In the last presidential election cycle, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul praised Donald Trump as a president who “gets things done.” But as the 2024 election draws closer, Paul’s support of Trump has taken a left turn.
While most of Kentucky’s federal delegates — including Sen. Mitch McConnell, Rep. Hal Rogers and Rep. James Comer — have backed Trump as the presidential candidate, Paul has yet to formally endorse the Republican nominee.
The Courier Journal reached out to Paul’s communications team asking why he hasn’t endorsed Trump and if he plans to before November. In response, Kelsey Cooper, deputy chief of staff of communications, referred to a June interview with Spectrum News for his most recent comments.
In the interview, Paul said he is supportive of Trump, but he hasn’t decided to take “an active role, endorse and go out and campaign for him.”
“I think that it’s important that if he wants to get my vote and my support and wants me to be more active in this, that he’s going to have to be more vocal on things like the lockdowns that I opposed, like the civil liberties abuses that I opposed, like the debt, which frankly, has been bad under Republicans and Democrats, so I’m looking for a little bit more before I make a final decision,” he told Spectrum News.
Why hasn’t Rand Paul endorsed Donald Trump?
Stephen Voss, a University of Kentucky political science professor, said Paul’s reticence could stem from various statements Trump has made in the lead up to this election that don’t coincide with the senator’s beliefs.
Paul is generally described as a libertarian and considers himself a member of the Senate’s informal Tea Party Caucus, a movement that generally opposes excessive taxation and government intervention. Those beliefs are reflected in many of Paul’s stances on certain issues, including foreign policy, where he generally opposes U.S. intervention unless there is clear national security interest.
“(Trump’s) support for trade restrictions, for example, (and) his comments about how he’ll approach the next presidency, one could imagine Rand Paul having bigger philosophical concerns with Trump this time around compared to previous elections,” Voss said.
Voss added another reason for Paul’s lack of support could be he wants to distance himself from Trump to potentially set himself up as an option for a future presidential bid.
Paul ran for the Republican nomination in 2016 but withdrew from the race after placing fifth in the Iowa caucuses. In February, Paul didn’t rule out a future run.
“I don’t know, and it has to be sort of the right time, and I thought this wasn’t again the right time because Trump’s essentially like an incumbent, he’s the former president, (and) I thought it would be very hard for me to take him on,” Paul said.
Former Republican Secretary of State Trey Grayson said Paul could also be trying to get Trump’s attention and force a public conversation on deficit spending, which Paul has continuously rallied against.
“He’s pretty creative about trying to engage, to bring issues to the forefront (and) drawing attention to it,” said Grayson, who ran against Paul in the 2010 Republican primary for one of Kentucky’s U.S. Senate seats. “So it struck me that, especially given the fact that Trump hasn’t talked about (deficit) at all, it made me think that that could be what he’s trying to do, to try to get Trump to pay attention to that.”
What is the relationship between Paul and Trump?
When Paul and Trump battled for the Republican nomination in 2016, the two republicans wasted no time trading insults.
Paul called Trump a “fake conservative” as well as a “delusional narcissist and an orange-faced windbag.” Meanwhile, Trump said Paul “reminds me of a spoiled brat without a properly functioning brain.” But as soon as Trump won the nomination and took office, Paul pivoted to become an ally for Trump and swung at the former presidents’ political enemies during his impeachment saga.
Paul even spoke at the Republican National Convention in 2020, where he said he was “proud of the job Donald Trump has done as president.”
“I don’t always agree with him, but our occasional policy differences are far outweighed by our significant agreements,” Paul said.
During Paul’s speech, he also said he was supporting Trump because they both believed “America cannot fight endless wars” and wanted to end the war in Afghanistan.
The following year, when Paul was up for reelection, Trump endorsed Paul and said in a statement he “has done a fantastic job for our Country, and for the incredible people of Kentucky.”
Does Paul’s endorsement really matter?
Tres Watson, a longtime Kentucky political consultant and former GOP spokesman, said he doesn’t think so.
“It’s not like Trump’s gonna lose Kentucky because Rand Paul hasn’t endorsed him,” Watson said. “I think Rand Paul marches to the to the beat of his own drum.”
Voss said not endorsing Trump shouldn’t hurt Paul’s image, either.
“Do I think there’s a cost for him? Not really,” Voss said. “In terms of signaling to the voter base, yes a lot of people are gonna vote for Trump. Republicans are fairly loyal to him now, but Trump’s not going to be able to stay on the stage very long.”
Grayson said though endorsements are often overrated, they still do matter because candidates wouldn’t seek them out if they didn’t.
“If I’m Trump, I want Rand’s endorsement,” Grayson said. “I think he’s an important figure inside the party. … The person (endorsing) doesn’t do a whole lot, but it’s important to be able to list it and say, we’re all together.”
Reach reporter Hannah Pinski at @hpinski@courier-journal.com or follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @hannahpinski.
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This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Rand Paul has not endorsed Donald Trump for president in 2024