Kentucky Rep. Andy Barr enters race to succeed Mitch McConnell

Daniela Altimari and Niels Lesniewski, CQ-Roll Call on Apr 22, 2025

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WASHINGTON — With a pledge to fully back President Donald Trump’s agenda, Kentucky Republican Rep. Andy Barr on Tuesday jumped into the race to succeed retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell.

“I’m running for Senate to help our president save this great country,’’ Barr says in a video announcing his campaign. “Kentucky is the heart of America. We work hard, play fair, never give up, and that’s what it’s going to take to win this fight.”

The seventh-term congressman from Kentucky’s 6th District enters a primary field that already includes former commonwealth Attorney General Daniel Cameron, the GOP’s losing 2023 gubernatorial nominee.

Barr’s vow to fully embrace Trump stands in contrast to McConnell, who split with the president on a number of high-profile issues, including aid to Ukraine, and voted against several of Trump’s Cabinet picks — all of which earned the retiring senator deep animus from Trump and his allies.

Barr on Tuesday picked up the backing of at least two of his House colleagues, with Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York both citing his loyalty to Trump as a key reason for their endorsement.

“There is no bigger supporter of President Donald J. Trump and our MAGA movement than my dear friend Andy Barr. I am all-in for Andy in his campaign for the U.S. Senate,’’ Scalise said in a statement shared by Barr’s campaign on social media.

Trump’s endorsement could be crucial in the Republican primary in a state that he won by more than 30 points last fall. On the Democratic side, state House Minority Leader Pamela Stevenson is running, though Democrats haven’t won a Senate election in Kentucky in more than 30 years.

Barr, who was first elected to Congress in 2012, is a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee, where he currently chairs the Financial Institutions Subcommittee. He grew up in Lexington, where his family has lived for generations, and his home was not far from the home of 19th-century Whig leader Henry Clay.

He has already amassed a significant war chest: Recent first-quarter filings show he entered April with about $5.4 million in the bank, funds he would be able to transfer to his Senate campaign.

Cameron, who would be the state’s first Black senator if elected, is a former aide to the retiring McConnell. But Cameron has recently sounded more aligned with Trump than with the former Senate majority leader.

Businessman Nate Morris, a notable Republican donor from Lexington, is also considering running and has been vocal in his recent criticisms of both Barr and Cameron.

Barr’s move opens up a district that includes Lexington and that he won with more than 63% of the vote last year. House Democrats, however, have the seat on their initial list of 2026 targets, calling it a district “in play.”

Democratic Rep. Morgan McGarvey, who represents a Louisville-based seat, told the Louisville Courier Journal last week that Democrats intended to make a play for the 6th District even if Barr ran for reelection but that “if it’s an open seat, there will be no advantages of incumbency.”

McGarvey, who serves as recruitment co-chair at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, is the only Democratic member of the Kentucky congressional delegation, though the commonwealth reelected Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear two years ago.

While Barr hasn’t faced a close race in recent cycles, his 2018 contest under slightly less Republican lines attracted substantial national attention. He defeated retired Marine combat pilot Amy McGrath that cycle by 3 points.