FRANKFORT — The GOP-controlled Kentucky General Assembly has backed adding a statue of longtime Republican U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell to a prominent location in the state Capitol.
Late Wednesday night, the House and Senate agreed to changes to House Bill 757 to include that if a statue of McConnell were to be privately funded and donated, “the state curator shall accept that statue, monument, or object of art for display in the New State Capitol rotunda.”
(New State Capitol refers to the building that opened in 1910 and is now under renovation as opposed to the Old State Capitol on West Broadway in Frankfort that housed the legislature from 1830 until the new one opened.)
If a statue becomes available, the amendment directs the Historic Properties Advisory Commission to reserve an empty corner in the rotunda for it.
Praising McConnell, the U.S. Senate’s longest serving party leader, Sen. Chris McDaniel, R-Ryland Heights, said: “He no doubt has earned a place in the rotunda. He will go down as one of the most influential Kentuckians to ever grace the halls of Frankfort.”
Via a spokesperson, McConnell said in a Thursday morning statement that he is “honored and humbled by this decision and I’m grateful to the General Assembly for the recognition.”
The idea of putting a statue of Kentucky’s senior senator in the rotunda has gained traction since last week after Republican Senate President Robert Stivers, of Manchester, filed a resolution that requested the Historic Properties Advisory Commission to consider adding McConnell’s statue to the rotunda. Republican House Speaker David Osborne, of Prospect, filed a similar resolution Friday.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday evening before the statue amendment was unveiled, Stivers said he’s only had one call opposing the idea, and many that appreciated it.
“There’s been nobody in our history that has been in the position of authority as Sen. McConnell has,” Stivers said, adding that McConnell “elevated the status of Kentucky.”
A statue of President Abraham Lincoln, who was born in Kentucky, dominates the center of the rotunda. The other occupants are Kentuckians Henry Clay, a U.S. House speaker and prominent 19th century politician; Vice President Alben Barkley, and frontier physician Ephraim McDowell. A vacancy was created with the removal of Jefferson Davis, also a Kentucky native and president of the breakaway Confederate States of America.
McConnell, 84, was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1984 and led the GOP caucus for nearly two decades. He announced last year that he would not seek reelection to another term. He was elected at a time when Democrats controlled Kentucky politics, and many Kentucky Republicans credit him with the GOP’s ascent to its current dominance. The Republican Party of Kentucky’s headquarters in Frankfort is named for him.
Osborne told reporters late Wednesday that other figures in the rotunda are not free of controversy, saying Barkley was a “very staunch partisan” and Clay helped with the founding of the Whig Party.
“But it was dramatically important to the development of Kentucky, and I think Sen. McConnell fits right into that,” Osborne said.
The state GOP backed the idea of honoring McConnell with a statue in an X post Wednesday morning, saying McConnell “has been a steadfast champion for Kentucky.”
“His impact will be felt long after he leaves office,” the party said. “As one of the most important elected officials in our Commonwealth’s history, a statue honoring his service is a fitting tribute to his legacy.”
However, not everyone loves the idea.
Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear said in a BlueSky post on Tuesday that “the fact that the Kentucky General Assembly is pushing for a bill to create a statue for Mitch McConnell in our Capitol but refuses to make Juneteenth a state holiday is just wrong.”
“How about a statue of General Charles Young, a Kentuckian and the first Black man to achieve the rank of Colonel is (sic) the U.S. Army? That seems more fitting,” the governor said.
The vacant spot for a statue in the rotunda was created when Beshear called on the Historic Properties Advisory Commission to remove a statue of Davis in 2020. Davis was the Confederacy’s only president.
In 2024, the General Assembly gave itself final say over permanent displays in the rotunda — a prominent central area of the building. The law says the legislature must approve the installation or removal of any statue after the commission submits a proposal.
Someone else who opposes the idea of a McConnell statue is Nate Morris, a Republican businessman running to succeed McConnell in the U.S. Senate. He said in an X post last week that a statue of President Donald Trump should be in the rotunda as he “singlehandedly saved Kentucky coal and our nation as a whole when he defeated Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris.”
Another Republican U.S. Senate candidate, U.S. Rep. Andy Barr suggested the idea of a McConnell statue in the rotunda during a 2024 groundbreaking ceremony for the RPK headquarters.
The Capitol is currently closed amid a nearly $300 million renovation. It’s expected to take several years.
This article was originally published by the Kentucky Lantern.
