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Former President Obama endorses Charles Booker in Kentucky Senate race

November 1, 2026 / 9:00 AM EST / CBS News

Former President Barack Obama endorsed Democratic nominee Charles Booker in the Kentucky Senate race on Sunday, two days before Election Day.

“I’m proud to support Charles Booker for the U.S. Senate,” former President Barack Obama said in a statement shared first with CBS News. “Charles cares deeply about the people of Kentucky, and by sending him to Washington, working families across the Commonwealth would have a leader who understands their struggles and has what it takes to make real change.”

Booker said he was ‘humbled and honored” to receive the endorsement. He is running against Republican Rep. Andy Barr to succeed Senator Mitch McConnell. McConnell, 84, announced his retirement last year and is Kentucky’s longest serving senator.

“Mitch McConnell essentially built a career leveraging Kentucky to become one of the most powerful politicians in our country, and we know that by flipping Kentucky, we flip the U.S. Senate,” Booker told CBS News in an interview earlier this year.

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Charles Booker spoke at the 25th annual Marshall County Democrats bean dinner before Fancy Farm in Lexington, Kentucky on Friday, Aug. 5, 2022. Lexington Herald-Leader/Getty

While Kentucky is not among the states listed in CBS News Senate battleground tracker, Booker’s campaign says it has internal polling that indicates the race could be tightening. The race is considered solid Republican by Cook Political Report.

Aides are also citing an increase in Democratic turnout during early voting last week as a sign of potential momentum. According to the Kentucky State Board of Elections, more than 267,000 individuals had cast ballots. At least 95,645 registered Democrats had already voted compared to 83,726, Secretary of State Michael Adams said in a post Friday.

“A lot of it has been encouraging people to pay attention and to know that there is a race here, that it is competitive, and that there is a path to win,” Booker said.

Booker challenged Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul in 2022 and lost by nearly 24 points. Although Kentucky is a deep-red, Democrats are hoping the national envorinment will help them make inroads in some unlikely places.

Barr has cast Booker as a “socialist experiment” and “the most extreme candidate in the history of our state.” President Trump has endorsed Barr and visited the Commonwealth last month.

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Former President Obama speaks during a midterm campaign rally in support of US Senator Jon Ossoff’s reelection campaign in Morrow, Georgia, on October 28, 2026. ERIK S. LESSER /AFP via Getty Images

“He’s been an amazing congressman,” Mr. Trump said during an Oct. 17 rally in Highland Heights. “He’ll be one of the great US senators.”

Obama’s endorsement follows a slew of other high-profile endorsements for the Kentucky Democrat, including from a group of senators, including Sens. Michael Bennet, Mark Kelly, Lisa Blunt Rochester, Chris Van Hollen, Raphael Warnock and Elizabeth Warren, who announced their support on Saturday. Booker is also backed by Govs. J.B. Pritzker and Wes Moore and he stumped with Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and DNC Chair Ken Martin last week.

The former president has issued nearly two dozen endorsements for Democratic candidates and rallied for Senate candidates in Georgia, Michigan and Ohio late last month. He has raised more than $15 million for party committees throughout the midterm cycle.

This story published first on CBS News at 9:00 a.m. on Nov. 1, 2026.