{"id":211221,"date":"2026-05-20T18:02:59","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T18:02:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/trump-backed-andy-barr-wins-gop-nomination-for-mitch-mcconnells-senate-seat-in-kentucky-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T18:02:59","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T18:02:59","slug":"trump-backed-andy-barr-wins-gop-nomination-for-mitch-mcconnells-senate-seat-in-kentucky-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/trump-backed-andy-barr-wins-gop-nomination-for-mitch-mcconnells-senate-seat-in-kentucky-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump-backed Andy Barr wins GOP nomination for Mitch McConnell\u2019s Senate seat in Kentucky – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Rep. Andy Barr, riding an endorsement from President Donald Trump, has won the <\/strong>Republican primary<\/a> in the race for retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell\u2019s seat in Kentucky, NBC News projects.
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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 Democratic nominee Charles Booker, who previously ran for Senate and was competing against another former Democratic Senate nominee, Amy McGrath. The state 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 he backed Barr and urged Nate Morris, a businessman with strong ties to his 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, the influential conservative activist, before he was assassinated last year, he had not shown enough growth in polls to win Trump\u2019s support.
\u201cJust like the President said at his Northern Kentucky rally in March, I\u2019ve been with him all the way and I always will be,\u201d Barr said in a statement after he clinched Trump\u2019s endorsement. \u201cAs our next Senator, I\u2019ll stand with President Trump 100% to deliver for Kentucky and to keep Making America Great Again.\u201d
Morris had relentlessly attacked Barr and Cameron as extensions of the McConnell establishment \u2014 a potential tension point given McConnell\u2019s split with Trump \u2014 and his departure from the race eased Barr\u2019s path.
\u201cPresident Trump makes his pick for Kentucky Senate,\u201d a narrator said in an ad<\/a> that Barr\u2019s campaign rushed to air, quoting from Trump\u2019s social media post endorsing Barr: \u201cAndy Barr is a proven winner. … He\u2019ll cut taxes, unleash American energy dominance, and secure the border.\u201d
For Cameron, once seen as a rising national star, the primary loss is his second statewide defeat in less than three years. He lost to Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear in Beshear\u2019s 2023 re-election bid.
Henry J. Gomez is a senior national political reporter for NBC News
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LIVE FOR SUBSCRIBERS: Steve Kornacki answers your questions on a livestream. news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeRep. Andy Barr, riding an endorsement from President Donald Trump, has won the Republican primary in the race for retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell\u2019s seat in Kentucky, NBC News projects.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":211222,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-211221","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211221\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}