by McKenna Horsley, Kentucky Lantern
August 6, 2025

FANCY FARM — With control of the U.S. House up for grabs next year, U.S. Rep. Andy Barr is urging Kentucky Republicans to put him at the top of the state ticket, saying it would help President Donald Trump’s party keep the House seat Barr is vacating.

Not surprisingly one of his Republican rivals for the U.S. Senate disagrees. Daniel Cameron, a former Kentucky attorney general, says the best thing Barr could do to protect Trump and retain GOP control of the U.S. House of Representatives would be to run for reelection in the state’s 6th Congressional District.

Republican Senate candidate Nate Morris’ campaign declined to comment.

The three leading Republican candidates for Senate are competing for Trump’s endorsement in a state the president swept in all three of his runs. With no presidential or governor’s race in 2026, the campaigns to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell will be Kentucky’s premier political contest.

Speaking to reporters after the annual Fancy Farm Picnic in West Kentucky Saturday, Barr said he has “worked really, really hard to lock down” his Central Kentucky congressional district for Republicans. He called it the “one swing purple district in the state.”

Home to Lexington and the University of Kentucky, the district has a history of alternating between political parties. Barr was elected to the U.S. House in 2012 when he defeated incumbent Democrat Ben Chandler who had held the seat since a special election in 2004. Before that the seat was held by Republican Ernie Fletcher who won the governor’s race in 2003. Fletcher had  succeeded Democrat and former Lexington Mayor Scotty Baesler who ran for U.S. Senate and lost to Republican Jim Bunning. The Republican-controlled legislature made the district more favorable to Republicans by removing Democratic-leaning Franklin County after the 2020 census.

Barr said that he has heard Trump “cares very deeply” about the congressional seat through conversations he’s had with the White House, Republican U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson and Richard Hudson, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. National news outlets have reported that the White House has concerns about retaining control of Barr’s congressional seat as Democrats have an edge in registered voters in the district. Plus, the White House has tried to dissuade incumbent House Republicans in swing districts from seeking higher office. 

Republicans currently hold a slight majority in the U.S. House with 219 seats to Democrats’ 212 seats. 

Last week, following pressure from Trump’s political team, Texas GOP lawmakers released a redistricting plan that could aid in flipping five Democratic seats there. Democratic lawmakers have left Texas to block the legislature from having the quorum necessary to “ram through a racist gerrymandered map” in the words of Texas House Democratic leader Gene Wu.

In Fancy Farm, Barr told the crowd he wanted to make “one other major point that I think the president is listening to: who is the U.S. Senate nominee who can help our nominee in the 6th District the most?” The congressman said that Republican candidates who have announced for the House seat so far — state Reps. Ryan Dotson and Deanna Frazier Gordon and former state Sen. Ralph Alvarado — would “all say Andy Barr.” 

“That’s another reason why I should be the nominee, because I can help us keep this seat in central Kentucky in Republican hands,” Barr said. 

Trump has yet to make an endorsement in the Kentucky U.S. Senate race, but Barr, Cameron and Morris have all attempted to tie themselves closer to the president and his policies. 

Cameron’s campaign argued that past polling shows Barr is incorrect, as Cameron led statewide and not just the 6th Congressional District. 

“If Barr thinks the Sixth District is that hard to hold, then he should run for reelection in the House,” Cameron’s campaign said in a statement. “The NRCC and the White House are deeply concerned about maintaining the President’s majority in the House. Any actions that might put the majority in jeopardy place President Trump directly at risk of more sham impeachments and fake Russia collusion hoaxes. The best way for Barr to stop that from happening is to run for reelection.” 

Tres Watson, a former spokesperson for the Republican Party of Kentucky, said Barr makes a valid point. 

Barr has won multiple races in Central Kentucky, including “some very difficult races.” Democrat and former Marine fighter pilot Amy McGrath outspent his campaign for the seat in 2018 and lost. 

“He’s popular in Central Kentucky, and specifically, he can draw kind of more moderate, independent voters in Fayette County,” Watson said. “And with him being on the top of the ticket, there are voters that in the past have voted for Andy Barr for Congress that will probably vote for Andy Barr for Senate. And the hope, obviously, would be that they would either vote straight ticket Republican if they’re showing up to vote for Andy or they would listen to his advice on who’d replace him.”

Morris, a businessman, also lives in Lexington, said Watson, but can’t make an argument that he would help carry the 6th Congressional District for Republicans because he’s never run for public office and, in contrast to Barr, is not well known.

However, Kentucky Democratic Party Executive Director Morgan Eaves countered that Barr’s record in the district is “not great,” with his recent support for the GOP spending megabill that Congress passed last month and support for Trump’s tariff plans. Democratic candidates  have also lined up to run in the 6th Congressional District in recent months. They include former Kentucky House Democratic Caucus Chair Cherlynn Stevenson, former Lexington council member David Kloiber and former federal prosecutor Zach Dembo.

Eaves said it stood out to her that Barr mentioned “what the president is listening for” and not Kentuckians. She added that it was “incredibly tone deaf of him to say.” 

“He feels, obviously, pretty strongly about himself, which is interesting, considering he can’t even face his own constituents in the 6th Congressional District,” Eaves said. “So, for a guy who runs from every opportunity to speak at a town hall or to speak to constituents about their concerns, it’s pretty interesting that he thinks he’s going to be the best opportunity to lead the top of the ticket in the 6th Congressional District.” 

Earlier this year, more than 900 people gathered at town hall in Lexington and addressed an empty chair that had been reserved for Barr. Days later, the Kentucky Democratic Party also held another town hall in Lexington.

Kentucky Lantern is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kentucky Lantern maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jamie Lucke for questions: info@kentuckylantern.com.

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Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Center-Right

The content primarily focuses on Republican candidates and their strategies within Kentucky’s political landscape, highlighting their alignment with former President Donald Trump and GOP priorities. While it includes some critical perspectives from Democratic figures, the overall tone remains factual and centered on Republican viewpoints and intra-party dynamics. The inclusion of Democratic critiques provides balance, but the emphasis on Republican campaigns and endorsements suggests a slight lean toward center-right coverage.