Longtime thoroughbred trainer Dale Romans entered the Kentucky campaign on Wednesday to succeed Republican Mitch McConnell in the U.S. Senate.
He is portraying himself as an independent Democrat willing to cut through “partisan nonsense” and tackle trade, health care, and immigration.
Romans criticized President Donald Trump’s tactics in his immigration crackdown.
He pointed to his decades of work alongside immigrant laborers who toil for long hours cleaning stalls and performing other labor-intensive tasks, tending to horses at racetracks.
“I’ve traveled around the world, but I also saw the plight of the immigrant workforce we needed back here,” Romans said in an introductory campaign video.
“The ones that are here working, doing jobs that are necessary in this country. We need those people. We don’t need a fight, we need a fix.”
Romans said the nation’s borders must be secured and that people living in the United States illegally who commit crimes should be sent back to their home countries.
But raids by immigration agents under the Republican administration, he said, have created fear and resentment in targeted communities, sometimes ensnaring innocent residents hurting businesses and the economy.
With more than 2,250 career victories as a trainer, including in the Preakness Stakes and Travers Stakes, Romans said he knows how to win as an underdog.
He won the 2011 Preakness with Shackleford and the 2015 Travers Stakes with Keen Ice, defeating American Pharoah.
Romans joins a large field of Republicans and Democrats competing in 2026 for the Senate seat held since the mid-1980s by McConnell, who is retiring when his current term ends.
Kentucky’s primary election is in May.
“We need a senator who reflects our people,” Romans said in a news release.
“Not polished insiders or party-line politicians running the same old partisan nonsense, but someone who has built a career the hard way and lived the struggles that Kentucky’s working families face every day.”
Romans stressed his working-class background and said he would protect workers and businesses from overregulation and “destructive” tariffs.
He pledged to take action to make Kentucky more affordable.
Affordability was a key issue in Democratic victories in last week’s elections in places such as Virginia and New Jersey.
He said he would work to strengthen Medicaid, Medicare and the Affordable Care Act so more people get health care coverage without it draining household budgets.
Romans enters the race with considerable name recognition among horse racing fans in the Bluegrass State, which prides itself as the world’s horse capital.
He has been a longtime fixture at Churchill Downs in Louisville, his hometown, and he trained 12 horses for the Kentucky Derby.
Romans tried to distance himself from his national party, a recognition of Kentucky’s swing toward Republicans in recent years.
Kentucky has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since Wendell Ford in 1992.
“As an independent Democrat, I won’t be beholden to the national party, and I won’t be a puppet of the president like a freshman Republican senator would be,” Romans said.
He currently serves as president of the Kentucky Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association.
In that role, he has advocated for Kentucky workers, championing fair treatment, protecting jobs, and defending the economic lifeblood of local communities tied to small business, agriculture, and racing.
As a small business owner himself running a stable with 50 employees, Romans says he knows what it takes to grow a company.
Romans was appointed to the Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Corporation by Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear.
He graduated from Butler High School in Louisville and was diagnosed as severely dyslexic, making school difficult for him.
He has been sober for two years since quitting alcohol after undergoing a comprehensive rehab program in Bowling Green.
Romans said he hopes to bring reform to addiction recovery and expand drug and alcohol awareness and resistance programs for young people.
Other Democrats in the Senate race include Amy McGrath, a retired Marine aviator who previously ran against McConnell in 2020.
Pamela Stevenson, a state lawmaker and former military judge advocate general, is also running.
Logan Forsythe, an attorney and former U.S. Secret Service agent, and Joel Willett, a military veteran and former CIA officer, round out the Democratic field.
Republicans in the race include U.S. Rep. Andy Barr, former state Attorney General Daniel Cameron and business entrepreneur Nate Morris.
The GOP hopefuls speak glowingly of Trump, hoping to land his endorsement in a state that Trump overwhelmingly carried in the past three presidential elections.
Trump won Kentucky by more than 25 percentage points in each of his three campaigns.
Romans faces an uphill battle as a Democrat in Kentucky’s current political climate.
The state has trended heavily Republican in federal races over the past decade.
However, Democrats have found success in statewide races, with Governor Andy Beshear winning reelection in 2023.
Romans will need to replicate that formula of appealing to moderate and working-class voters.
His background in horse racing gives him unique name recognition in a state where the sport is deeply woven into the culture.
The Kentucky Derby is one of the most famous sporting events in the world and a source of immense state pride.
Romans’ campaign focuses on practical solutions rather than partisan talking points.
He emphasizes his real-world experience running a business and working with diverse employees.
The May primary will determine which Democrat faces the Republican nominee in the November 2026 general election.
McConnell’s retirement marks the end of an era for Kentucky politics after nearly four decades representing the state in the U.S. Senate.
