It’s been 16 years since a Senate seat opened in Kentucky, one that was filled by the election of Rand Paul in 2010. Now, with the impending departure of Mitch McConnell — who has not only served in the Senate since 1985 but is also the longest-serving Senate party leader ever — another significant opening in the nation’s legislature has occurred.
Four candidates are now vying to succeed McConnell in the Senate. Whoever wins will enter the Senate as a freshman member and is unlikely to immediately wield the influence McConnell accumulated over more than four decades in office.
But what made McConnell such a significant figure — for both his allies and his detractors? And what do we know about the current slate of candidates looking to take his place?
The party leader
McConnell’s allies have described him as an effective leader, party builder and mentor, while critics argue that his tactics contributed to obstruction and polarization in Washington.
“When I ran for office — my first time running was in 2003 — he recognized something in me and gave me suggestions along the way, gave me a pat on the back when I deserved it and gave me a kick in the butt when I needed it,” said Trey Grayson, a Northern Kentucky native, attorney and former Republican Kentucky Secretary of State from 2004 to early 2011. “He did that for a lot of people.”
McConnell endorsed Grayson in the 2010 Republican Senate primary, which he lost to Rand Paul.
On the other hand, said Jared Kamrass, a Cincinnati-based Democratic media consultant, “he did help usher in this era of very, very stark polarization and the gamesmanship of politics.”
Kamrass said that McConnell was, at the most basic level, an effective politician.
“Mitch McConnell had really built the Republican Party from scratch since being elected senator,” said Darrin Wilson, professor of political science at Northern Kentucky University. “He’s been able to build an infrastructure that has been very powerful and very effective in electing Republicans across the commonwealth.”
One way he did this, Wilson said, was by recruiting people for local and state-level offices. He was also integral in fundraising campaigns. During McConnell’s tenure, Kentucky also underwent a dramatic partisan shift at the state and federal levels. Kentucky has not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since Wendell Ford won reelection in 1992.
“At the national level, it’s still a solidly Republican state, conservative state, which I think makes it difficult for any Democrat in particular to be able to overcome that hurdle,” Wilson said. “Especially as a state that has a very urban-rural divide, where you have Democratic votes very much concentrated in the urban areas, whereas the rest of the state, more rural communities, rural counties tend to vote more Republican at the federal level for federal elections.”
That shift, Grayson said, reflects McConnell’s long-running focus on building the Republican Party from the ground up.
“We call him the architect of the modern Kentucky Republican Party, and it’s deserved,” Grayson said. “When I would talk to people around the country, and I would tell them how much he still cared about local races, local legislative races, things like that, a lot of folks were surprised because so many of the national figures don’t stay as involved in trying to help that.”
McConnell was also effective at bringing federal money into the state. One of the most prominent examples was the roughly $4 billion Brent Spence Bridge Corridor Project, for which McConnell helped secure federal support. But just this year, even as it was clear his time in the Senate was winding down, McConnell and his allies managed to secure roughly $18.5 million in federal money for infrastructure, education and defense projects in NKY. The funding was included in the congressionally approved federal appropriations bill, McConnell touted when he visited Erlanger in April.
“I’m finishing up 42 years, and my attitude about this has remained the same no matter who was in the White House,” McConnell said during a visit to Erlanger in April. “My job was to help our medium-sized state punch above its weight to be able to compete against California, New York and other big states, and to designate where that funding should go.”
McConnell’s role in increasing partisan polarization in the Senate is also a point of disagreement over his legacy. Critics argue that his leadership tactics contributed to that polarization. His repeated use of the filibuster during the years of the Obama administration, for instance, was among the primary roadblocks for enacting that administration’s policy agenda. McConnell declined to advance Obama’s 2016 Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, while the Republican-led Senate confirmed Donald Trump nominee Amy Coney Barrett in October 2020, shortly before that year’s election.
“His legacy is going to be very, very complicated,” Kamrass said. “I think there’s no doubt that he was effective for Kentucky. At this point, even his strongest admirers would have to be willing to acknowledge that he did help usher in a part of our politics that is particularly dark.”
As for the future of Kentucky’s Senate seat, the role the new senator is going to play, Wilson said, “depends on which party ends up taking the Senate after this election.”
Who’s next?
Charles Booker
Charles Booker is a lifelong resident of Louisville’s West End. He became the first Black major-party nominee for U.S. Senate in Kentucky in 2022.
He served in the Kentucky House representing the 43rd District from 2019 to 2021 and was the state’s youngest Black lawmaker during his term. Booker ran for Senate in 2020, losing the primary narrowly to Amy McGrath, then winning the 2022 Democratic primary; he lost the general to Rand Paul.
Booker served as director of administrative services for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife, where he worked with communities across the state.
In the “why I’m running” section of his campaign website, Booker said, “now more than ever, people need leadership that is committed to the work of ending generational poverty and uprooting structural racism, delivering on system-changing policies like Medicare for All, Universal Basic Income, Reparations and Universal Childcare.”
He said his priorities include supporting small businesses, family farms and grassroots organizations, as well as addressing housing affordability and rising utility costs. He also said he supports policies aimed at preventing families from losing housing because of high rents.
“The current White House is abysmal,” Booker said on his campaign website. “They have failed to show up for regular people at every possible turn, sold us out coming and going, tanked the economy we were already getting pummeled by, trampled on our rights and freedoms, and only made the swamp worse.
“While it is critical that we push back on these wannabe kings and bring accountability to Washington, the movement has always been bigger than the hate we stand against,” said Booker. “I am running for Senate because I know Kentucky is worth fighting for.”
Charles Booker did not respond to a request for comment. This profile was compiled using information from Booker’s campaign website.
Andy Barr
Andy Barr is an eighth-generation Kentuckian, a husband and father of four.
Barr, who has represented Kentucky’s 6th Congressional District in the U.S. House since 2013, said he is seeking a U.S. Senate seat because he wants to continue representing Kentucky at the federal level, according to information his campaign manager provided to LINK nky.
He currently serves on the House Financial Services, Foreign Affairs and the Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the U.S. and the Chinese Communist Party.
His campaign has emphasized his experience in Congress and his support for President Donald Trump’s policy agenda.
Barr said his priorities include strengthening border security, expanding domestic energy production, including Kentucky coal and natural gas, and pursuing economic policies aligned with the Trump administration.
“With President Trump back in the White House, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to seal the border for good, unleash American energy like Kentucky coal and natural gas, rebuild our economy and restore common sense in Washington,” Barr said in a statement. “I’ll also continue to fight for our Second Amendment rights, to protect the pro-life movement and to make sure biological men aren’t in girls’ sports and private spaces.”
Barr’s campaign also pointed to more than 160 endorsements it says he has received in the race, including support from U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin, U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers, Northern Kentucky native Nick Sandmann and former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines.
The campaign has presented Barr’s congressional record, support for Trump and experience in federal office as central arguments for his Senate candidacy.
LINK nky compiled this profile using information and statements provided by Barr’s campaign manager.
Christopher Campbell
Kentucky Party candidate Christopher Campbell told LINK nky that he entered the race because he believes officials in the two major parties only seek to line the pockets of their benefactors and ignore the needs of their constituents.
He said he got into the race purely by circumstance. Running for the Senate was not on his 2026 bingo card, he said, but the Kentucky Party did not have a candidate to run for the seat, so he stepped up.
His primary policy is universal healthcare.
“We are the wealthiest nation in history and we cannot guarantee healthcare to our citizens,” Campbell said. “The number one cause of debt and bankruptcy is medical costs. That is a failure of the government and it is inhumane. I believe that the preamble to the Constitution is the mission statement of the federal government, the contract to its citizens. To me, the part about promoting ‘the General Welfare’ includes universal healthcare and is a principle that the federal government needs to uphold.”
He said his first priority, if elected, would be reining in the executive branch. He said that presidents have been given too much slack from Congress to wage wars, issue tariffs and conduct unconstitutional business with zero accountability or repercussions.
Thomas Michael Murphy
Thomas Michael Murphy filed as a write-in candidate with no party affiliation on March 4, according to the Kentucky Secretary of State.
Thomas Michael Murphy did not respond to LINK nky’s request for comment and does not have a formal campaign website. This profile was compiled using available information on Murphy.
