More than 100 GOP House members endorse Andy Barr’s Senate campaign
In a contentious GOP primary fight, Rep. Andy Barr now has nearly half of all U.S. House Republicans in his corner.
More than 100 members of the U.S. House endorsed the Central Kentucky congressman’s bid to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell in an open seat 2026 primary on Tuesday, according to a release from the Barr campaign.
Republican members from Florida to California, Alabama to New York, and many states in between have endorsed Barr, numbering 106 in total. In addition to three that had already endorsed, the total number of House Republicans who have pledged to back Barr is 109, almost half of the conference’s 220 members.
Barr has served in the U.S. House representing Kentucky’s 6th Congressional District for nearly 13 years.
In a joint statement, the 106 members wrote that Barr “stood shoulder to shoulder with President Trump to fight for the MAGA agenda,” lauding his work in Congress.
“Andy helped us write and guide the Big Beautiful Bill into law, the largest tax cut and border security bill in history. Andy Barr is a proven conservative leader, a relentless fighter for the MAGA movement, and someone you can always count on when it matters most. He will be a strong voice for Kentucky and a great United States Senator, and we are proud to endorse him,” the members wrote.
Barr is up against stiff competition.
Former attorney general Daniel Cameron has been leading in all publicly available polls, though he’s lagging behind in fundraising. Lexington tech entrepreneur Nate Morris has shown the ability to self-fund, giving his campaign a $3 million kickstart, and has ties to figures in Trump’s orbit like Vice President JD Vance and Donald Trump, Jr.
Though Morris’ self-funding is a wild card, Barr had the upper hand when it came to fundraising as of Sep. 30. He ended that period with nearly $6.7 million on hand, dwarfing Cameron’s $630,000.
Most of the attacks in the GOP race so far have come from Morris and his supporters hitting Barr on a variety of issues as well as Cameron and Barr backers attacking Morris for being “fake.”
The Democratic field for 2026 includes familiar names like former statewide candidates Charles Booker, Amy McGrath and state House Minority Floor Leader Pam Stevenson, D-Louisville, alongside newer candidates running legitimate campaigns like Louisville horse trainer Dale Romans, Lexington attorney Logan Forsythe and Louisville entrepreneur Joel Willett.
At the state level, Barr and Cameron have been battling for endorsements, with Morris seemingly more focused on national GOP figures like Vance, Trump, Jr., and Ohio GOP presumptive gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy.
Cameron, formerly the state’s top cop as attorney general, has garnered endorsements from law enforcement officials across the state and from other elected officials near his home county of Hardin. Barr’s state and local endorsements have centered in Eastern and Central Kentucky.
Prior to Tuesday’s announcement, the Barr campaign had already unveiled endorsements from important members of Congress like fellow Kentucky representative Hal Rogers, of the 5th Congressional District; second-ranking GOP leader House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-LA; and former House GOP conference chair Elise Stefanik, R-NY.
Though Barr’s new endorsements come from all over, the biggest chunks were in populous GOP-majority states Texas and Florida, where 14 and 13 members endorsed, respectively.
They include a handful of big names like former White House physician Ronny Jackson, R-TX; House Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers, R-AL; and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul, R-TX; and former Trump-selected secretary of the interior Ryan Zinke, R-MT.
