The jockeying began almost immediately after Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, announced on Thursday, his 83rd birthday, that he would not seek re-election for the seat that he has held for seven terms.
Around noon on Thursday, shortly after Mr. McConnell made his announcement, Daniel Cameron, the former attorney general for Kentucky and a Republican, said that he would be running for the seat in 2026. Andy Barr, a Republican representing central Kentucky in the House, posted around the same time that he was “considering running for Senate because Kentucky deserves a Senator who will fight for President Trump and the America First Agenda.” Mr. Barr said that his decision would come soon.
Others had indicated that they were considering running even before the announcement from Mr. McConnell, a pivotal player in obstructing major Democratic agenda items and stacking federal courts with conservatives.
Nate Morris, a Kentucky businessman and a Republican, said in a video posted on Feb. 11 that he was “seriously considering” running for either the Senate or for governor of Kentucky. Mr. Morris doubled down on his interest in the Senate in a video on Thursday.
“The candidates that are looking at this race, Andy Barr and Daniel Cameron, have refused to call out Mitch McConnell for the sabotage of President Trump’s agenda,” said Mr. Morris.
Several potential candidates also removed themselves from consideration on Thursday. Two top state Democrats, Gov. Andy Beshear and Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman, will not be in the race, according to Mr. Beshear’s campaign manager and a spokesman for Ms. Coleman. Representative James Comer, a Republican, is not running in 2026 “but is strongly considering a run for governor in 2027,” according to his spokesman, Austin Hacker.
In the state’s last governor’s race, in 2023, Mr. Beshear, the incumbent, defeated Mr. Cameron. Stephen Voss, an associate professor at the University of Kentucky’s Department of Political Science, said that Mr. Cameron’s gubernatorial campaign would give him the most name recognition early on in the race for Mr. McConnell’s seat. But Mr. Voss also noted that Mr. Barr had “good fund-raising capabilities” and that Mr. Morris, who founded Rubicon, a software-based waste management company, would “be able to draw on his own resources to jump-start a campaign.”
On the Democrats’ side, Pamela Stevenson, a state representative, said that she would formally announce her intent to run for the Senate seat in a few weeks. Mr. Voss speculated that other high-ranking Democrats would also step into the race.
“We’re going to have an open Senate race early enough for the full democratic process to play out,” Mr. Voss said, adding that even people who are on the sidelines may enter the race. “Beshear might come under more external pressure from national Democrats.”
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