“A lot of people are floating your name to take over, to jump into Mitch McConnell’s Senate seat next year in ’26. You thinking about it?” Bolling asked.
Jennings, a former special assistant to President George W. Bush and longtime GOP strategist, didn’t rule it out — but kept his cards close.
“I haven’t made any announcements about that,” he said. “There are three people already in the race. I know them all, like them all, and have supported them in various ways. I’m confident the seat will stay Republican.”
Jennings emphasized the importance of party unity and Donald Trump’s influence on the future of the GOP.
“Politics is a team sport, and I think Trump’s the head coach. Eventually, he’s going to weigh in on this,” Jennings said. “My political advice to anyone would be: if he calls a play, we’re going to have to run it. I wouldn’t want to run against the president in Kentucky.”
When Bolling pressed him further — “If Trump taps you, you’re gonna run?” — Jennings offered a cryptic but telling response:
“I pay very close attention to everything the president says.”
WATCH:
JENNINGS FOR SENATE?@ScottJenningsKY weighs in on whether he plans on running to take over Mitch McConnell’s seat in the Senate.@ericbolling pic.twitter.com/RfYuycAdVY
— Real America's Voice (RAV) (@RealAmVoice) July 16, 2025
As President Donald Trump looks to reshape the Senate with loyal allies, questions are emerging within his inner circle about one leading contender to replace longtime Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell — Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.).
Though Barr is seen as a front-runner in the 2026 race for McConnell’s seat, his past political donations are raising eyebrows. Despite voting against Trump’s second impeachment in 2021, Barr criticized the president as “irresponsible” and “not blameless” in the wake of the January 6 Capitol riot. More troubling for Trump’s camp: Barr’s leadership PAC donated seven times to four Republican House members who voted to impeach Trump — lawmakers the former president had openly urged voters to oust.
According to the New York Post, Barr’s PAC contributed:
$2,500 to then-Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (R-Ohio) in February 2021. Gonzalez later called Trump “a cancer” and opted not to seek re-election.
$2,000 to then-Rep. John Katko (R-N.Y.) in June 2021.
$10,000 in four payments to Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.) between June 2021 and August 2022.
$3,000 to then-Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) in July 2022.
Of those four, only Valadao remains in Congress.
Barr, 51, is currently in a three-way primary against former Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, 39, and businessman Nate Morris, 44. Trump’s endorsement in this race could be decisive — he carried Kentucky by over 30 points in 2020 and remains the dominant force in state GOP politics.
Loyalty has been a central theme in Trump’s post-presidency endorsements, and insiders suggest that Barr’s donations to anti-Trump Republicans may give the former president pause.
Barr’s allies argue that the criticism is overblown. They note that his PAC has made hundreds of donations and that Barr has been a consistent supporter of Trump’s policy agenda. His spokesperson, Alex Bellizzi, emphasized Barr’s close working relationship with Trump during his presidency and pushed back on attacks from rivals.
Bellizzi also pointed to Nate Morris’s own political giving — noting that Morris donated $5,000 to former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley in May 2021. At the time, Haley had said she would not run for president if Trump entered the race. However, she later reversed that position and became Trump’s most persistent challenger in the 2024 Republican primary.
Meanwhile, Daniel Cameron is also facing scrutiny. Once considered a rising star in the GOP, Cameron lost the 2023 Kentucky governor’s race to Democrat Andy Beshear by more than five points — a result Barr’s team says raises electability concerns.
With the race heating up and Trump expected to make a decision in the coming months, all eyes are on which candidate earns his seal of approval — and whether loyalty will outweigh other political considerations.