About this race

The current officeholder is retiring, so the seat will have a new winner. It’s considered a safe Republican seat. Andy Barr, a Republican, has taken $300K in donations linked to AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobbying group. Charles Booker, a Democrat, has publicly rejected support from AIPAC.

Key issues in Kentucky

Major issues facing Kentucky, based on 2025–2026 reporting. Compare them with what each candidate says they focus on below.

Cost of living — Everyday bills and groceries top voters' personal economic concerns in 2026 polling.
Healthcare costs — A majority of voters name high healthcare costs as their biggest healthcare concern.
Pardon power amendment — Voters will decide whether to limit the governor's pardon power around elections.
Data center energy demand — Projected data center power demand could exceed the state's entire electricity generation.
Affordable housing — Housing costs are a key affordability pressure cited by voters and candidates alike.

Candidates & funding

Andy Barr Republican Nominee

Campaign raised $10,200,000

Super PAC / outside spending $7,500,000Small-dollar / grassroots $10.2M

AIPAC-linked $300KFundVoter-reported, career 2024–2026 — methodology replication pending

⚠ Pro-Israel: ~$300K career pro-Israel lobby contributions (TrackAIPAC/OpenSecrets). Listed as AIPAC-aligned rep. ip_foreign:8 applied.

No 2026 conduit activity detectedFEC filings show no earmarked contributions via conduits this cycle

A PAC can give at most $10K per cycle directly to a candidate. But when individuals route donations through a PAC acting as conduit, there’s no cap on how many donors can be bundled. That’s where the real money moves — not from the PAC’s treasury, but from individuals the PAC steered to the candidate. How conduits work →

2026 fundraising (FEC)$9,981,055 raised · $11,368,587 spent · $2,305,546 cash on hand through Jun 30, 2026

Focus: Border security, tax cuts, energy, Second Amendment, backing the blue, supporting farmers

Campaign site ↗

Charles Booker Democrat Nominee

Campaign raised $1,200,000

Small-dollar / grassroots ~$1.2M

✓ Rejects AIPAC support — no AIPAC-linked FEC record

2026 fundraising (FEC)$1,099,509 raised · $789,887 spent · $309,623 cash on hand through Jun 30, 2026

Focus: Healthcare as a human right, union jobs in every county, clean water and clean air

Campaign site ↗

View the full funding breakdown for this race on OpenSecrets ↗

Where the money comes from

FEC campaign finance data through Jun 30, 2026. Campaign dollars, by source.

	Andy Barr R	Charles Booker D
Raised	$10M	$1.1M
Individuals	$5.6M56%	$1.1M98%
PACs & parties	$2M20%	$25K2%
Self-funded	$0	$0
Other	$2.4M24%	$0
AIPAC-linked*	$300K	—
Outside spending†	—	—

* AIPAC-linked money is already counted in the rows above — it flags the pro-Israel share, not extra money.

† Independent spending on ads for or against a candidate. It never goes to their campaign.

“Individuals” covers both small-dollar (under $200) and large donors.

Who are the biggest donors?

Every donor ranked by how much they gave, from the candidate’s own FEC filings — individuals, PACs, and party committees all in one list. Expand a candidate to see theirs, then tap any name to learn more about the donor.

Why are so many gifts exactly $10,000? That’s the legal maximum a PAC can give one candidate for the whole cycle — $5,000 for the primary plus $5,000 for the general — so many PACs give the max. Individuals can give up to $3,500 per election.

Andy Barr 4072 donors

FINANCIAL POSITION

Campaign raised$10.0M

Campaign spent$11.4M

Cash on hand$2.3M

FEC 2026 through 06/30/2026

CANDIDATE-CONTROLLED MONEY

Individuals56%

PACs / committees20%

Self-funding0%

Share of campaign receipts. FEC 2026.

ROUTED CONTRIBUTIONS

No 2026 conduit activity detected

FEC filings show no earmarked contributions via conduits this cycle. Career AIPAC-linked total (above) may reflect prior cycles. How conduits work →

Party committee$62K
Individual$21K
Individual$14K
Individual$14K
Individual$13K
Individual$12K
Individual$12K
Individual$10K
Individual$10K
PAC$10K
Membership PAC$10K
Leadership PAC$10K
Leadership PAC$10K
Leadership PAC$10K
Leadership PAC$10K
Corporate PAC$10K
Corporate PAC$10K
PAC$10K
Corporate PAC$10K
Leadership PAC$10K
PAC$10K
Corporate PAC$10K
Leadership PAC$10K
Corporate PAC$10K
Corporate PAC$10K
Leadership PAC$10K
PAC$10K
PAC$10K
Corporate PAC$10K
Leadership PAC$10K
Leadership PAC$10K
PAC$10K
Leadership PAC$10K
Leadership PAC$10K
Leadership PAC$10K
Leadership PAC$10K
Individual$10K
Individual$10K
Individual$8K
Corporate PAC$8K
Individual$8K
Corporate PAC$8K
Corporate PAC$8K
Leadership PAC$8K
Individual$7K
Individual$7K
Individual$7K
Individual$7K
Individual$7K
Individual$7K

Showing the 50 biggest of 4072 donors. The other 4022 gave $5.3M combined.

Plus $786K from small donors giving under $200 each — those aren’t itemized by name.

See Andy Barr’s full FEC filings →

Charles Booker 522 donors

FINANCIAL POSITION

Campaign raised$1.1M

Campaign spent$790K

Cash on hand$310K

FEC 2026 through 06/30/2026

CANDIDATE-CONTROLLED MONEY

Individuals98%

PACs / committees2%

Self-funding0%

Share of campaign receipts. FEC 2026.

Individual$7K
Individual$7K
Individual$7K
Individual$7K
Individual$7K
Individual$7K
Individual$7K
Individual$7K
Individual$7K
Individual$7K
Individual$7K
Individual$7K
Individual$7K
Individual$6K
Individual$6K
Labor PAC$5K
Leadership PAC$5K
Labor PAC$5K
PAC$5K
Individual$4K
Individual$4K
Individual$4K
Individual$4K
Individual$4K
Individual$4K
Individual$4K
Individual$4K
Individual$4K
Individual$4K
Individual$4K
Individual$4K
Individual$4K
Individual$4K
Individual$4K
Individual$4K
Individual$4K
Individual$4K
Individual$4K
Individual$4K
Individual$4K
Individual$4K
Individual$4K
Individual$4K
Individual$4K
Individual$4K
Individual$4K
Labor PAC$4K
Individual$3K
Individual$3K
Individual$3K

Showing the 50 biggest of 522 donors. The other 472 gave $210K combined.

Plus $658K from small donors giving under $200 each — those aren’t itemized by name.

See Charles Booker’s full FEC filings →

These figures come from the candidate’s own itemized FEC reports (2026 cycle, through the coverage date above), with amendments applied and refunds netted. Joint fundraising transfers are left out of the ranking: they’re pass-throughs, and the individual donations behind them are listed above. Bank interest, vendor refunds, and other non-donation receipts are excluded. Donor names are as reported — the same person can appear twice if their name was recorded differently. Independent spending on ads is never included here — see the Outside spending column.

2026 Kentucky Senate Election