A sports radio host who was expected to run as a Democrat against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced Friday that he would not enter the race, days after he was hit with a campaign finance complaint and temporarily yanked from the air.
Matt Jones, who hosts the weekday Kentucky Sports Radio show syndicated by iHeartRadio, had formed an exploratory committee for the Senate campaign over the summer.
The Kentucky Republican Party filed a complaint against Jones and iHeartRadio with the Federal Election Commission on Nov. 5, claiming he was using his talk show to promote his candidacy, in violation of federal rules. Kentucky Republicans argued that the platform was free advertising for Jones’s campaign and amounted to an in-kind contribution that exceeded campaign finance limits. Jones was temporarily pulled from the air by iHeartRadio following the complaint.
Jones announced his decision on his talk show on Friday.
“I am coming on this morning to make the announcement that I have decided not to do that,” said Jones, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader. “I am not going to be a candidate for the office.”
He said it was a difficult choice, but he did not want to put his family and friends through the mud-slinging of a Senate campaign. Jones did not rule out running for office at a later date.
“Ultimately, for me personally, this isn’t the time,” he said.
Jones is also slated to write a book titled Mitch, Please! How Mitch McConnell Sold Out Kentucky (and America too) with the publisher Simon & Schuster. The publishing house was also accused in the FEC complaint of providing illegal contributions to Jones’s campaign by helping him promote the book and arranging a book tour.
Amy McGrath, a former Marine fighter pilot, is now seen as the most likely Democratic challenger against McConnell.
