Andy Barr wins Kentucky GOP Senate primary

Rep. Andy Barr won Kentucky’s Republican Senate primary on Tuesday, after being boosted in the testy contest by President Donald Trump’s endorsement.

Barr will be the heavy favorite to succeed Sen. Mitch McConnell in deep-red Kentucky.

The Lexington-area representative defeated former Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who won the gubernatorial primary in 2023 but lost to Gov. Andy Beshear. His third statewide campaign was his first without institutional backing from McConnell, who Cameron criticized throughout his campaign.

Barr also fended off a well-funded challenge from Nate Morris, an entrepreneur who carried endorsements from Charlie Kirk and Donald Trump Jr. and received financial support from Elon Musk. Morris sharply attacked McConnell and ridiculed Barr and Cameron — who both have ties to McConnell — as the senator’s “puppets.” His allies spent millions in TV ads lambasting Barr for being soft on immigration and not sufficiently aligned with Trump’s agenda.

But Morris’ flamethrowing campaign fizzled out in the final months of the race, and he ultimately dropped out, with Trump promising to nominate him for an unspecified ambassadorship.

The race to earn Trump’s endorsement, which Kentucky Republican officials said would all but predetermine the primary’s outcome in the deep-red state, saw each candidate tout their loyalties to the president while distancing themselves from both McConnell and Rep. Thomas Massie — two Trump enemies on opposite wings of the party.

But unlike Cameron and Morris, Barr’s criticisms of McConnell were relatively measured — which kept Barr in the good graces of Kentucky GOP donors and political operatives who still hold the longtime Senate Republican leader in high regard.

Those relationships appeared to pay off: Barr cemented a polling lead and fundraising advantage by April, paving the way for Trump to endorse.

“I know Andy well, and he is always a Vote we can count on because he knows what it takes to GET THINGS DONE and, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN,” Trumpwrote on social media on Monday.

Barr will likely face off against either former state Rep. Charles Booker or former Marine Amy McGrath, the two Democrats who lost the last two Senate races in the state, in November. Even in a year that’s expected to have tough political headwinds for Republicans, Barr will be the favorite.