LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — One of the Republican candidates running for Mitch McConnell's seat stopped by WDRB on Friday to give his stance on hot-button issues in the nation.
Rep. Andy Barr, who represents Kentucky's Sixth District, including Lexington, championed President Trump's Big Beautiful Bill and secured votes to get it passed.
A big component of Trump's massive spending bill was cuts to Medicaid, prompting opponents saying the bill cuts healthcare for millions of Americans while giving huge tax cuts to corporations.
However, Barr said Friday he is confident the bill will get rid of wasteful spending.
"We want Medicaid, that safety net healthcare program to be strengthened, not undermined," he said. "I feel like this bill and I'm confident that this bill actually does this by getting rid of waste, fraud and abuse and syphoning off scarce resources away from what Medicaid was originally designed for which was the poor, moms and kids, the disabled who can't work, dual eligible elderly folks who are indigent and need the help. What we don't want is for people who are ineligible to defraud the program."
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear called the bill a betrayal, saying it risks the lives of 200,000 Kentuckians, could close 35 rural hospitals, and put 20,000 jobs on the line in the Commonwealth.
"This vote put politics over people, and our country deserves better," Beshear said in a post on X July 3.
Barr also weighed in on the influx of federal immigration arrests, and how that will affect Kentucky's agriculture and equine industries. Concerns have grown in the horse racing industry following the arrest of more than 80 people working at Delta Downs Racetrack in Louisiana back in June.
Barr said he wants to make sure the horse industry has the legal workers it needs to thrive.
"These are jobs that Americans have demonstrably declined and so there's a labor demand there," he said. "Legal immigration is what this country is all about at the same time that will create the conditions for streamlining the bureaucracy and making sure that our agriculture sector and our horse industry has the legal workforce and labor that they need to thrive."
An attorney representing a large group of thoroughbred trainers and owners told WDRB that a vast majority of the workers in Kentucky with or without documentation are hard workers and good people not criminals.
He said stables try to make sure workers are here legally and work hard to help them get H-2B visas.
In addition to Barr running for the Senate seat, Republicans Daniel Cameron and Nate Morris have also launched campaigns. Kentucky Rep. Pamela Stevenson, a Democrat, is also running for the seat. She currently represents Jefferson County's 43rd District in the Kentucky House.
In February, McConnell announced he wouldn't seek reelection in 2026, but would finish out his term ending January 2027.
Barr discussed the recent influx in federal immigration arrests and concerns being raised by workers in the state's agriculture and equine industries.
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