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EXCLUSIVE — Nate Morris says last week’s assassination of his friend Charlie Kirk was a “gut punch.”

But the Republican businessman from Kentucky, who was the last Senate candidate Kirk endorsed and joined on the campaign trail before he was shot and killed, said in an exclusive national interview with Fox News Digital that “we’re picking up the mantle for Charlie.”

And Morris, who’s one of three major candidates vying for the Republican nomination in the 2026 race to succeed retiring longtime former Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, emphasized, “We’re going to honor him by running an incredible campaign and winning this thing.”

Morris said that when he was considering a Senate run, “I got a chance to meet Charlie and get to know

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