Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.) announced Tuesday he will launch a bid for retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) seat, becoming the latest GOP contender to throw his hat into the ring.
“I’m Andy Barr, and I’m running for Senate to help our president save this great country,” Barr said in a nearly two-minute video announcing his candidacy that was posted on social platform X. “Together, we’ll cut taxes, slash waste and fire the deep state bureaucrats who steal our freedoms.”
Barr said in his launch video that the “woke left wants to neuter America,” adding further that progressives “hate our values, they hate our history, and goodness knows, they hate President Trump.”
The Kentucky Republican also touched on culture war issues in his video, saying he would “end radical DEI programs” in reference to diversity, equity and inclusion. He also said he would “fight to lock up the sickos who allow biological men to share locker rooms with our daughters. Gender is God-given.”
Barr’s entry into the race was widely expected, making him the latest big-name GOP contender to wade into the election. Former Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron (R), who was once an aide to McConnell, is also running. Kentucky House Minority Leader Pamela Stevenson is the only major contender on the Democratic side so far.
Conor McGuinness, as a spokesman for businessman Nate Morris, who’s also considering a bid for McConnell’s seat, slammed Barr in a statement, describing the congressman as “another Mitch McConnell lackey.”
“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,” he added.
Barr also didn’t waste any time in calling out his critics, too, during a subsequent speech he made launching his campaign in Richmond, Ky., Tuesday evening.
“There’s going to be a lot of rhetoric in this race, a lot of lies and negative ads and nonsense along the way,” he said.
He added that to his critics, who he said had also criticized President Trump, “you cannot intimidate me. Your false attacks will fail. I will not back down.”
The nonpartisan election handicapper Cook Political Report rates McConnell’s seat “solid Republican.”
Updated at 7:56 p.m. ET.
