Kentucky’s 3rd Congressional District is the state’s only U.S. House seat currently held by a Democrat, and it has not elected a Republican to Congress in 19 years. Maria Theresa Rodriguez, the GOP nominee challenging Democratic incumbent Morgan McGarvey, is also the only Kentucky Republican congressional candidate missing from President Donald Trump’s endorsement list this fall.
According to WHAS11, Rodriguez, who is based in Jefferson County, said she was not surprised to be left off the list Trump posted. “I've never been interested in being on anybody's list,” she said, adding that she likes to do her own thing. The station reported that Rodriguez acknowledged she and Trump disagree on some policies, but she said she still respects him as president.
Rodriguez told the station her campaign is focused on people in the 3rd District, rather than on Trump. Her approach sets her apart from the other Kentucky GOP congressional candidates Trump endorsed, though whether the omission affects her standing with district voters remains to be seen.
Who Made the Cut and Who Didn't
The list Rodriguez was missing from is long. kentucky.com reported that Trump endorsed Ralph Alvarado for Kentucky's open 6th Congressional District seat, along with incumbents James Comer, Brett Guthrie and Hal Rogers. Trump also backed Ed Gallrein in his challenge to Representative Thomas Massie in the 4th District, the outlet noted. The newspaper put it plainly: “The only congressional GOP candidate who does not appear to have been endorsed by the president is Maria Theresa Rodriguez.”
Trump made some of those endorsements official again on Thursday, posting that he was giving his “Complete and Total Endorsement” to Brett Guthrie for Congress in the 2nd District and Ralph Alvarado in the 6th District, according to a post tracked by trumpstruth.org. The timing followed Trump's October 17 visit to Kentucky, part of a multistate midterm tour that, per the Kentucky.com report, brought him to the state ahead of Election Day.
A Rally Built Around Other Races
The rally at Northern Kentucky University focused on other congressional contests. Kentucky Lantern reported that signs for Andy Barr’s Senate campaign and Gallrein’s 4th District bid lined the roads near the arena. Trump described Alvarado’s 6th District contest as a “tight race with a lunatic,” the outlet reported.
Rodriguez's race against McGarvey wasn't part of that spotlight. McGarvey, a Louisville Democrat who has represented the 3rd District since January 2023, is seeking a third term and has no challenger in the 2026 Democratic primary, per Spectrum News 1. He has described his mission in Washington as fighting for his community and pushing back against Trump administration policies, and his office says it has delivered $12 million in federal funding to Louisville while helping return more than $5 million to Louisville families.
One of Six Races on Kentucky's Ballot
What endorsement research can show
A past result offers context, but not a forecast for Rodriguez: in an analysis of the 2018 midterms, researchers writing in The Conversation found that Trump-endorsed candidates had almost 2.5 percentage points less vote share than candidates in similar districts who were not endorsed. That analysis compares candidates in similar districts; it does not establish what changes to Kentucky’s 3rd District boundaries or composition may matter when comparing its results across election cycles.
Rodriguez's bid is one piece of a bigger picture this cycle. All six of Kentucky's U.S. House seats are on the 2026 general election ballot, with at least two candidates running in every race, the Lexington newspaper's broader candidate roundup noted. Whether being left off the president's list changes Rodriguez's standing with GOP voters in the 3rd District remains to be seen, but her message so far has been consistent: she's not chasing anyone's endorsement, including the one that got away.
