Representative Andy Barr (R-KY) is presenting himself as the anti-Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) candidate in Kentucky's 2026 Senate race, but his voting record on DEI says otherwise. Rep. Barr has supported a multitude of DEI initiatives, most notably for the Pentagon.
In his initial campaign ad, following his entry into the Senate race, he vehemently presented himself as anti-DEI. "The woke left wants to neuter America, literally. They hate our values, they hate our history, and goodness knows they hate President Trump," he said. "My plan for these insane DEI initiatives is pretty simple," he said later in his ad. "D-I-E."
I’m running for Senate to help President @realdonaldtrump save this great country!
— Andy Barr (@barrforsenate) April 22, 2025
Together, we’ll deport the illegals, end this DEI nonsense, and lock up the sickos who allow men into girls locker rooms.
WATCH my announcement now and join us in this fight! pic.twitter.com/NOJaFhwdH5
He has made that slogan the focal point of his campaign, with his staff sending campaign texts reading, "Andy Barr says it best – it’s time for D-E-I to D-I-E! Andy Barr will stop the radical woke agenda and protect our conservative values in the Senate."
Yet Rep. Barr supported multiple National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) bills that advanced DEI initiatives, such as installing a chief diversity officer at the Pentagon and renaming U.S. military bases to be more inclusive, according to Breitbart. At least one of such bill was vetoed by President Trump during his first term, while Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) described the same bill as being too focused on Democratic priorities. Cruz said:
This bill includes a host of partisan Democrat priorities unrelated to national security…like requiring the Department of Defense to rename military bases in a brazenly political attempt to erase our nation’s history.
Trump's message about the veto stated:
My Administration respects the legacy of the millions of American servicemen and women who have served with honor at these military bases. I have been clear in my opposition to politically motivated attempts like this to wash away history and to dishonor the immense progress our country has fought for in realizing our founding principles.
In 2021 while Biden Was Resident, Barr joined the Democrats in voting for another NDAA, which was so much more woke than the first (which had bipartisan support) that Democrats fired out a press release celebrating Barr's support of the bill, which “invests in America’s rich pool of diverse talent to meet our biggest national security challenges.”
Out of the main candidates vying for Mitch McConnell's Senate seat, following the senator's retirement announcement, Rep. Barr is one of two who align with McConnell's legacy. The other is the former Attorney General of Kentucky, Daniel Cameron. The other major candidate, businessman Nate Morris, however, has gone to great lengths to distance his own policies from those of Senator McConnell's. He has aligned himself with President Trump's policy goals, and according to Breitbart, has caused a chaotic stir among establishment Kentucky Republicans.