Barr and Booker clash over economy, war and immigration in Kentucky Senate debate

LEXINGTON, Ky. — The candidates competing for Kentucky’s U.S. Senate seat in the Nov. 3 election tore into each other Monday night during their only scheduled debate of the 2026 campaign.

U.S. Rep. Andy Barr, R-Lexington, called Democratic opponent Charles Booker a “crazy socialist” who wants public funding for healthcare through Medicare for all, public campaign financing and universal basic income for people even if they don’t work. He compared Booker to New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist.

“Look, if he talks like a socialist, if he embraces the views of socialists, if he taxes and spends like a socialist, if he wants to pay people to not work like a socialist, he’s a socialist,” Barr said at the debate hosted by WKYT/Channel 27 in Lexington and moderated by journalists Bill Bryant and Lindsay Allen.

In response, Booker said Barr was beholden to his billionaire donors. He called Barr dishonest for promising to fix the looming Social Security shortfall and provide affordable healthcare to Kentuckians, because Barr has been in Congress for many years without doing anything to solve those problems so far, he said.

Barr criticizes publicly funded healthcare for Kentuckians while enjoying it himself as a congressman, Booker said.

“Kentucky, we’ve been screwed over long enough,” Booker said. “We had it with Mitch McConnell my entire life. Andy Barr’s been there over 14 years, failing you every step of the way. Let’s do something different, Democrats, Republicans and independents.”

Barr, 53, is a Lexington lawyer who has represented Central Kentucky’s 6th Congressional District since 2013.

Booker, 41, spent one term as a state representative from Louisville and then lost in two other runs for the U.S. Senate, in the 2020 Democratic primary and the 2022 general election.

The two are contending for the seat held by the retiring U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., for the last 42 years.

Rising prices

On Monday night, the men disagreed on nearly every question posed by the moderators.

Booker blamed Republican President Donald Trump for the economic problems facing the United States, including high gas prices and inflation at the grocery.

Trump launched a war against Iran that drove up energy costs, Booker said. His steep, unpredictable tariffs on imports — what Booker called “this temper tantrum tax on working people” — is hurting consumers and Kentucky industries, like bourbon and agriculture, he said.

The only time Barr ever stood up to McConnell is when McConnell opposed Trump’s tariffs out of concern for Kentucky, while Barr referred to them as “jet fuel for the economy,” Booker said.

“We’re seeing a trade war with Canada that Andy Barr believes is jet fuel for the economy,” Booker said. “Now, rising grocery prices, rising gas prices — I don’t see that as jet fuel.”

Tariffs and other economic sanctions give Trump “leverage to open up new markets and to build up manufacturing resiliency in Kentucky,” Barr responded.

“I believe in free trade, and that’s why I’m willing to give President Trump’s policies an opportunity because we don’t have free trade. Even our allies and partners are ripping us off,” Barr said.

Barr said former Democratic President Joe Biden, who left office in January 2025, is to blame for today’s high prices, as are “overspending” congressional Democrats, who lost control of the legislative branch in January 2023. Republicans are “digging out” of the mess that Democrats left behind, Barr said.

“That’s why I supported the largest tax cut in American history, giving the average Kentucky taxpayer $2,800 in their pocket,” Barr said.

“My opponent would not only repeal that, he would support the largest tax increase in American history,” Barr said. “That’s why I support American energy dominance, more investment in energy infrastructure, refineries, pipelines and power plants. My opponent supports the radical Green New Deal, which would dismantle fossil energy and skyrocket prices.”

Iran war

Barr called the Iran war a great success for Trump, “this commander-in-chief.”

Trump has endorsed Barr throughout this year, most recently at a rally last Saturday at Northern Kentucky University, which Barr attended.

“The Iranian navy is at the bottom of the Persian Gulf,” Barr said. “Their air force has been destroyed. Their economy is in ruins. The ayatollah is dead. Their nuclear infrastructure is under rubble. Their ballistic missile capability has been diminished. Their drone capability has been diminished. Their ability to support terror proxies has been destroyed, and so we’ve largely achieved the objective.”

“We have more work to do in the Strait of Hormuz, restoring oil exports,” Barr added. “But at the end of the day, I appreciate the fact that this president has not started a war. He is ending a 47-year war against the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism that has threatened the United States, murdered thousands of Americans, chanted ‘Death to America.’”

Booker said the Iran war has been a costly, disastrous mistake.

“We are seeing devastation in Iran, billions upon billions of dollars going overseas to fund a conflict that has no end in sight,” Booker said. “And my opponent, Andy Barr, has been a rubber stamp for signing a blank check to continue this madness. It has happened under his watch. He is in Congress now.”

“Andy Barr believes the only way to stop war is for more war,” Booker said. “He supports endless war. I believe we need to end endless war, and I’ve had family that have served in nearly every branch of the military, and I do believe we need to honor them. And what is happening now is a dishonor to them.”

Immigration

On the subject of immigration, both men agreed the U.S. should secure its borders and keep Americans safe. But beyond that, Booker was sharply critical of the Trump administration’s tactics over the past two years in arresting nonviolent immigrants and deploying federal agents into U.S. cities, while Barr called such measures necessary.

“I believe we need pathways to citizenship,” Booker said. “I believe we need to address the backlog in the court system that has so many people here pursuing the American dream, doing everything we would ask for them to do, and their only infraction is paperwork that is out of date.”

“Instead of standing up for the people, Andy Barr is in Congress right now, using his voice and his vote to fund a rogue vigilante group that is not protecting the border,” Booker said. “They’re not keeping you safe. They’re masked, unnamed men roaming the streets, killing American citizens like (Minneapolis ICU nurse) Alex Pretti, trampling on the Constitution and terrorizing communities.”

Barr said Booker wants anarchy.

“This is a man who wants to abolish the border, abolish ICE, abolish immigration enforcement,” Barr said. “He thinks it’s OK that our country was invaded. Twelve million people pouring across our border, some of them from adversarial countries in the Middle East and China, not just people from Mexico or Central America or South America.”

“Well, thanks to the work of this administration and Republicans in Congress, no more. The Laken Riley Act is law,” Barr said, referring to a 2025 law named after a murdered Georgia college student that strengthened the federal government’s power to detain and deport immigrants charged with nonviolent crimes. “There is no more catch and release. There have been zero releases in 16 months, and we have a secure border.”

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