Kentucky GOP greenlights joint Senate, presidential run for Rand Paul

The Kentucky GOP’s central committee voted Saturday to adopt a presidential caucus system next year, clearing the way Republican Sen. Rand Paul to run for president and reelection at the same time.

Paul, who is in his first term, had pushed Kentucky Republicans to move from a primary to a caucus system as a way to get around a state law forbidding candidates from appearing twice on the same ballot. He has pledged to pick up the tab for holding the caucuses, which could run $500,000 or more.

The motion to adopt a caucus system required a vote of at least two-thirds of the committee vote to pass. It was approved with 76 percent of the vote, according to a video of the announcement posted online, on the condition that Paul transfer $250,000 to a state GOP account next month. POLITICO reported this week that Paul told the member in a letter on Monday that he had transferred $250,000 into a state party account, but Paul had not actually done so.

Paul applauded the committee’s decision — which still must be approved by the Republican National Committee — after the vote.

“The people of Kentucky deserve a voice as the GOP chooses their next nominee, and holding a caucus will ensure that Kentucky is relevant and participates early in the process,” he said in a statement. “I am also grateful for the Republican Party’s trust in me, allowing me to run for re-election to the U.S. Senate and seek the nomination for the presidency of the United States.”

The vote was also a victory for House Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who had endorsed the switch to caucuses.

“Look, all we cared about is giving Rand a chance in his presidential race,” McConnell told reporters on Tuesday. “Because of the peculiarities of Kentucky law, all I asked of him was to defray the cost and he’s indicated he’s going to do that and so I think we’ll go ahead and do the nomination for president by caucus.”

McConnell’s office declined to comment after the vote on Saturday.

A vote against switching to a caucus system likely would’ve prevented Paul from running for both offices in Kentucky. But Paul vowed before the vote on Saturday that he would continue his campaigns for the presidency, according to Sam Youngman, a political reporter for The Lexington Herald-Leader.

“No matter what happens today, we’ll be running for the presidency and we’ll be running for reelection,” Paul had told a crowd of about 50 outside the Frankfort, Ky., hotel where the meeting was taking place, according to Youngman.

“The people of Kentucky deserve a voice as the GOP chooses their next nominee, and holding a caucus will ensure that Kentucky is relevant and participates early in the process. I am also grateful for the Republican Party’s trust in me, allowing me to run for re-election to the U.S. Senate and seek the nomination for the Presidency of the United States,”

Switching to a caucus system would not allow Paul to run for president and for reelection at the same time in the general election, but even Paul doesn’t seem to believe there’s much chance that he’ll end up as his party’s nominee.

On a conference call with the central committee Thursday night, Paul put his odds of winning the nomination at only “one in 10,” The Herald-Leader reported.

That’s better than he’s doing in the polls — the latest RealClearPolitics polling average has him at 4.3 percent.

(Sergio Gor, a spokesman for Paul, disputed The Herald-Leader’s characterization of what Paul said on the call in an email to POLITICO, saying he was referring to being one of 10 candidates on the debate stage rather than his chances of winning.)

Manu Raju contributed reporting.