Central Kentucky is sending Republican Rep. Andy Barr back to Congress for a fifth term
Central Kentucky voters overwhelmingly awarded a fifth term on Tuesday to Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Barr of Lexington, ending an especially negative campaign season.
Barr bombarded Democratic challenger Josh Hicks, a Lexington lawyer, with attack ads on television for the past two months.
Among other allegations, Barr accused Hicks of being a socialist who sided with violent street mobs against police officers, although Hicks is a former U.S. Marine and Maysville police officer. In response ads and in their one televised debate, Hicks angrily tried to defend himself by calling Barr a liar.
On a more positive note, the 47-year-old Barr also touted his work for the 6th Congressional District during this year’s COVID-19 pandemic, such as helping to deliver truckloads of medical supplies from the federal stockpile and connecting employers with forgivable federal loans so they could stay open.
“I am so honored the hard-working, good-hearted and diverse people of the 6th District have yet again rendered their judgment, deciding that I have passed this test of responsiveness, accountability and effectiveness,” Barr said during his victory speech last night.
“As I have always said, if you do the job you are elected to do, the politics will take care of itself,” Barr said.
The Lexington-based 6th District is considered a swing district — with an urban center, suburbs and rural counties — that alternately has elected two Democrats and two Republicans over the last 30 years. But it’s been trending more conservative in recent elections, making the seat a safe one for Barr.
Results from the Fayette County clerk’s office Tuesday indicated that roughly 6,000 mail-in absentee voters chose Democrats Joe Biden for president and Amy McGrath for Senate but then crossed party lines to support Barr for the House. After leading Barr for a brief period Tuesday evening with early Lexington voters, Hicks fell behind as votes came in from the district’s outlying counties.
Barr first was elected in 2012. A member of the House GOP minority, he serves on the committees on Financial Affairs and Veterans’ Affairs. His incumbency helped him dominate Hicks in campaign fundraising, where he raised $4.1 million to Hicks’ $2.5 million.
The father of two young girls, Barr was widowed in June after his wife, Carol, died unexpectedly of a heart condition known as mitral valve prolapse, or floppy valve syndrome.
Several key themes emerged in the race: the federal government’s response to COVID-19, access to health care and racial inequality in law enforcement.
A strong supporter of Republican President Donald Trump, who held a rally for him in 2018, Barr said the federal pandemic response is going well. By contrast, Hicks called the federal response “a failure,” given the large numbers of those dying or unemployed.
On the health care system, both Barr and Hicks said they support protection for people with preexisting health conditions, such as asthma, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Barr advertised heavily on the subject, and Hicks embarked on a districtwide listening tour on health care.
However, as Hicks noted, Barr repeatedly voted to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the 2010 law that — among other things — guarantees equal access to health insurance at approximately the same cost for people with preexisting conditions.
Finally, in attack ads, Barr accused Hicks of calling all police officers racist and siding with violent street mobs.
Barr’s ammunition: In a June televised forum, Hicks said he has come to believe there is “systemic racism” in law enforcement. “We police communities of color differently than we police communities without color, and that’s a tremendous injustice,” Hicks said.
Barr repeated the charge in a heated exchange with Hicks on WKYT. During a debate, Barr said he won the endorsement of the Fraternal Order of Police, not Hicks, despite Hicks being a former police officer.
“Because he insulted them by saying that they were all systemically racist,” Barr said.
“That’s a lie,” Hicks said.
“My question for you, Mr. Hicks, is, if every police officer is racist, are you a racist?” Barr asked.
“My question for you is, how does a congressman not know what the word ‘systemic’ means?” Hicks replied. “Systemic means ‘in the system.’ It means the system has problems. I haven’t called a single police officer racist.”
6th Congressional District
- Andy Barr 205,270
- Josh Hicks 144,889
- Frank Harris 6,009
(92 percent of precincts reporting.)
This story was originally published November 3, 2020 at 9:12 PM.
