Is the next JD Vance in Kentucky?: From the Politics Desk

Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.

In today’s edition, Henry J. Gomez explores Nate Morris’ anti-establishment campaign for Mitch McConnell’s Senate seat in Kentucky. Plus, Andrea Mitchell examines President Donald Trump’s latest threat to federalize D.C.’s city government.

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— Adam Wollner

Meet the Republican Senate candidate in Kentucky who could be the next JD Vance

By Henry J. Gomez

Nate Morris grew up in Louisville, Kentucky, with a single mother, an absent father and grandparents who schooled him in Appalachian culture and the ways of the working class.

After an elite education that included a bachelor’s degree from George Washington University and an MBA from Oxford, he built an innovative waste management company that attracted money from big-name investors and comparisons to Uber.

Now Morris is positioning himself as the outsider in a Republican Senate primary that will determine whom the party nominates next year to succeed Mitch McConnell. Since launching his campaign in June, Morris has relentlessly attacked the longtime Kentucky GOP senator, while characterizing his two rivals, Rep. Andy Barr and former state Attorney General Daniel Cameron, as squishy extensions of McConnell’s legacy.

Morris’ biography and anti-establishment pitch, tailored to President Donald Trump’s right-wing populist base, is reminiscent of the formula that sent JD Vance from the private sector to the Senate — and, most recently, to the vice presidency.

The Vance connection: Vance, a Yale Law graduate, chronicled his own turbulent childhood in his 2016 memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy.” He grew up in Middletown, Ohio, and frequently visited family in Jackson, Kentucky. Morris’ family descends from nearby Morgan County.

At 44 and 41, respectively, Morris and Vance are also close in age. They struck up a friendship several years ago, when Morris was running Rubicon, the high-tech trash and recycling company he founded, and Vance was working in Silicon Valley venture capital.

“I sent him an email and I said, ‘Hey, I see you’ve got Kentucky roots, I’d love to connect,’” Morris recalled in an interview this week with NBC News. “He wrote me back pretty quickly.”

Morris was among the notable names at a fundraiser Vance put together for Trump last year in Ohio. And Vance encouraged Morris to take a look at the Kentucky Senate race, a source familiar with the conversation said.

Read more from Henry →

🗳️ More from the midterm campaign trail

Tennessee: GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn announced she is running for governor, Ben Kamisar reports. She’s the third sitting senator to launch a gubernatorial campaign this year, along with Republican Tommy Tuberville in Alabama and Michael Bennet in Colorado.

Pennsylvania: Republican Doug Mastriano is teasing another run against Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro despite his 15-point loss in the battleground state in 2022, Allan Smith writes.

Texas: Democratic lawmakers who fled the state in protest of Republicans’ mid-decade congressional redistricting plans were evacuated from their suburban Chicago hotel this morning following a threat at the property, Natasha Korecki reports. And Zoë Richards writes that GOP Gov. Greg Abbott filed a lawsuit with the Texas Supreme Court to remove Gene Wu, Democrats’ leader in the state House, from office.

Indiana: Vance is heading to the Hoosier State tomorrow after Trump said he’d consider redistricting plans in other states besides Texas, per Gabe Gutierrez. Republican Gov. Mike Braun said that if the topic comes up, “it’s exploratory,” and that “there’s been no commitments made.”

Trump — again — threatens a federal takeover of D.C.

Analysis by Andrea Mitchell

President Donald Trump is once again threatening to take over D.C.’s government because of an attempted carjacking this past Sunday at 3 a.m. involving an alleged attack against a DOGE worker.

“If D.C. doesn’t get its act together and quickly, we will have no choice but to take Federal control of the City,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Tuesday.

For the record, Metropolitan Police Department statistics show that so far in 2025, violent crime in the nation’s capital is down 26% over last year. According to the police, the victims of the carjack attempt and alleged beating were Edward Coristine, also known online by the alias “Big Balls,” and a woman characterized in a police report as his significant other.

The police report said officers patrolling nearby observed 10 juveniles surrounding Coristine’s car and assaulting him. The suspects began fleeing, but the officers arrested two of them and charged them with unarmed carjacking. The alleged suspects, two 15-year-olds from Hyattsville, Maryland, were brought to a youth detention center.

Still, the incident has reignited Trump’s often-stated wish to federalize the city. In February, he told reporters, “I think that we should run it strong, run it with law and order.” In 2020, during his first term, he clashed with the city’s mayor, Muriel Bowser, when he sent the National Guard to back up police responding to protesters near the White House over the death of George Floyd. He again derided Bowser when she criticized the lack of National Guard support during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

“Perhaps it should have been done a long time ago, then this incredible young man, and so many others, would not have had to go through the horrors of Violent Crime. If this continues, I am going to exert my powers and FEDERALIZE this City,” Trump wrote on Tuesday.

The police said Coristine was assaulted and treated at the scene by the D.C. fire department and emergency medical services (EMS) for his injuries. But carjackings are not atypical in American cities. According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, 35,000 carjackings occur in the U.S. each year. The Council on Criminal Justice says it’s a crime that has increased 93% from 2019 to 2023 in a sample of 10 cities, including D.C.

As for taking over the city: Full disclosure, I have been a D.C. resident since 1976. Our city won the right to govern ourselves in a law signed by President Richard Nixon 52 years ago. That said, we pay federal taxes without voting representation in Congress. Wasn’t there a Declaration of Independence adopted against that — almost 250 years ago?

Ryan Balberman contributed with research.

That’s all From the Politics Desk for now. Today’s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner.

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