New poll shows movement in the Kentucky Senate race, PAC spends big on anti-Barr ad

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Whether it’s good news or bad news, Rep. Andy Barr is about to be on a lot more television sets across Kentucky.

A PAC hoping to defeat Barr in the multi-candidate GOP primary race to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell in 2026 is launching a $2 million ad campaign Wednesday stating that McConnell “groomed” Barr as an intern. The Barr campaign itself has also dropped its first TV ad of the cycle.

And, a pro-Barr PAC just released a poll showing his numbers rising, but still falling short of former Attorney General Daniel Cameron.

In recent months, ads either extolling or bashing Nate Morris, a Lexington tech entrepreneur also running for the seat, dominated the air waves.

Now it looks like it’s Barr’s turn.

The biggest ad buy is the one from Club For Growth PAC, which has been running ads against Barr since well before he even got in the race. It will air on television, cable, satellite and streaming in the Louisville and Lexington markets, the PAC said.

The ad starts off with the claim that McConnell “groomed” Barr as an intern. Both Cameron and Morris were also McConnell interns, and while “grooming” more generally means preparing someone for a role, it has recently been used more often in the context of behavior by an abuser.

The ad highlights contributions from PACs linked to McConnell and former Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney, a Republican reviled by Trump, made to Barr.

Club for Growth has not endorsed a candidate in the 2026 race to replace McConnell, but has consistently run ads against Barr.

“Kentucky Republicans have been dealing with an anti-Trump RINO as Senator for years with big-spending Mitch McConnell, and they won’t elect another to replace him,” David McIntosh, Club for Growth Action’s president, said in a statement.

A statement from the Barr campaign insinuated that the group was supporting Morris, whom it called “a woke CEO whose polling numbers are in the trash.”

“The same group that spent millions telling lies about Donald Trump in 2024 is now attacking Andy Barr, a top ally of President Trump and his 2024 primary chairman in Kentucky,” the Barr campaign statement reads.

Club for Growth and Trump have a rocky past.

Dating back to 2016 and continuing during Trump’s third presidential campaign, the group and organizations linked to it have sought to stymie Trump’s political rise. Still, the anti-tax group is well-funded and has a record of providing Republicans with the fiscal firepower needed to win elections.

Also running on TV as of Tuesday is Barr’s introductory ad.

It features a smiling Barr highlighting a consistent theme of his campaign: “A lot of politicians talk about supporting President Trump. I’m actually doing it every single day.”

The ad runs two different clips of Trump shouting out Barr at events in Washington and displays a photo Barr and Trump at a campaign rally during one of Barr’s reelection cycles for his 6th Congressional District seat.

“I helped Trump deliver the largest tax cut in American history, keep men out of girls sports and fund the largest deportation effort we’ve ever seen. The best thing? We’re just getting started,” Barr says in the ad.

Barr is not the only Republican in Kentucky facing fire from a political action committee. A PAC supporting Barr has run TV ads against Morris and a PAC tied to Trump is airing negative ads against 4th Congressional District Rep. Thomas Massie in his native Northern Kentucky.

New poll from pro-Barr PAC

After many months of no polling news in the Kentucky Senate race for the GOP nomination — largely viewed as a three-way contest, though lesser-known candidate Michael Faris is also making consistent appearances at party events — there is a new survey out from a pro-Barr PAC.

Keep America Great PAC, led by former Barr staffer Tyler Staker, dropped a poll showing that Cameron is still ahead of the pack, but Barr is rising.

The survey, conducted Sep. 2-4 among 600 likely GOP primary voters, found that 37% said they’d vote for Cameron, 29% backed Barr and 8% supported Morris.

Compare that to a late February poll conducted when Cameron was the only announced candidate, and a firm connected to Cameron’s consultant found that Cameron had 39%, Barr was at 18% and Morris had 3% support.

Keep America Great PAC said a poll it conducted in June had Cameron’s support at 51%, then last month it was at 39%, arguing his lead was “entirely dependent on fading name recognition, not enthusiasm.”

The poll from this month found varying favorability for Cameron, Barr and Morris as well. About 61% of those polled had a favorable view of Cameron, compared to 43% for Barr and 11% for Morris.

The poll, commissioned by pro-Barr forces, came away with a clear conclusion: the Barr campaign is doing great.

“The trajectory of this race is clear: Cameron continues to bleed support, Barr is positioned to consolidate undecideds, and Morris has burned through millions only to languish at 8%. The data show that Andy Barr is the only candidate with the foundation and growth potential to overtake Cameron and win,” the poll reads.

The teams for Morris and Cameron had different views.

Conor McGuinness, a spokesperson for Morris, called it a “fake poll.”

“Team Barr knows full well that Nate is surging, which is why they spend so much time and money desperately lying about him,” McGuinness wrote.

Cameron campaign manager Taylor Zanazzi used similar language.

“Daniel Cameron is dominating the field. Even Andy Barr’s fake poll agrees,” Zanazzi wrote. “Andy and Nate are going to have a lot of fun these next few months in their fight for second place. Despite the millions spent attacking Daniel by Nate and the establishment bankrolling Barr, Kentucky voters see right through it.”