The Race Begins to Take Shape
By 
My friend and former student Joel Willett has announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for Kentucky’s 2026 Senate race. Some detail here:
A former CIA officer from Kentucky had his security clearance revoked by the Trump administration earlier this year. Now, he’s a Democratic candidate for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat.
Joel Willett, who is also a veteran and former CEO, launched his campaign Wednesday. Last month, he was one of 37 current and former intelligence officials who had their security clearances revoked by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
Gabbard said on X that the officials had used intelligence for political or personal gain. However, Willett later said in an NPR interview that he had no official correspondence about the matter and the action against him came shortly after a report said he was a possible candidate for U.S. Senate. The GOP attention is a key focus of his launch video released Wednesday morning.
“As soon as you have a normal person stand up and try to run for office, look what they do,” Willett told the Lantern in a phone interview. “They weaponize the entire U.S. government against that person to try to shut them up. And I think that’s, unfortunately, the system we live in now. And so I think they thought maybe that would shut me up or deter me. It did the opposite.”
Willett also worked in the White House Situation Room. He and other staffers in that role were nonpartisan and would have served any president, regardless of party, and the country, he said. While “I’ve never been a political animal,” that experience has shaped his views on America’s global position.
“I believe that the world is a better place with a strong united America in a position of global leadership. I am increasingly concerned that we have abdicated that position of global leadership,” Willett said. “And I think if we can’t get our s- – – together as a country, the rest of the world is going to move on from the time of America occupying that driver’s seat. And so I think that’s another danger of this administration.”
Campaign video!
If this keeps up I’m going to be labeled an official “disturber of the peace.” Winning Mitch McConnell’s seat will be difficult, but perhaps not impossible. If it is in your nature to do so, you may donate here.