Republican Rep. Andy Barr won Kentucky’s open U.S. Senate seat Tuesday, defeating Democrat Charles Booker in the race to succeed retiring Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell, The Associated Press projected.

AP called the race for Barr at 6:16 p.m. Pacific time.

With an estimated 73% of the vote counted, Barr had 637,259 votes, or 53.8%, compared with Booker’s 523,185 votes, or 44.2%.

Kentucky Party candidate Christopher Campbell had 24,338 votes, or 2.1%.

Barr served seven terms in the U.S. House before seeking the Senate seat being vacated by McConnell.

Booker, a former state representative, centered his campaign on fighting poverty.