Mike Faris
Mike Faris (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.
Faris completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Mike Faris was born in Corydon, Indiana. He served in the U.S. Air Force. He earned a high school diploma from Central Hardin High School and a military citation from the Community College of the Air Force in 2005. His career experience includes owning an aviation maintenance company.[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 nine open U.S. Senate races this year in which an incumbent is not running for re-election. Across the country, four Democrats and five 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 candidate list in this election may not be complete.
The primary will occur on May 19, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. Additional general election candidates will be added here following the primary.
General election for U.S. Senate Kentucky
Christopher Campbell 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. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
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
- Joel Willett (D)
- Jared Randall (D)
Republican primary election
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
- Wende Kennedy (R)
- Jacob Trimble (R)
- Mitch McConnell (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.
Campaign themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Mike Faris completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Faris' responses.
| Collapse all
- With over 20 years of experience in aviation and as the founder of PRIMEHAWX, LLC, I’ve led teams, trained professionals, and built a small business from the ground up — always with a commitment to quality through integrity. Our ability to be a voice for and representative of the values of the people, should always be founded on integrity. That’s something that the majority of our current politicians seem to have none ditched on their journey to Washington D.C.
- I was born into hardship in Corydon, Indiana and spent the early part of my life in the welfare system — but my story changed when I was adopted by a hardworking Kentucky family in Sonora, who owned and operated a hay and tobacco farm. They didn’t just give me a home; they gave me values: faith, discipline, and the dignity of honest work. It was in those fields that I learned what it means to earn your way, to respect others, and to never make excuses. That experience didn’t just rescue me — it rooted me in the strength of Kentucky’s soil and the power of American opportunity. The victim hood mentality is not welcome here! I’m running to fight for those same values and opportunities for every Kentuckian. The victimhood
- I’m not backed by party bosses or political insiders — and I don’t want to be. This is a grassroots movement powered by hardworking Kentuckians who are tired of empty promises and career politicians. I’m committed to running the most cost-effective U.S. Senate campaign in Kentucky history, proving that real change doesn’t require millions of dollars — just a message that connects, a backbone that won’t bend, and a people who are ready to take their government back. This campaign belongs to you.
We need leaders who’ve lived real life — who know what it’s like to work with their hands, raise a family, and struggle a little. I believe in personal responsibility. I don’t make excuses, and I won’t accept them from Washington.
I was rescued from the welfare system, raised on a Kentucky farm, and built my life on faith, grit, and integrity. I don’t just talk about personal responsibility — I’ve lived it.
A senator should fight for their state’s values and push back when Washington overreaches. They should read the bills, show up for the votes, and never forget who sent them there.
I was rescued from a broken system and given a second chance — and I’ve spent my life trying to live in a way that honors that gift. If I can help restore faith in leadership, protect our freedoms, and leave this country stronger for the next generation — that’s the legacy I’m after.
We’ve got out-of-control spending, a broken border, a weakened military, and young people being taught to hate their own country. The debt is unsustainable, the welfare state is growing, and too many politicians are more interested in headlines than results.
What makes the Senate unique is its ability to slow things down, ask tough questions, and protect the rights of the states and the people. But that only works when the people serving in it take the job seriously and remember who they work for.
What we need are people with real-life experience — folks who’ve signed the front of a paycheck, raised a family, worked with their hands, and lived through the consequences of bad policy.
Now, do some politicians abuse it? Sure. But the answer isn’t to get rid of it — it’s to elect better people who use it the right way. I won’t support blowing up the rules just because one side wants to force through its agenda.
But the truth is, we’ve drifted far from how the Founders intended our courts to work. I believe we should repeal the Judiciary Act of 1789 and return judicial selection to the states where those courts actually sit.
But let’s be clear: I won’t trade away the Constitution, my convictions, or Kentucky’s values just to say we “got something done.” Some things aren’t negotiable — like our freedoms, our faith, our borders, or our right to life.
If agencies are abusing power, if taxpayer money is being wasted, or if the American people are being misled, the Senate should step in and dig deep — with transparency and backbone.
If someone has a record of pushing radical policies, abusing power, or putting politics over people, they’re getting a no from me. I don’t care what party they’re from — I care if they respect the Constitution, understand the job, and will do it with integrity.
I support full financial transparency for elected officials and strict oversight of government spending. We don’t need more bureaucrats — we need honest leadership that knows how to live within a budget, just like Kentucky families do.
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
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
2026 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on March 29, 2025
- ↑ 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
