Barr wins GOP nomination in Kentucky’s 6th

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) – 7 p.m.

Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Barr has easily won the GOP nomination in Kentucky’s 6th Congressional District ahead of what’s likely to be an intense re-election campaign in November.

Barr defeated businessman Chuck Eddy on Tuesday. He will face the winner of the crowded Democratic primary in November.

Democrats are targeting Barr’s seat as they try to win a majority in the House of Representatives. The district has flip-flopped between the two major political parties since the 1970s. Barr was first elected in 2012, when he ousted Democratic incumbent Ben Chandler.

In the House, Barr is chairman of the Monetary Policy and Trade Subcommittee.

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6:50 p.m.

Hal Rogers has easily won the Republican nomination in Kentucky’s 5th Congressional District to seek a record 20th term in Congress.

Rogers defeated Gerardo Serrano in Tuesday’s Republican primary. He will face the winner of the Democratic primary, either attorney Kenneth Stepp or former Elkhorn City councilman Scott Sykes.

The 80-year-old Rogers has been in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1981. He is the state’s longest-serving Republican in Congress, besting U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell by four years.

Rogers was chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee from 2011 to 2016. He has focused in recent years on revitalizing the eastern Kentucky coalfields, which have suffered economically by the decline of the coal industry.

The 5th Congressional District includes most of eastern Kentucky.