Kentucky Democrat announces challenge to McConnell

Retired Marine and previous Democratic congressional candidate Amy McGrath on Tuesday announced that she is launching a 2020 challenge against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) in Kentucky.

McGrath released a three-minute campaign video, titled “The Letter,” that depicts her and other Kentuckians writing letters to their senator with concerns about health care, jobs and affordable college that were ignored. 

I’m running to replace Mitch McConnell in the U.S. Senate. Everything that’s wrong with Washington had to start somewhere—it started with him. With your help, we can defeat Mitch and defend democracy. Join us: https://t.co/c4b0WAp4ji pic.twitter.com/DNLjFkHGua

— Amy McGrath (@AmyMcGrathKY) July 9, 2019

“Everything that’s wrong in Washington had to start some place. How did it come to this?” McGrath said in the video. “That even within our own families, we can’t talk to each other about the leaders of our country anymore without anger and blame.”{mosads}

She said McConnell “was elected a lifetime ago” and has “bit by bit, year by year — turned Washington into something we all despise.”

McGrath also claimed that “budgets and health care and the Supreme Court are held hostage” in a Congress led by the Republican leader who has been in the Senate since 1985.

“A place where ideals go to die,” she added.

“The challenge of today is inside each of us. How do we reconcile our belief in basic human decency with our anger at those who block progress at all costs?” McGrath asked in the campaign video. “There is a path to resetting our country’s moral compass, where each of us is heard and we can become, once again, the moral and economic leader of a world in disarray.”

McGrath was one of the most prominent Democratic congressional candidates during last year’s midterm elections. The former fighter pilot was one of the top fundraisers of the cycle and narrowly lost her bid to unseat Rep. Andy Barr (R) in Kentucky’s 6th Congressional District.

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) reportedly met with her at Democratic Party headquarters earlier this year to pitch her on the idea of launching a Senate bid against McConnell.

Kevin Golden, a spokesman for McConnell’s re-election campaign, knocked McGrath as an “extreme liberal who is far out of touch with Kentuckians.” 

“Comparing President Trump’s election to 9/11, endorsing a government takeover of healthcare, and calling the wall ‘stupid’ is a heckuva platform that we will be delighted to discuss over the next sixteen months,” Golden said in a statement. 

Jesse Hunt, a spokesperson for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, mocked McGrath’s entry into the race.

“Amy McGrath blew a suburban KY House race in 2018 despite spending huge amounts of money. Statewide in 2020 against @Team_Mitch will be infinitely more difficult,” Hunt wrote. “Why? She’s still the same person who called herself ‘the most progressive person in Kentucky.’”

Amy McGrath blew a suburban KY House race in 2018 despite spending huge amounts of money. Statewide in 2020 against @Team_Mitch will be infinitely more difficult.

Why? She’s still the same person who called herself “the most progressive person in Kentucky” https://t.co/b7c9oq8Rrb

— Jesse Hunt (@JJHunt10) July 9, 2019

–Updated July 9 at 10:12 a.m.