Rep. Andy Barr announces 2026 run for the U.S. Senate in Kentucky

By

Briana Ryan

Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.) announced on April 22, 2025, that he will run for the U.S. Senate seat in Kentucky in 2026 rather than another term in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The seat is open since incumbent Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced he would not seek re-election. As of April 23, 2025, independent race forecasters The Cook Political Report and Inside Elections have rated the general election for the seat as Solid Republican. Sabato’s Crystal Ball rated it Safe Republican.

In a video announcing his campaign, Barr said, “I’m running for Senate to help our president save this great country. … Kentucky is the heart of America. We work hard, play fair, never give up, and that’s what it’s going to take to win this fight.”

In 2012, Barr ran for his first term in the House in Kentucky’s 6th Congressional District. In the general election, he defeated incumbent Rep. Ben Chandler (D-Ky.) 51% to 47%. Barr was among 27 challengers to defeat an incumbent in a general election that year.

Barr won by a median of 21 percentage points in his six subsequent re-election bids. Barr’s widest margin of victory (MOV) was in 2022, when he won by 29 percentage points. His narrowest MOV was in 2018, when he won by three percentage points.

As of April 23, 2025, The Cook Political Report and Inside Elections have rated the 2026 general election for Kentucky’s 6th Congressional District as Solid Republican. Sabato’s Crystal Ball rated it Safe Republican. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) named Kentucky’s 6th Congressional District as one of 35 Republican-held districts they are targeting in 2026.

As of April 23, 2025, 12 members of the U.S. Congress—five senators and seven representatives—have announced they will not seek re-election to their current seats in 2026.

Of the seven representatives—Two democrats and five Republicans—not seeking re-election:

Compared to the last four election cycles, there were eight retirement announcements at this point in 2024, 11 in 2022, five in 2020, and seven in 2018.

Between January 2011 and April 2025, Ballotpedia followed 359 announcements from Senate and House members who announced they would not seek re-election. January had seen the highest number of announcements of any month at 69. The fewest announcements—12—happened in June.