooks,’” Kennedy said. “They don’t read Aristotle every day because they’re too busy working, but they understand. And I talk to them straight up about where we are, what we did, what we should have done, what we will do. But I’m also very careful to point out to them that the ‘Lulu Lenin’ wing of the Democratic Party is in control, and they are socialists, and socialism is for morons.”
Kennedy told the Washington Examiner in interviews at the Capitol that he expects to raise and spend up to $8 million this cycle on battleground races.
In addition to the trio of states he recently visited to help Rep. Ashley Hinson’s (R-IA) Senate bid and the reelections of Sens. Pete Ricketts (R-NE) and Roger Marshall (R-KS), Kennedy has campaigned with New Hampshire Senate nominee John E. Sununu, Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH), and GOP candidates elsewhere on the ballot in Indiana and Tennessee. He has plenty more Senate races on his calendar for October, when the Senate will be on recess to campaign, including for Michigan’s Mike Rogers, Texas’s Ken Paxton, Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK), repeat appearances with Husted and Sununu, and potentially North Carolina’s Michael Whatley.
“I don’t know how many fundraisers I’ve headlined,” Kennedy said. “I’m doing everything I possibly can.”
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., holds up two peace signs and departs after an event with President Donald Trump to welcome the 2025 LSU and LSU-Shreveport national champion baseball teams in the East Room of the White House, Monday, Oct. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
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Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., departs after an event with President Donald Trump to welcome the 2025 LSU and LSU-Shreveport national champion baseball teams in the East Room of the White House, Monday, Oct. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
While Kennedy has mastered the folksy one-liners and coaxing donors to part ways with their money, the senator offers periodical reminders he’s also an effective litigator who is far more politically savvy than he may come across. In particular, he knows how to back congressional hearing witnesses into a corner, including those in the Trump administration.
His combative questioning of former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem during a hearing in March is credited, in part, for her eventual downfall after peppering her with questions about spending taxpayer money in ways that appeared to benefit her and her allies, including $220 million in ads featuring herself urging illegal immigrants to self-deport.
Earlier this month, Kennedy grilled FBI Director Kash Patel over the bureau loosening its agent qualifications under his tenure so that engaging in bestiality was no longer disqualifying, a move the senator criticized as an invitation for unwanted scrutiny of the administration.
But despite his increased notoriety in conservative political circles and apparent appeal to the party’s base both online and offline, Kennedy does not appear to be, at least for the moment, angling for a leadership post or the presidency. He sits on several high-profile panels including the judiciary and appropriations committees but is not in line to become the top Republican on any of them. And he strongly supports Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), even though he may sometimes disagree with his more mild-mannered politicking.
“I love him like a taco. But he’s too cautious,” Kennedy said. “I’m just more aggressive than he is.”
Kennedy twice declined to address questions about whether he was contemplating a run for president in 2028. He’s previously stated he’ll seek reelection to a third term that cycle but has also revealed wealthy members of the party have tried to recruit him for a White House run.
“You never say never,” Kennedy said in June at the New England Council’s Politics & Eggs event in New Hampshire, an early primary state on the Republican nominating calendar.
JOHN KENNEDY TELLS DEMOCRATIC WITNESS TO ‘PUT DOWN THE BONG’ FOR DENYING MEDICAID FRAUD
As for his current thinking, Kennedy deflected by ignoring the question.
“I hope the candidates are grateful,” he told the Washington Examiner. “I don’t go through” the Senate GOP’s campaign arm, known as the NRSC. “I do my own thing,” he said. “Several senators do.”
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
