John Neely Kennedy is the junior United States senator from Louisiana, in office since 2017. A Republican, he previously served as Louisiana state treasurer from 2000 to 2017 and sits on the Senate Appropriations, Banking, Budget, and Judiciary committees.
We have documented statements by John Kennedy on 2026 Midterm Elections, Artificial Intelligence, and Energy Policy, among other topics. Read the quotations, original sources and related cases below.
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Role at the time: U.S. senator from Louisiana, speaking to Jewish Insider
Minimized
Statement summary
Kennedy said Republicans lost the midterms because Democrats did a better job of acknowledging voters' economic pain, and that the war, corruption and tariffs were among many reasons but not the main one.
“Republicans lost the midterms because the Democrats did a better job of acknowledging the economic pain of the American people, and everything flows from that ... People have a multitude of reasons for voting as they do ... but the overarching reason is what I just said, and I think once everybody has a chance to analyze the data, that's what they'll see.”
Kennedy lists the war among the reasons voters had but says the economy was the overarching reason, which downplays the war's role in the losses, so we labeled it as minimizing.
Role at the time: U.S. Senator from Louisiana, speaking to reporters at a campaign appearance in Michigan, as reported by The Hill
Condemned
Statement summary
Sen. John Kennedy said he did not support importing diesel from Putin, whom he called a butcher of his own people and of Ukrainians, while saying the president is doing everything he can to get diesel prices down.
“support his decision to import it from Putin. Vladimir Putin is a butcher. He’s a butcher of his own people. And he’s a butcher of the good people of Ukraine.”
Open source (opens in a new tab)GOP lawmakers reject U.S.-Russia diesel deal, Trump's Zelensky commentsParagraphs quoting Sen. John Kennedy and former Rep. Mike Rogers, and the paragraphs on Fitzpatrick's bill.
Why we used this label
The case asks whether the U.S. should ease sanctions on Russian diesel to lower fuel prices, as the administration did on October 9. The Hill reports that Kennedy does not "support his decision to import it from Putin" and calls Putin "a butcher". That opposes the Russian supply, so we labeled it Condemned. The closest competing label is Mixed or conditional, since The Hill reports that he supported the president's decision and he says the president is "doing everything he can to get diesel prices down"; it loses because what he backs is the aim of lower prices, not the Russian diesel.
Role at the time: U.S. senator from Louisiana and member of the Senate Judiciary Committee
Condemned
Statement summary
In his questioning of Smith, Sen. John Kennedy told Smith he had to know that seeking the phone records of senators violated the Speech or Debate Clause. He asked whether Smith told Chief Judge James Boasberg that the records were those of members of Congress, and suggested Smith did not because he knew the judge would not agree.
“Well, then you had to know it violated the speech and debate clause. In fact, when you went to Judge Boasberg, you didn't even tell him you were seeking the phone records of members of Congress, did you? Because you knew he wouldn't agree. He would say, hey, counselor, anybody who knows a law book from a J. Crew catalog knows that this violates the Constitution.”
Watch the original video (opens in a new tab)Oversight of Jack Smith's Abuse of Authority and the Targeting of Republicans and Related Matters (hearing video) · Senate Committee on the JudiciarySen. John Kennedy's questions to Smith on senators' phone records and nondisclosure orders, about 1:29:13 to 1:31:07 on the archived video timeline
Why we used this label
The case asks whether the collection of members' phone records and messages was proper. Kennedy told Smith he had to know that seeking the records violated the Speech or Debate Clause and suggested Smith withheld from the judge that the records were members'. That rejects the collection as improper, so we labeled it Condemned.
Sen. John Kennedy defended U.S. and Israeli military action in Iran, saying it had made the world safer. He acknowledged higher gas prices and inflation but said he was proud of the American operation.
“No. 3, I just want to make this clear. We are going to look back 5 years from now and realize that what President Trump has done in Iran and what Israel has done in Iran has made the world immeasurably safer.”
The case asks about support for the war in Iran. Kennedy argues that the military action was justified by improved security. His acknowledgment of higher costs does not change his defense, so we used Defended or excused.
John Kennedy voted nay on H.Con.Res. 89, a vote against directing the removal of U.S. forces from unauthorized hostilities with Iran.
“On the Concurrent Resolution H.Con.Res. 89: A concurrent resolution directing the President, pursuant to section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution, to remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities with Iran.”
Voted against directing the removal of U.S. forces from unauthorized hostilities with Iran, a vote to let U.S. involvement continue without congressional authorization.
Role at the time: United States senator from Louisiana
Defended or excused
Statement summary
Speaking to CBS News on September 23, 2026, Sen. John Kennedy said he and other Republican leaders want the Iran war to end, but he does not support Congress, in his words, pulling the rug out on President Trump by limiting his ability to strike Iran, particularly, he said, when the United States is winning. He called the genesis of most of that effort political and said it would hurt America, adding that everyone wants the war to end.
“I think the genesis of most, not all of that, but the genesis of most of that is political, and I think it would hurt America. Having said that, we all want the war to end.”
Kennedy said he wants the war to end but opposes congressional action to limit Trump's ability to strike Iran, defending the president's discretion to continue the campaign.
Role at the time: United States senator from Louisiana, quoted in an ABC News report
Defended or excused
Statement summary
Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana attempted to fast-track legislation requiring every AI company to be able to deploy a kill switch to stop the technology if it gets out of control, arguing the measure is warranted if there is even a one per cent chance a model could cease to be a tool and become what he called an independent species. Fellow Republican Rand Paul blocked the attempt. The quoted line is as broadcast by ABC News and breaks off mid-sentence in the segment.
“If there is even a 1% chance that one of these AI models can shed its nature as a tool and become an independent species.”
Read the original post (opens in a new tab)ABC News: Geoffrey Hinton warns Congress it has about a year to control AI2:00 segment. 00:08-00:26: Hinton's warning, including the timeframe and the Chernobyl comparison. 00:26-00:34: his stated probability that AI eventually wipes out humanity. 00:50-01:15: Sen. John Kennedy's kill-switch bill. 01:15-01:25: Rand Paul blocking it. 01:25-01:35: the administration's position on existing liability. 01:35 onward: an unrelated item on Flock surveillance cameras.
Why we used this label
Kennedy supports it concretely, seeking to pass a federal mandate that AI companies be capable of shutting their systems down, and justifying it on a low-probability, high-consequence basis. That places him with Cantwell (728) and Hawley (798), who press for specific federal requirements, rather than with Huang (727) or Johnson (729). The closest competing label is “Mixed or conditional”; it loses because he attaches no condition to the requirement itself. Note that Kennedy questioned Kash Patel about FBI hiring standards in a separate case; this record concerns only his AI legislation.
Kennedy's proposed mandatory "kill switch" legislation is a government-imposed safety intervention responding to AI risk, structurally similar to Bernie Sanders' already-documented bill announcement (classified condemns) elsewhere in this case.
Vance wrote on November 4, 2026 that the Iran war is the reason Republicans lost the midterms. Trump called it largely true but said he would do it again. Ted Cruz blamed the war and tariffs; Iran hawks blamed Vance's diplomacy.
Trump said Russia would supply millions of tons of diesel after a call with Putin, and Treasury authorized Russian diesel imports until April 2027. Zelenskyy and lawmakers in both parties objected.
After leaving Anthropic, Jacob Coxon said Anthropic and OpenAI were irresponsibly racing toward self-improving superintelligence, while praising Anthropic's current practices. Responses dispute catastrophic-risk forecasts, working inside AI labs, and whether governments should pause or regulate development.
Trump backs company controls and outside audits for frontier AI. Critics want enforceable federal safeguards, and the White House now calls incident reporting mandatory without identifying enforcement mechanisms or penalties.
FBI Director Kash Patel defended the bureau's removal of automatic hiring disqualifiers for prostitution, employee theft, and bestiality, saying it protects trafficking victims. Sen. Dick Durbin and former FBI official Andrew McCabe publicly disputed that framing.
Rudy Giuliani, George Pataki, and some September 11 victims’ relatives opposed Zohran Mamdani attending the 2026 memorial, citing his rhetoric and associations. Mamdani said he would honor victims; other elected officials and a family group said excluding the sitting mayor would politicize the commemoration.
An issue tracker recording where members of Congress and 2026 midterm candidates stand on the unauthorized Iran war, based on their votes on war-powers resolutions, campaign statements, and public remarks.
Republicans say Jack Smith's team improperly obtained members of Congress's phone records and texts and used nondisclosure orders to hide it. Smith and Democrats say the toll records were approved and lawful; Smith says the texts came from White House phones. Member counts differ.
