Andy Barr launches US Senate bid in Kentucky with a promise to help Trump agenda
Andy Barr made it official Tuesday: He’s running for U.S. Senate.
The longtime Central Kentucky Congressman announced in a video posted to a campaign website Tuesday afternoon that he’s running to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell, who is not seeking reelection to his seat in 2026.
“I’m Andy Barr, and I’m running for Senate to help save this great country,” Barr said in a video announcing his campaign.
Barr held a campaign launch event in Richmond Tuesday night.
The Lexington Republican has long been seen as a potential candidate for the seat given the 83-year-old McConnell’s age and public-facing health issues.
The 51-year-old Barr joins former attorney general Daniel Cameron in the race for the Republican primary.
Cameron — who has claimed two statewide GOP primary campaigns, won his 2019 race for AG but lost to Andy Beshear in 2023 for the governor’s mansion — has been running since February.
The former attorney general launched his campaign on Feb. 20, the same day McConnell announced he would not seek reelection.
Senate campaign kickoff event
Barr greeted more than 200 supporters at an event kicking off his bid for senate Tuesday evening in Richmond at the Lynwood Estate event venue.
The opening was a family affair. Barr’s mother, Donna, a reverend in the local Episcopal diocese, started with a prayer. The final speaker before Barr took the stage was the congressman’s youngest daughter, Mary Clay.
Another notable speaker was Nicholas Sandmann, a political operative who was at the center of a nationwide controversy when he sued media outlets over their reporting on his interaction with a Native American man while he was a student at Covington Catholic High School. Sandmann previously worked for Barr’s campaign and later his district office.
Barr’s speech centered on the primary issues of the day for Republicans in Washington and Kentucky. The red thread throughout: his unflagging support for President Donald Trump.
“I truly believe that President Trump’s life was spared in that Pennsylvania field because God had a plan for him, and we’re watching that plan unfold every single day,” Barr said. “President Trump needs more America first fighters helping him in the United States Senate, and we see what strong leadership at the top can do.”
Barr reiterated his commitment to free enterprise several times throughout his speech and touched on a number of other issues. The health of the coal industry; a disdain for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives; and illegal immigration were all major topics. Barr referred to immigrants living in America without proper documentation as “illegals” in his speech.
“Our message to every single illegal is simple: deport yourself, or we will,” he said.
The congressman also offered something of a contrast to Cameron, though he did not mention his competition by name. He said “we can’t risk losing,” and that the state has seen such a loss recently.
“In order to represent and advocate and fight for each of you, we have to win,” Barr said. “We can’t risk losing. We’ve seen what that means for Kentucky, and I’ve proven I know how to win the tough fights. I’ve proven I know how to win tough elections, and I’ve proven I know how to deliver conservative results.”
That line was echoed by several supporters at the event interviewed by the Herald-Leader.
Hal Rogers endorsement
Barr enters the race with the backing of a Kentucky political heavyweight, veteran 5th Congressional District Rep. Hal Rogers.
“I am proud to support my friend Andy Barr to be our next United States senator. I have no doubt that Andy Barr will fight every day to protect Eastern Kentucky and Kentucky coal in the Senate,” Rogers said in a statement. “Kentuckians can count on Andy to have our back and always do what’s right.”
Though Barr has been in Congress serving his Central Kentucky-based district for more than a decade, his length of service is eclipsed by Rogers, who has served since 1981. His 44 years in the post earns Rogers the distinction of Dean of the House, reserved for the longest continuously serving member of the House.
Rogers’ district covers most of Eastern Kentucky and a portion of South Central Kentucky, a region rife with registered Republicans — an important commodity for Republicans like Barr seeking a statewide GOP nomination.
“There is no greater champion for Eastern Kentucky than Hal Rogers, and I am incredibly honored to have earned his support. As Kentucky’s senator, I will work everyday to support Kentucky coal and the people of Eastern Kentucky as a champion for President Trump’s America First agenda,” Barr said in a statement.
Cameron contends he is leading in the polls. His campaign released a poll this week of what they said was 500 likely Kentucky GOP primary voters that showed him with 44% support compared to Barr at 18% in second place.
Lexington tech entrepreneur Nate Morris, a potential contender, polled at 2%, and 37% of the voters were undecided.
One of Barr’s biggest advantages coming out of the starting gate is money.
After raising more than $1.8 million into his congressional campaign account, Barr ended March with more than $5.3 million on hand. Election finance rules allow members of the House to roll those funds into a Senate campaign account.
That’s more than 10 times what Cameron had at his disposal after more than a month of campaigning for the Senate seat. Cameron ended the same period with $455,000 on hand.
One factor that has loomed large in the early days of the campaign is McConnell’s legacy.
Morris, a newcomer to the Kentucky political scene, has been an outspoken McConnell critic as the senator has voted against a handful of Trump nominees. He has called Barr and Cameron “puppets” of McConnell in his comments.
Both official candidates have also distanced themselves from the sitting senator in their own ways, with Barr bashing his China policy and Cameron joining in on the criticism of his votes.
When asked after the event about McConnell recently commenting that the main potential candidates would vote like him, Barr said his campaign is “not about Mitch McConnell.”
“I’m not Mitch McConnell. I’m running for the United States Senate to be an advocate for the people of Kentucky and to support this president’s agenda,” Barr said. “... I am my own man. My policies are the policies that my constituents care about and the truth is, my constituents voted overwhelmingly for this president and his agenda.”
The support of Trump, who has long criticized McConnell, could be a potentially decisive factor in the primary. Cameron earned that endorsement in 2023, though it’s unclear if Trump will endorse at all in this race or one specific candidate.
In the GOP race for governor in Arizona, the president recently endorsed two different candidates.
Barr told reporters after his kickoff event that he has asked the president for his support.
“We’re working every day to earn it. We feel really good about where we are there, but ultimately we want to earn the support of the voters of Kentucky,” Barr said. “... Here’s what I know: I know that this Commonwealth of Kentucky overwhelmingly elected President Trump, and Kentucky deserves a United States senator who will support President Trump in his agenda, and he knows that I’m with him.”
Barr added that he’s not “just talking about” supporting Trump, but is in a “unique position” to advance the Trump agenda as a sitting member of the House of Representatives.
Barr’s launch video
Barr’s opening line in the ad struck a pugilistic and pro-President Donald Trump chord.
“The United States is the greatest country on earth, and it’s not even close,” Barr said. “But here’s the problem: The woke left wants to neuter America, literally. They hate our values, they hate our history, and goodness knows, they hate President Trump.”
The ad then displays a video of people, who appear to be predominantly Black, burning an American flag. A person in the crowd is wearing a “Black Lives Matter” shirt.
“Here in Kentucky, that’s why we love him,” Barr said of Trump.
The rest of the ad hits along the same message: Barr will work with Trump to defeat liberals.
He says he’ll work alongside Trump to cut taxes, slash waste, fire “deep state bureaucrats,” and deport illegal immigrants. He also said he would work to end diversity initiatives, as Trump has sought to do.
On a Kentucky-specific note, Barr leaned in on a pro-coal message that has become a hallmark of Kentucky Republicans in the past two decades.
“I’ll fight to create jobs for hard-working Kentuckians instead of warm and fuzzies for hardcore liberals. We’ll get rid of this anti-coal, do-gooder ‘ESG’ garbage once and for all,” Barr said.
“ESG” refers to environmental, social and governance factors considered in investing. It has been derided by conservatives, including Cameron, whose 1792 Exchange organization is focused primarily on ending its practice and other diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
In the intro video, Barr also said he would “lock up the sickos” who allow trans women and girls to share locker rooms with “our daughters.”
“Gender is God-given, not doctor-altered,” Barr said.
Opposing reception
In response to the news of Barr’s announcement, Kentucky Democratic Party Chair Colmon Elridge released a statement on Barr’s “record of ignoring, neglecting and betraying” his constituents.
“In Congress, Andy Barr has done absolutely nothing while the Trump Administration cripples our economy, sends prices skyrocketing, targets Kentucky’s signature industries and threatens to gut health care that 1.5 million Kentuckians rely on,” he said.
“Today, he managed to launch his U.S. Senate campaign with a two-minute video that grovels for Trump’s endorsement and ignores the very real problems Kentuckians face every day.”
The only Democrat with significant name ID to have declared thus far for the 2026 US Senate seat is Kentucky House Minority Floor Leader Pamela Stevenson. The Louisville Democrat raised about $70,000 as of March 31 and ended that period with about $32,000 on hand.
Kentucky has not had a Democrat in either of its two US Senate seats since the late Wendell Ford left office in 1998.
Despite mass spending efforts like Amy McGrath’s $90 million 2020 campaign against McConnell, Democrats have not gotten particularly close to defeating Republicans in recent contests.
The last time a Democrat got within single digits was 2008, and the last truly close race was 2004, when Daniel Mongiardo nearly defeated Jim Bunning.
Aside from Democrats, Barr’s announcement also caught heat from the political right.
Conor McGuinness, a spokesman for Morris who works for the GOP firm Big Dog Strategies, wrote in a statement to the Herald-Leader that Barr was a “Mitch McConnell lackey.”
“Another day, another Mitch McConnell lackey announcing their run for the Senate. The last thing Kentucky needs is another career politician who’s going to vote like his ‘mentor’ Mitch McConnell and thwart President Trump’s America First Agenda,” McGuinness wrote.
Other Morris allies used one of the speakers at Barr’s event to tie him closer to McConnell.
Kelly Wallingford, a Richmond media executive who was emceeing the event, recognized McConnell’s decades of service from the podium.
That portion of the event was clipped by Andy Surabian, an adviser and strategist with strong ties to Vice President J.D. Vance and who’s also served as spokesperson to Donald Trump, Jr.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Surabian is “lined up” to work on Morris’ potential campaign.
“YIKES: The speaker who introduced (Barr) at his launch event for Senate in KY went on a rant praising Mitch McConnell and asked the crowd to take a moment to recognize Mitch,” Surabian wrote in a recent post to X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter.
This story was originally published April 22, 2025 at 3:04 PM.
