Protesters line High Street outside the Hyatt Regency in Lexington, where US Rep. Andy Barr was speaking on March 19, 2025. Kevin Nance photographed the Kentucky Lantern.
Lexington — If Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Barr is having second thoughts about Trump’s agenda, he didn’t show it Wednesday, as he assured a business luncheon that “short-term disruptions” to the economy caused by trade disputes and tariffs will be worthwhile.
Barr made no mention of the protesters who lined High Street in front of the Hyatt Regency, where he was speaking, or the upcoming town hall meeting, which he has declined to attend.
“I’m really optimistic about the future,” said Barr, who is considering running for the United States Senate next year to replace retiring Mitch McConnell.
“Obviously, we live in divided times, but I think what can unite the country more than anything else is success,” Barr said at a Commerce Lexington Public Policy Luncheon.
Barr later told the media that he would hold a tele-town hall on Monday night and that during the first Trump administration, “live in-person massively attended town halls were shouting contests where people were really not respectful and were not listening to one another.”
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson recently urged Republicans to avoid town halls, which have attracted vocal criticism of actions taken by Republican President Donald Trump and his adviser, billionaire Elon Musk, who is leading an effort to root out waste and fraud that has included firing federal employees, halting some government payments, and dismantling programs.
Barr, who has previously held telephone town halls, said he would be able to reach 70,000 constituents using the technology.
Barr’s seat in the town hall will be empty.
Gathering Democracy, Barr’s hometown, decided to schedule a town hall after failing to get a commitment from Barr despite numerous requests, according to Lexington resident Judith Humble, a member of the organizing committee.
“We informed his offices about the date of our event and invited him. We were informed by his staff that he would not be present,” Humble said.
According to the flyer for the Saturday, March 22, event, Barr has declined the invitation “but we hope he’ll change his mind” and that there will be “a chair and micro-phone for him.” The event will start at 10 a.m. at the Kentucky Theater. Steve Kay, former Lexington Vice Mayor, will moderate.
Humble stated that the group’s goal was to hold a respectful, nonpartisan gathering. Security has been arranged, she stated. Speakers will be given three minutes each, and Barr will receive a video of the event as well as written comments from audience members, according to Humble.
In response to Johnson’s allegations that professional protesters have been disrupting Republican lawmakers’ town halls, Humble stated, “I don’t doubt that outbursts have occurred at some town halls, as feelings are running high about recent administrative actions.” Yet, according to her, “our intention is to offer a peaceful, orderly event to facilitate dialogue.”
“Don’t worry about DOGE with respect to meritorious investments.”
Barr, 51, who was elected to Congress after defeating Democratic incumbent Ben Chandler in 2012, spoke extensively about the need to reduce the national debt and called for the extension of tax cuts enacted during Trump’s first administration.
When asked about cuts in research funding to the University of Kentucky, Barr reassured the audience, citing what Musk told him “face to face” about his cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto stated last month that changes in research funding by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) would cost the UK at least $40 million over the next year.
“Don’t worry about DOGE with respect to meritorious investments,” Barr told the audience. “We’re going to continue to fund those.”
Barr specifically mentioned NIH funding for the UK’s Markey Cancer Center and Sanders-Brown Center on Aging. Barr also expressed optimism about obtaining funding for a new control tower at Lexington’s airport, which would allow for terminal expansion.
Barr also stated that Musk has told him that he does not intend to reduce the federal workforce significantly. Barr stated that by asking federal employees to report five things they had accomplished the previous week, Musk was conducting “just a pulse check” to determine whether there is “a human being behind those numbers, which in many cases there are not.”
Barr, who describes himself as “at core a free trader,” stated that Trump’s tariffs will eventually open markets to American products and that the administration is aware of concerns about the impact of retaliatory tariffs on Kentucky’s bourbon industry.
Barr stated that India recently reduced its tariffs on bourbon, claiming that “sweet corn-based Kentucky whiskey goes perfectly with the spicy Indian palate.”
Concerned about US democracy. Barr did not interact with the protesters who gathered outside, whose signs elicited a lot of horn honking from passing motorists and chanted “Andy Barr, where are you? Do your job. “Stop the coup.”
Maureen McCormick, 72, of Lexington, told the Lantern that if she could question Barr, she would ask, “Why isn’t he standing up for both us and our democracy?” “What is his reason?”
Janice George, 60, stated that she drove from her home in Maysville, which is in Republican Thomas Massie’s congressional district, because she would have had to travel further, to Le Grange, to protest a Massie event. She also stated that she would question Barr about “what he is doing to save democracy; it is being eroded by Musk and Trump, and he is doing nothing.”
Mike Donnelly, 77, of Lexington, stated, “I am very concerned that our government is heading toward a dictatorship. Our founders established three equal branches of government.
Congress has clearly rolled over and will do whatever the executive wants, and the executive craves power like never before.” Donnelly said he has lost faith in the United States Supreme Court after it ruled Trump is immune to criminal charges.
“I am not clutching my pearls or exaggerating. “We are in serious trouble, and Andy Barr isn’t helping,” Donnelly said.
When asked by reporters about the protesters and constituents who claim he isn’t hearing them, Barr responded, “Obviously, democracy is alive and well.
And for those who believe there is a threat to democracy, I believe today’s demonstration demonstrates that there is none. In fact, we live in a vibrant democracy, and 77 million Americans voted for this new administration, as I would argue to my constituents who are protesting.”
