Andy Barr
R · U.S. Senate, Kentucky · Tier 1/2
Tier 1/2, between “Firmly pro-Israel” and “Mainstream pro-Israel”
Won the May 2026 GOP Senate primary (Trump-endorsed, to succeed McConnell); faces Democrat Charles Booker in November. Among the most firmly pro-Israel candidates: says 'enemies of Israel are enemies of the United States' and that he 'stands fully with Israel in its mission to wipe every last Hamas terrorist off the face of the earth'; AIPAC was his top 2024 campaign donor; voted to sanction the ICC (Yea on H.R.8282 and H.R.23); and endorsed Ed Gallrein in the successful primary effort to oust Thomas Massie, Congress's most prominent Republican opponent of Israel aid. In November 2025 he and Rep. Jefferson Shreve urged the Treasury to designate the Palestinian Conference for Palestinians Abroad a terrorist organization, citing its alleged work with Hamas on a Gaza flotilla. In January 2024 he signed the Smith–Manning letter, whose signers “thoroughly reject” South Africa’s “charge of genocide” against Israel.
A 1/2, not a clean 1. Barr has voted for every tracked Israel measure, including the April 2024 aid package, the Antisemitism Awareness Act and the September 2026 college anti-boycott bill, and against the 2025 Greene and 2026 Massie cuts, and he was an original cosponsor of the 2024 bills forcing delivery of the paused bombs and sanctioning the ICC. His words are hawkish: “enemies of Israel are enemies of the United States,” and he stands with Israel’s mission to “wipe every last Hamas terrorist off the face of the earth.” At a May 2024 hearing he told Blinken, “We need to come to their defense and not accuse them of violating international law.” For 2024, $180,543 reached him through AIPAC’s PAC (direct and earmarked). But he has written no Israel legislation and leads no Israel caucus, and no concern for Palestinian civilians appears in his record. Counter-case: a 1 if his November 2025 letter with Jefferson Shreve, urging a terrorist designation for the Palestinian Conference for Palestinians Abroad over its alleged role in a Gaza flotilla, is read as leadership.
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elect26 places 2026 midterm candidates on a six-tier spectrum, from 1 (most pro-Israel) to 6 (most critical of Israel).