Barr, Rogers talk Trump, '26 Senate race at Lincoln Dinner
Speakers Kentucky Congressmen Hal Rogers of the Fifth District and Andy Barr of the Sixth District both took the opportunity to unequivocally throw their support behind President Donald Trump during the party event held at The Center for Rural Development.
Barr's visit was not just as a guest speaker but a campaign stop, since he is in the running for the U.S. Senate Seat from Kentucky currently held by longtime Senator Mitch McConnell. That race will take place next year, but Barr, of Lexington, worked to build momentum Tuesday night by making his case as both someone who has successfully won in a Democrat-heavy area and who would back Trump in Washington.
'(W)ith this great privilege of having represented central Kentucky, what an enormous blessing it would be to get a chance to represent the people of Pulaski County, eastern and southern Kentucky, western Kentucky and the rest of our commonwealth,' said Barr.
'Failure is not an option,' he later added. 'We must nominate someone who can make sure that this U.S. Senate seat stays in conservative American-first Republican hands. ... We have a governor who has shown how Democrats can win a statewide race in red Kentucky. ... The only way a Democrat can win statewide in the commonwealth of Kentucky, in 2023, '24, '25 or '26, is to win the Sixth District. That's how Andy Beshear did it. He did it twice. ... I pledge this to you: I will not lose the single swing purple district in Kentucky, my district (including Lexington).'
Barr described himself as 'an America-first conservative' raised in the era of Ronald Reagan, and said that 'for the first time in our lifetime, our country is teetering on the brink, and thank God we've got President Trump to help us save our country.'
Barr further connected himself to Trump and his tariff policies by saying, 'Finally, we have a president who is fighting for reciprocal and, yes, free trade, but free trade on level terms. We have been ripped off, even not just from our enemies, from our trading partners and allies, and we finally have a president who is trying to get us better, more reciprocal deals ... the turbulence that we've seen in the short term will lead to long-term stability and better access to markets.'
Referencing his place on the House Financial Services Committee, Barr said that he is actively working to 'take politics out of your retirement accounts and your investment accounts and your college savings and your retirement savings,' and to 'unleash our capital markets and our community banks, because we know those are the American Dream makers. Those are the folks that provide those loans in our hometown communities to the farmers and to the mainstream businesses and the entrepreneurs.
'We believe in the Republican Party, in the power of the American Dream, the idea that in this country, regardless of where you come from, you can get ahead through the power of free markets,' he continued. '... We're about the American Dream through freedom, not government, because we believe that government should be the servant of the people, not the master of the people.'
Barr also praised Trump's handling of the nation's border crisis — '(T)he border is closed,' he said. '(Former President) Joe Biden and the media, they said, 'Oh we just need a bipartisan immigration and comprehensive immigration reform bill.' No they didn't. They just needed a commander-in-chief who knew how to protect our country' — and said that lawmakers are working on a bill to 'surge resources to border patrol to build the wall ... (and) keep our communities safe.'
In addition to Trump, Barr also had words of praise for Pulaski County, calling it 'a place near and dear to my heart' — he talked about camping at the Bee Rock area, which he did as a young boy as well as now with his own daughters; he also proposed to his late wife Carol there in 2007 — and for Rogers, saying, 'There is no better mentor in the U.S. House than Hal Rogers. ... Unlike most politicians in Washington who like to hear themselves talk, he is very selective about when he speaks up, but when he does, people listen because he is a man of wisdom, a man of influence, and a man who knows how to deliver.'
Rogers did deliver his own address at Tuesday's Lincoln Club event, saying that he and Barr were 'having fun in Washington D.C., getting a lot of blisters on our hands,' and working to support the Trump administration's agenda. In particular, speaking about international trade, Rogers noted Trump has started the process of negotiating with China and is 'right to do so, because they've ripped us off, flooded our young people with fentanyl and threatened all sorts of activities worldwide' —and then urged people to 'have patience with this president' and his economic policies.
'Making America great again is alive and well,' said Rogers. 'This president has put forward some ... far-reaching policies and ideas, and it's going to take some time. This is not going to happen overnight. But it's beginning to happen, as we speak.'
Speaking to the crowd of Republicans assembled at The Center, Rogers — who briefly spoke in front of his own portrait hanging in the facility's lobby — said, 'It's a new day, and it's your party. We're going to keep ahead of the curve, and we do that by doing what you're doing just now: supporting the party and helping in the election.'
The dinner was the first to see Alex Wilson speak as the new chairman of the Pulaski County Republican Party, following Bill Turpen, who served in that role from 2017 until this past March. Wilson recognized a number of notable individuals present — as well as the late JC Tucker — and was sworn in as the new chair by Circuit Court Judge Teresa Whitaker, along with vice chair Cloyd Bumgardner, treasurer Debra Ruckel, secretary Maydell Greer, and youth chair Callie Thompson.
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