FILE - Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., speaks at the annual Fancy Farm picnic Aug. 2, 2025, in Fancy Farm, Ky. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)(Mark Humphrey / AP)LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday endorsed Kentucky congressman Andy Barr in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell, the former longtime Senate GOP leader.“Andy Barr has my Complete and Total Endorsement to be the next United States Senator from Kentucky,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.Shortly after Trump’s public endorsement of Barr, he announced that entrepreneur Nate Morris would now “step aside” from the GOP primary race and accept an unspecified ambassadorship from the president. Morris then posted on social media that he is withdrawing from the race and endorsing Barr.Remaining in the GOP primary for Senate is former Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, whom recent polls have shown in a close second behind Barr and above Morris, who has trailed in third place since he announced last year.All three Republicans coveted the president’s endorsement in the conservative state, where Trump won 64% of the vote in the 2024 presidential race. Barr and Morris have run numerous ads featuring Trump, and Morris has received financial support from conservative ally Elon Musk.There has already been $48 million of spending in the GOP primary race, with a large majority of that coming from the Morris and Barr campaigns, as well as super PACs supporting and opposing each.Republican candidates in the Kentucky race have made very little mention of McConnell during the campaign — other than fierce criticism from Morris — reflecting the changing dynamics of the Trump-led GOP. Morris criticized both Barr and Morris as “puppets” of McConnell during the campaign.Each has a connection to McConnell. Cameron is a former aide, Barr has referred to the senator as a mentor, and Morris worked as an intern in McConnell’s office. Trump once praised McConnell as an ally but more recently has been critical of the seven-term senator.The Democratic field includes former state lawmaker Charles Booker and former Marine pilot Amy McGrath. Booker narrowly beat McGrath in the 2020 Democratic primary to face McConnell.Democrats have not won a U.S. Senate race in Kentucky since 1992. ...read more read less