Trump-backed Andy Barr wins GOP nomination for Mitch McConnell’s Senate seat in Kentucky

2026 ElectionTrump-backed Andy Barr wins GOP nomination for Mitch McConnell’s Senate seat in KentuckyTrump changed the contours of the race after endorsing Barr and urging businessman Nate Morris to drop out of the Republican primary.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., at the Capitol Hill Club in March 2026.Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images fileShareAdd NBC News to GoogleMay 19, 2026, 7:00 PM EDTBy Henry J. GomezRep. Andy Barr, riding an endorsement from President Donald Trump, has won the Republican primary in the race for retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell’s seat in Kentucky, NBC News projects.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.Barr, a seven-term congressman, prevailed over former state Attorney General Daniel Cameron and other, lesser-known GOP candidates. He will be a heavy general election favorite against the Democratic nominee in a state that has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since it awarded Wendell Ford a fourth and final term in 1992. Trump waded into the race this month when backed Barr and urged Nate Morris, a businessman with strong ties to the president’s MAGA movement, to end his campaign for the GOP nomination and instead accept an ambassadorship. Morris agreed and quickly got behind Barr. Though Morris is friends with Vice President JD Vance and received an endorsement from Charlie Kirk before the influential conservative activist’s assassination last year, he had not shown enough growth in polls to win Trump’s support. “Just like the President said at his Northern Kentucky rally in March, I’ve been with him all the way and I always will be,” Barr said in a statement after clinching Trump’s endorsement. “As our next Senator, I’ll stand with President Trump 100% to deliver for Kentucky and to keep Making America Great Again.”Morris had relentlessly attacked Barr and Cameron as extensions of the McConnell establishment — a potentia...