U.S. Representative Andy Barr (R-KY) is one of many GOP candidates vying for retiring Senator Mitch McConnell’s seat in the GOP primary this May. While President Donald Trump has yet to endorse a candidate, Barr is promoting himself as an “America First Warrior” who aligns closely with Trump and his policies including his efforts to eliminate the practice of Diversity, Equality and Inclusivity (DEI) initiatives across the country.
In the new campaign video below, which includes a photo of Barr and Trump hand-in-hand at a rally, Barr said, “Do you know what DEI really stands for? Dumb, Evil, Indoctrination. I’m fighting side by side with President Donald J. Trump to end DEI nonsense for good.”
Barr added, “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.”
Former Kentucky Congressman John Yarmuth (D-KY), founder of the Congressional Bourbon Caucus (Kentucky is the birthplace of bourbon whiskey), replied to Barr: “This is as un-American as it gets. I am ashamed that I was ever his colleague and that he could ever represent the state I have spent my life in. Andy has truly become DEI: Despicable (also Duplicitous), Evil, Insufferable.”
This is as un-American as it gets. I am ashamed that I was ever his colleague and that he could ever represent the state I have spent my life in. Andy has truly become DEI: Despicable (also Duplicitous), Evil, Insufferable. https://t.co/i28TUHm0a4
— John Yarmuth 🥃 (@JohnYarmuth) February 8, 2026
Barr is currently co-chair of the Congressional Bourbon Caucus, the bipartisan group dedicated to strengthening the U.S. bourbon industry which is an estimated $8.6 billion industry in Kentucky, supporting more than 20,000 jobs statewide and producing 95% of the world’s supply, according to the Kentucky Distillers’ Association.
Note: During the first Trump administration, in 2018, the European Union imposed a 25% retaliatory tariff on American whiskey, including bourbon, in response to President Trump’s 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum. As a result, U.S. whiskey exports to the EU (its largest export market) plunged 20%. In 2021, the Biden administration negotiated a suspension of the whiskey/bourbon tariffs.
In March 2025, when President Trump announced another round of steel and aluminum imports, Rep. Morgan McGarvey (D-KY), a member of the Congressional Bourbon Caucus, said the tariffs would likely cause another round of retaliatory tariffs against the bourbon industry.
“This is Groundhog Day,” McGarvey said. He added of Trump: “We saw him do this when he was first president and we saw what happened. We lost hundreds of millions of dollars in the bourbon industry in Kentucky, and that’s felt by everybody.”
Note: One of Barr’s top GOP opponents, fellow MAGA candidate Nate Morris, takes the opposite view of Yarmuth. Morris castigates Barr not for being “un-American” but for being inconsistent in his anti-DEI stance: “A Breitbart article is exposing Kentucky Senate candidate Andy Barr for voting for DEI policies at the Pentagon, voting to create a ‘Chief Diversity Officer’, and voting to rename military bases to satisfy progressives.”
A Breitbart article is exposing Kentucky Senate candidate Andy Barr for voting for DEI policies at the Pentagon, voting to create a "Chief Diversity Officer", and voting to rename military bases to satisfy progressives.
— AF Post (@AFpost) February 7, 2026
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