John Kennedy has a quip for every occasion. Is that enough to beat the ‘goobers’ in the 2028 GOP field?
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Highland, Michigan (CNN) — After hearing Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy unload his characteristically colorful combination of homespun quips, over-the-top insults and Talladega Nights movie quotes to reporters on Friday, former Rep. Mike Rogers, the Michigan Senate GOP candidate with whom Kennedy was campaigning, knew his own words wouldn’t be getting much attention.
“It’s like following the baton twirler in the talent show,” Rogers said. “You know, you’re never going to win that thing.”
Kennedy has taken his act on the road, campaigning with GOP Senate nominees in several states in the closing weeks of this year’s midterm elections — including stops in Ohio on Thursday and Michigan on Friday, where he repeatedly declared that Rogers “pisses excellence.” The 74-year-old Kennedy is “tired,” he said, but still thinking about making a second trip to Alaska and a stop in Texas, both also home to key Senate races, ahead of Election Day.
It’s a calendar that could serve as a prelude to a bid for national office. Kennedy says he is weighing a run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2028. He’ll have to decide soon after the midterm elections whether to seek the White House or run for a third term in the Senate.
He told reporters in Michigan on Friday that as he thinks about a presidential run, his biggest concern is “the goober factor.”
“If a bunch of goobers run, and I don’t think I can be effective in the Senate anymore, then I would consider it,” he said. “But right now, I’m running for reelection.”
What are the differences, CNN asked, in where the so-called “goobers” want to steer the GOP and where Kennedy would like to move the party?
“Let me tell you about goobers — and I’m not going to name goobers,” Kennedy said. “Being a goober is a lot like pornography. It’s hard to define, but you know it when you see it.”
‘He’ll have to change up his persona’
Later Friday night, Kennedy drew loud cheers and a number of laughs during his speech to what Rogers’ campaign said was about 900 attendees at a barn party in Highland — situated in Oakland County, an affluent and highly educated Detroit suburb that is a swing region in Michigan elections.
But interviews with attendees afterward laid bare the challenge that would confront the Louisiana senator if he tries to translate what works in Washington, and in front of audiences that have never seen him in person before, onto the presidential campaign trail — where voters would demand that he prove he isn’t a “goober” himself.
Even some of Kennedy’s biggest admirers at the barn party told CNN on Friday they thought his wit wouldn’t be enough to fuel a presidential campaign.
Jan Dillaha, a 64-year-old manufacturing company executive in Indian River, said she loves Kennedy and reeled off some of her favorite lines from the senator. She even noted that, in his speech Friday night, Kennedy had omitted one go-to Kennedyism.
“He left out ‘hobo on a ham sandwich,’ which is my personal favorite,” she said.
But as for 2028, Dillaha said, Kennedy “would not be my first pick,” even though she thinks he’d do well as president.
“To be honest, speaking in there, most of the stuff that he said tonight, I’ve heard before,” she said. “But, you know, you can’t do that over the course of two years and not have people get tired of it. So he’s going to have to up his game there.”
James Semerad, a 70-year-old retired Navy veteran who lives in Clarkston — but once lived in Louisiana — said Kennedy “has a unique way of saying stuff” that connects with the state.
“He’s got good stage presence. He’s got good charisma. And he makes issues funny, rather than just very serious,” Semerad said. “He has a way of twisting some really important points in a way that makes you think. He’s a funny guy, but he’s also a really smart guy.”
What about Kennedy for president in 2028?
“He’ll have to change up his persona somewhat,” Semerad said, “to look more presidential.”
‘Kale tastes like I’d rather be fat’
On Capitol Hill, Kennedy’s sharp exchanges with witnesses in congressional hearings often make news. And sometimes, he misfires. That was the case last month, when Kennedy helped Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt hold up a poster displaying text messages as Schmitt accused former special counsel Jack Smith of a conspiracy based largely on Schmitt confusing the Atlanta Hawks and the University of Iowa Hawkeyes.
For all his homey, sometimes movie-inspired and occasionally crude witticisms, Kennedy is also a clear-eyed political operator. He is a former Democrat who switched parties in 2007, after the party’s massive midterm losses, when he was state treasurer. He said his own political operation has been conducting polling on key races this year.
And he acknowledged to reporters that the GOP is facing intense political headwinds this fall.
“The cost of living is a big issue. And it’s more than just dollars and cents. I sense it on both sides. … It’s cost of living, but it’s also people. They’re angry, and if they’re not angry, many of them feel a deep melancholy — and they just feel like, you know, these people in Washington, they don’t listen and they don’t care,” Kennedy said. “And the system no longer works for them.”
Kennedy put his wit to work for Rogers on Friday, first at a joint stop at a manufacturing plant in Sterling Heights, and then at the barn party. For the second event, Kennedy had kept his blue-striped button-down shirt, navy blazer and quartz field watch on a blue and yellow nylon strap, but ditched the charcoal trousers and light brown penny loafers he’d worn earlier in favor of lighter-wash jeans and cowboy boots.
In a roughly nine-minute speech, Kennedy unloaded a series of quips that showcased what has made him a popular figure with those politically plugged-in enough to catch television highlights of congressional hearings and see his interviews on news programs.
If one were to get in between Rogers and what’s best for Michigan, Kennedy told reporters, “he will eat you up and spit the bones on the floor. He will beat you like you stole Christmas.”
He said Democrats are captured by a “Hamas wing” of the party that includes Rogers’ Democratic opponent, Abdul El-Sayed, as well as New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
And in their debate Thursday night, Kennedy said, Rogers “ripped Dr. El-Sayed a new ashtray.”
Then, he waded into culture wars — sometimes in confusing fashion.
“The good people of Michigan and the good people of America do not deserve to be governed by people who hate George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt and Dr. Seuss and Mr. Potato Head,” he told the crowd at the barn party.
He also suggested to the crowd that Democrats carry around bags of kale for energy boosts.
“This is America. You can do what you want. But to me, kale tastes like I’d rather be fat,” he said.
Looking ahead to 2028
In about two dozen interviews with attendees, some of whom said they did not want to be named, the possibilities that came up most frequently when discussing the looming race to replace President Donald Trump were Trump’s vice president, JD Vance, and his secretary of state, Marco Rubio. Republicans were split roughly evenly in who they preferred between the two.
Joe Sanda, a 65-year-old company controller who lives in Lake Orion, said Kennedy would rank “maybe in the top five or something” of Republican candidates if he runs for president.
“He’s a great communicator,” he said. “I’ve seen him on TV before. He’s really good. He’s entertaining.”
Dave Mann, a 70-year-old retired equipment operator from Fenton, said he would not vote for Kennedy if he runs for president in 2028.
“I think pretty much all politicians are crooked, him included,” he said.
Rogers wouldn’t weigh in on Kennedy’s 2028 prospects, telling CNN the Louisiana senator is “a wonderful guy” and that he’s “known him for a few years,” but that he can’t think past this year’s election.
What does the GOP need in its 2028 nominee?
“A winner,” Rogers said. “I think the next two years is going to say a lot about what direction the party goes.”
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