![GOP Rep. Andy Barr to run for Mitch McConnell's Senate seat, though McConnell hasn't said he's retiring](https://assets1.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2025/02/10/3cb8e9b4-60b3-445b-8fc6-361e37aa92e2/thumbnail/1200x630g2/219f44a39e5ec3f6b4d1fa7c8a75b393/gettyimages-1733650136.jpg?v=c6b5070a57014f3b00753bf0e763f9c3)
GOP Rep. Andy Barr to run for Mitch McConnell's Senate seat, though McConnell hasn't said he's retiring
CBSN
A battle to replace Kentucky GOP Sen. Mitch McConnell is starting to shape up — even though the former majority leader hasn't announced that he's planning to leave the Senate.
Kentucky Rep. Andy Barr, who was in Palm Beach over the weekend during a Republican campaign retreat, intends to run in the 2026 Senate race for McConnell's seat, according to people who attended the event.
McConnell, who is serving his seventh term, has not yet disclosed plans to run for reelection, but he has repeatedly said that he intends to serve out his term, which ends in early 2027.
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The U.S. confirmed at least a dozen deaths from whooping cough last year, according to preliminary figures released this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That marks the most fatalities from the bacterial infection since a 2017 surge of the illness, which is also known as pertussis.
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As vaccination rates decline, widespread outbreaks of diseases like measles and polio could reemerge
Health officials in western Texas are trying to contain a measles outbreak among mostly school-aged children, with at least 15 confirmed cases. It's the latest outbreak of a disease that had been virtually eliminated in the U.S., and it comes as vaccination rates are declining — jeopardizing the country's herd immunity from widespread outbreaks.