FRANKFORT, Ky. — As Rep. Andy Barr, R-Lexington, sets his sights on being the heir to Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is targeting Kentucky’s sixth congressional district. Whether it’s Barr or another Republican running, the district which includes Lexington and central Kentucky is one of 35 seats Democrats hope to turn blue in 2026.

In 2024, Barr won reelection to Kentucky’s sixth congressional district by 26% but that’s not turning Democrats off from trying to flip the seat.

“The people of Kentucky need a champion; they need somebody to fight for them and the things that they’re worried about every night when they lay down and go to bed or gather around the kitchen table,” said former Democratic state rep. Cherlynn Stevenson.

Stevenson said potential cuts to Medicaid, veterans’ benefits and other actions from the Trump administration are leaving some voters with “buyer’s remorse.”

“They voted for change and they’re not getting the change that they voted for, things seem to be going in the exact opposite direction than they were hoping,” Stevenson said.

In November, President Donald Trump won the sixth district by 15 percentage points.

“They want to make it look like this is a bastion of Democrat, progressive support and it’s not. It’s a very diverse area but also you have a lot of rural counties and that is diehard Trump Country,” said Andy Westberry, communications director for the Republican Party of Kentucky.

Westberry said he believes the district isn’t competitive, but the party will still take the race seriously.

“If Morgan McGarvey and DCCC, the Democrats want to go down that path and blow that money and resources on a race that’s going to be very difficult to win, I’m all for it, we’re all for it because it takes away resources from other parts of the country,” Westberry said.

In 2018, Barr, the incumbent, nearly lost to Democrat Amy McGrath with a margin less than 4%. University of Kentucky political science professor Stephen Voss said in the past, so-called GOP safe districts have flipped in midterms.

“We call the loss of the party in power in D.C. midterm loss. Barack Obama suffered what he called a shellacking two years into his term, the Republicans suffered two years into Donald Trump’s last term,” Voss said.

In the time since Democrats last held the seat, Republican-led redistricting cut out Franklin County, which votes blue from the sixth district.

“What we’ve seen in the last redistricting is the district edged two percentage points more toward the GOP side. It was already a strongly Republican district; it’s a slightly stronger Republican district after,” Voss said.

Stevenson said the new maps clearly give Republicans an advantage.

“The maps were very gerrymandered and our state supreme court said it was gerrymandered. It just said that gerrymandering wasn’t expressly against our state constitution,” Stevenson said.

Westberry disagrees.

“If you want to dwell on the past and talk about that, that’s not going to win the election; you have to look at reality. Those maps were upheld in the courts and it’s not going to change,” Westberry said.

The Republican Party of Kentucky said three candidates, all current state lawmakers, have expressed interest in running for the sixth district.

Stevenson said she is discussing running but has yet to launch an exploratory committee.

As for Barr, he’s expected to announce a Senate run Tuesday night in Richmond.