Jimmy Leon
Jimmy Leon (Republican Party) is running for election to the U.S. Senate to represent Kentucky. He is on the ballot in the Republican primary on May 19, 2026.[source]
Biography
Jimmy Leon served in the U.S. Army from 1981 to 1984. His career experience includes working as an educator and administrator. Leon has been affiliated with the Pachyderm Republican Club, VFW, American Legion, Network of Mexican American Inventors and Entrepreneurs, American GI Forum, and University of Houston Alumni Association.[1]
2026 battleground election
Ballotpedia identified the May 19, 2026, Republican primary as a battleground election. The summary below is from our coverage of this election, found here.
Andy Barr, Daniel Cameron, Nate Morris, and nine others are running in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate in Kentucky on May 19, 2026. Incumbent Mitch McConnell (R) is not running, opening the seat for the first time since McConnell's election in 1984.[2] As of February 16, 2026, Barr, Cameron, and Morris led in polling, fundraising, endorsements, and media attention.
The election takes place against the backdrop of a divide between establishment Republicanism, associated with McConnell, and an America First Republicanism, associated with President Donald Trump (R). Barr, Cameron, and Morris have distanced themselves from McConnell and are campaigning as America First Republicans and allies of Trump. Morris, however, has positioned himself as a political outsider and alleges Barr and Cameron would align with McConnell rather than Trump in the Senate. Barr and Cameron question Morris' alignment with America First Republicanism by citing Morris' past involvement and support of liberal figures and issues.[3][4][5]
The Lexington Herald-Leader's Austin Horn wrote on the potential advantages for each candidate. Citing support from Vice President J.D. Vance (R), Turning Point USA, Donald Trump Jr., and Elon Musk, Horn says of Morris: "These are the kind of connections that lead some to believe Morris is best positioned to get an endorsement from Trump. ... Trump could decide the fate of the primary if he endorses a candidate."[6] According to Horn, Barr and Cameron have greater name recognition at the state level. "It’s not just name ID, the Cameron camp would argue. It’s organic name ID. Kentuckians know him because of the things he’s done, not the ads he’s run."[6] And for Barr, "he has what Cameron and Morris have: a base and money. ... Unlike Cameron, he has plenty of resources to pay for television ads, consultants to fashion them and a team of organizers to crisscross the state. And unlike Morris, he started with some amount of name ID and support."[6]
Barr represents Kentucky's 6th Congressional District. He says, "I'm running for Senate to help our president save this great country. Together, we'll cut taxes, slash waste, and fire the deep state bureaucrats who steal our freedoms. We'll deport illegal aliens instead of putting them up in luxury hotels. And my plan for these insane DEI initiatives is pretty simple. DIE."[7]
Cameron is the CEO of 1792 Exchange and served as Kentucky's attorney general from 2019 to 2024.[8] He says, "The core pillars of my campaign are simple: advance President Trump’s America First agenda, a faith-centered approach to public service, restore law and order, and a promise to root out DEI."[9]
Morris is the founder, chairman, and CEO of Morris Industries.[10] He says, "I'm running for Senate because Kentucky deserves a US Senator who supports President Trump and his America First agenda and isn't a controlled puppet of Mitch McConnell."[11]
Thirty-three of the 100 U.S. Senate seats are up for election, and another two seats are up for special election. Democrats hold 13 of the seats up for election, and Republicans hold 22. As of January 2026, nine members of the U.S. Senate announced they are not running for re-election. To read more about the U.S. Senate elections taking place this year, click here.
This is one of 10 open U.S. Senate races this year in which an incumbent is not running for re-election. Across the country, four Democrats and six Republicans are not running for re-election — more than any year since 2012. In 2024, eight incumbents — four Democrats, two Republicans, and two independents — did not seek re-election.
Mike Faris (R) and Andrew Shelley (R) completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. To read those survey responses, click here.
Also running in the primary are Anissa Catlett, James Duncan, Val Fredrick, Jonathan Holliday, Jimmy Leon, George Washington, and Donald Wenzel.
Elections
2026
See also: United States Senate election in Kentucky, 2026
General election
The primary will occur on May 19, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. General election candidates will be added here following the primary.
The candidate list in this election may not be complete.
General election for U.S. Senate Kentucky
Christopher Campbell (Independent) is running in the general election for U.S. Senate Kentucky on November 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
| Christopher Campbell (Independent) | ||
| ||||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary
The candidate list in this election may not be complete.
Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Kentucky
The following candidates are running in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Kentucky on May 19, 2026.
Candidate | ||
| Joshua Blanton Sr. | ||
 | Charles Booker | |
 | Logan Forsythe | |
 | Amy McGrath | |
 | Dale Romans | |
 | Pamela Stevenson | |
 | Vincent Thompson | |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Jared Randall (D)
- Joel Willett (D)
Republican primary
The candidate list in this election may not be complete.
Republican primary for U.S. Senate Kentucky
The following candidates are running in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate Kentucky on May 19, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Andy Barr | |
 | Daniel Cameron | |
 | Anissa Catlett | |
| James Duncan | ||
 | Mike Faris | |
 | Val Fredrick | |
 | Jonathan Holliday | |
 | Jimmy Leon | |
 | Nate Morris | |
| Andrew Shelley | ||
| George Washington | ||
| Donald Wenzel | ||
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Mitch McConnell (R)
- Wende Kennedy (R)
- Jacob Trimble (R)
Polls
- See also: Ballotpedia's approach to covering polls
Polls are conducted with a variety of methodologies and have margins of error or credibility intervals.[12] The Pew Research Center wrote, "A margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points at the 95% confidence level means that if we fielded the same survey 100 times, we would expect the result to be within 3 percentage points of the true population value 95 of those times."[13] For tips on reading polls from FiveThirtyEight, click here. For tips from Pew, click here.
Below we provide results for polls from a wide variety of sources, including media outlets, social media, campaigns, and aggregation websites, when available. We only report polls for which we can find a margin of error or credibility interval. Know of something we're missing? Click here to let us know.
| Poll | Dates | Barr | Cameron | Morris | Other | Undecided | Sample size | Margin of error | Sponsor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
– | 28 | 27 | 17 | 9 | 19 | 870 LV | ± 3.3% | N/A | |
– | 24 | 21 | 14 | -- | 38 | 523 LV | ± 4.2% | Nexstar Media | |
– | 21 | 29 | 18 | 3 | 29 | 800 LV | ± 3.5% | Nate Morris | |
– | 25 | 40 | 13 | -- | 22 | 600 LV | ± 4.0% | Kentucky First Action | |
– | 22 | 39 | 8 | 4 | 27 | 911 LV | ± 3.2% | Daniel Cameron | |
– | 21 | 29 | 18 | 3 | 29 | 600 LV | ± 3.5% | Nate Morris | |
– | 18 | 44 | 2 | -- | 37 | 500 LV | ± 4.5% | Daniel Cameron | |
| Note: LV is likely voters, RV is registered voters, and EV is eligible voters. | |||||||||
Candidate spending
| Name | Party | Receipts* | Disbursements** | Cash on hand | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andy Barr | Republican Party | $6,489,657 | $3,711,685 | $6,471,050 | As of December 31, 2025 |
| Daniel Cameron | Republican Party | $1,604,449 | $974,433 | $630,016 | As of December 31, 2025 |
| Anissa Catlett | Republican Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| James Duncan | Republican Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Mike Faris | Republican Party | $41,721 | $67,531 | $-25,810 | As of December 31, 2025 |
| Val Fredrick | Republican Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Jonathan Holliday | Republican Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Jimmy Leon | Republican Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Nate Morris | Republican Party | $6,005,803 | $4,581,141 | $1,424,662 | As of December 31, 2025 |
| Andrew Shelley | Republican Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| George Washington | Republican Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Donald Wenzel | Republican Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
|
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2026. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." |
|||||
Satellite spending
- See also: Satellite spending
Satellite spending describes political spending not controlled by candidates or their campaigns; that is, any political expenditures made by groups or individuals that are not directly affiliated with a candidate. This includes spending by political party committees, super PACs, trade associations, and 501(c)(4) nonprofit groups.[14][15]
If available, satellite spending reports by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and OpenSecrets.org are linked below. FEC links include totals from monthly, quarterly, and semi-annual reports. OpenSecrets.org compiles data from those reports as well as 24- and 48-hour reports from the FEC.[16]
Details about satellite spending of significant amounts and/or reported by media are included below those links. The amounts listed may not represent the total satellite spending in the election. To notify us of additional satellite spending, email us.
| By candidate | By election |
|---|---|
Spending news
- February 9, 2026: Keep America Great PAC spent $2.5 million on ads opposing Morris.[17]
- February 6, 2026: Fight for Kentucky spent $1.1 million on ads supporting Morris.[18]
- October 16, 2025:
- Win It Back PAC spent $2 million on ads opposing Barr as of October 16, 2025.[19]
- Restoration of America PAC spent $1.6 million on ads supporting Morris as of October 16, 2025.[19]
- Keep America Great PAC spent $2.4 million on ads opposing Morris as of October 16, 2025.[19]
Endorsements
Ballotpedia is gathering information about candidate endorsements. To send us an endorsement, click here.
2024
See also: Texas' 28th Congressional District election, 2024
Texas' 28th Congressional District election, 2024 (March 5 Republican primary)
Texas' 28th Congressional District election, 2024 (March 5 Democratic primary)
General election
General election for U.S. House Texas District 28
Incumbent Henry Cuellar defeated Jay Furman in the general election for U.S. House Texas District 28 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Henry Cuellar (D) | 52.8 | 125,490 |
 | Jay Furman (R) | 47.2 | 112,117 | |
| Total votes: 237,607 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Bailey Cole (L)
Republican primary runoff election
Republican primary runoff for U.S. House Texas District 28
Jay Furman defeated Lazaro Garza Jr. in the Republican primary runoff for U.S. House Texas District 28 on May 28, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jay Furman | 65.3 | 8,297 |
 | Lazaro Garza Jr. | 34.7 | 4,410 | |
| Total votes: 12,707 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 28
Incumbent Henry Cuellar advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 28 on March 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Henry Cuellar | 100.0 | 35,550 |
| Total votes: 35,550 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 28
Jay Furman and Lazaro Garza Jr. advanced to a runoff. They defeated Jose Sanz and Jimmy Leon in the Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 28 on March 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jay Furman | 44.8 | 12,036 |
| ✔ | | Lazaro Garza Jr. | 27.1 | 7,283 |
 | Jose Sanz | 20.5 | 5,502 | |
| Jimmy Leon | 7.5 | 2,021 | |
| Total votes: 26,842 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Kyle Sinclair (R)
- Maria Perez (R)
Libertarian convention
Libertarian convention for U.S. House Texas District 28
Bailey Cole advanced from the Libertarian convention for U.S. House Texas District 28 on March 23, 2024.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | Bailey Cole (L) | |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Leon in this election.
2022
See also: Texas' 9th Congressional District election, 2022
General election
General election for U.S. House Texas District 9
Incumbent Al Green defeated Jimmy Leon in the general election for U.S. House Texas District 9 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Al Green (D) | 76.7 | 125,446 |
| Jimmy Leon (R) | 23.3 | 38,161 | |
| Total votes: 163,607 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Randall Addison (Independent)
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 9
Incumbent Al Green advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 9 on March 1, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Al Green | 100.0 | 42,782 |
| Total votes: 42,782 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 9
Jimmy Leon advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 9 on March 1, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jimmy Leon | 100.0 | 10,503 |
| Total votes: 10,503 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Endorsements
To view Leon's endorsements in the 2022 election, please click here.
Campaign themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Jimmy Leon has not yet completed Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey. Send a message to Jimmy Leon asking him to fill out the survey. If you are Jimmy Leon, click here to fill out Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey.
Who fills out Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey?
Any candidate running for elected office, at any level, can complete Ballotpedia's Candidate Survey. Completing the survey will update the candidate's Ballotpedia profile, letting voters know who they are and what they stand for. More than 26,000 candidates have taken Ballotpedia's candidate survey since we launched it in 2015. Learn more about the survey here.
You can ask Jimmy Leon to fill out this survey by using the buttons below or emailing JLcandell21@gmail.com.
2024
Jimmy Leon completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Leon's responses.
| Collapse all
- America First, No to Endless Wars. Lets Fix America's Infrastructure First!
- BORDER SECURITY is a National Emergency!
- Energy Independence is a National Security Issue, I Strongly Support Texas Oil & Gas.
2. Energy Independence.
3. Defender of Women's and Children's Safety.
4. Compliance with the 1993 National Voter Registration Act by Removing Deceased and other Ineligible Voters.
2. The lost of our all time Best Friend.
2. The Weakness of the U.S. Dollar/Petro-Dollar.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
2022
Jimmy Leon completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Leon's responses.
| Collapse all
- America First, No to Endless Wars. Lets Fix America's Infrastructure First!!
- WE THE PEOPLE have a Constitutional Civic Duty to Drain the Swamp with our Votes! Compliance with the 1993 National Voter Registration Act by removing Deceased and other ineligible Voters. Term Limits, 8 years is Good for U.S. Presidents, We the People, have a Constitutional civic duty too Vote them Out!
- Energy Independence is a National Security Issue, I Strongly (Support Texas Oil & Gas.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign finance summary
Ballotpedia currently provides campaign finance data for all federal- and state-level candidates from 2020 and later. We are continuously working to expand our data to include prior elections. That information will be published here as we acquire it. If you would like to help us provide this data, please consider donating to Ballotpedia.
See also
2026 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on December 25, 2023
- ↑ Kentucky Lantern, "Endorsement war brews among Kentucky Republicans ahead of primary election," February 6, 2026
- ↑ The Hill, "Super PAC backing Andy Barr launches $2.5M ad buy in Kentucky Senate race," February 9, 2026
- ↑ Courier Journal, "Ad wars over McConnell's Senate seat are heating up. What candidates are saying," July 14, 2025
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Mitch McConnell is taking a beating in the race to replace him," February 16, 2026
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Lexington Herald-Leader, "State of the KY Senate race: Barr, Cameron & Morris’ paths to the GOP nomination," January 20, 2026
- ↑ Andy Barr for Senate, "I'm running for U.S. Senate!" April 22, 2025
- ↑ Daniel Cameron 2026 campaign website, "Home," accessed February 17, 2026
- ↑ Facebook, "Daniel Cameron," January 8, 2026
- ↑ LinkedIn, "Nate Morris," accessed February 23, 2026
- ↑ X, "Nate Morris," June 26, 2025
- ↑ For more information on the difference between margins of error and credibility intervals, see explanations from the American Association for Public Opinion Research and Ipsos.
- ↑ Pew Research Center, "5 key things to know about the margin of error in election polls," September 8, 2016
- ↑ OpenSecrets.org, "Outside Spending," accessed December 12, 2021
- ↑ OpenSecrets.org, "Total Outside Spending by Election Cycle, All Groups," accessed December 12, 2021
- ↑ Amee LaTour, Email correspondence with the Center for Responsive Politics, August 5, 2022
- ↑ The Hill, "Super PAC backing Andy Barr launches $2.5M ad buy in Kentucky Senate race," February 9, 2026
- ↑ X, "AdImpact Politics," February 6, 2026
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 Louisville Public Media, "Kentucky candidates already raising and spending large sums in US Senate race," October 16, 2025
