A scene from Republican Andy Barr’s campaign ad in which he says it’s “not a sin to be white.” Barr is running for retiring U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell’s seat. (Barr campaign)
When this column last looked at Kentucky’s U.S. Senate race, it said former attorney general Daniel Cameron was running the most overtly religious campaign ever mounted by a major candidate for statewide office in the commonwealth.
Now U.S. Rep. Andy Barr is running the most overtly racist statewide campaign we can remember in Kentucky, apparently to fend off businessman Nate Morris, who is running the Trumpiest campaign the state has ever seen.
Barr’s racist pitch is basically in just one 30-second television commercial, but it has created so many waves in the last two weeks that it has, at least for now, defined his campaign.
The ad’s issue is diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI — which Barr says stands for “dumb, evil indoctrination.” That’s almost entirely false, but the line is just a tee-up for the rest of the spot.
After calling Morris one of the “corporate losers” who “fall for” DEI, Barr claims without evidence to be “leading the fight to end it for good” and gives President Donald Trump credit for the nation “rejecting that trash.” (Morris became wealthy through a waste and recycling company.)
Then Barr delivers the kicker: “It’s not a sin to be white. It’s not against the law to be male. And it shouldn’t be disqualifying to be a Christian.”
The only factual basis for any of that is the occasional excess of “woke liberals” (a term the ad uses twice) that gave some whites the notion that they were being asked to feel guilty for the racism of their ancestors. No guilt trip is necessary to remember our history and its current effects; racism is still a problem. The lines about being male and Christian have no factual basis, but will probably resonate among Christian males (not this one, thank you).
The ad seems designed to attract hardline MAGA voters who don’t know much about Morris and are unlikely to be won over quickly by his Elon Musk-funded ads tying himself closely to Trump — but who have heard plenty about DEI and are prepared to believe the worst about it. Meanwhile, a political action committee supporting Barr is running an ad more directly attacking Morris on the issue.
Barr’s ad not only appeals to racial and ethnic resentment, it stokes it. Most American politicians in the last 50 years have avoided that, following what seemed to be a broad consensus that racism should be suppressed. But Trump’s emphasis on immigration issues, and his hateful statements about people of color, have created the permission structure that leads to ads like Barr’s.
In this case, that permission structure seems pretty strong, because Cameron is Black. While the ad clearly targets Morris, stoking racial resentment likely also hurts Cameron.
It must be noted that Cameron has long distanced himself from DEI, racial preferences and the like. As he introduced himself to a crowd in Shelbyville last month, he said, “I tell people all the time, we don’t need a country that’s built on diversity, equity and inclusion. We need a country that’s built on merit, excellence, intelligence and integrity.”
That’s a smart introductory line for a Black Republican running in a primary. Barr probably thinks he’s being smart, too, by playing the race card in a contest where many voters are undecided and Trump’s endorsement could be pivotal.
Trump’s track record indicates that he is unlikely to make an endorsement unless he knows he is picking the likely winner or thinks he can make someone the winner. Morris is running third in polls but is within striking distance and has the support of Donald Trump Jr. and Vice President JD Vance, so he represents an imminent threat to Barr, who is not well known outside his 6th Congressional District.
Barr’s ad could also be aimed at showing Trump that he can be a tough, Trumpy campaigner on Trump’s favorite issue — and thus more like Trump himself. That combo could help him get an endorsement, or prevent an endorsement of Morris. (Trump backed Cameron for governor in 2023 and dislikes losers.)
People who have known Andy Barr for most of his life are aghast that he is turning himself into a Trumper: appealing to racial and ethnic resentment, misstating and misleading, and causing further division. Letters in the Lexington Herald-Leader show dismay from the people who know him best. “Pre-Donald J. Trump, I used to think of Andy as a good man, a good Republican,” one wrote. “I’m so disappointed in him.”
Such folks have rightly thought of Barr as a mainstream Republican. Trump has changed the definition of that term, and of the party itself. As Barr adapts to that new reality and the exigencies of the primary, he could lose part of his base, judging from the blowback. He probably figures he can get most of those voters back in the general election. But the right Democrat could get some of them.