WASHINGTON — Amy McGrath, a retired Marine lieutenant colonel and combat pilot whose star power in the Democratic Party in 2018 failed to capture her a House seat in Kentucky, announced Tuesday that she would seek to take on Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican majority leader, for his seat in 2020.
Ms. McGrath, 44, made her intentions known with a dark video denouncing Mr. McConnell, 77, who was first elected to the Senate in 1984 and has served as the central ballast for President Trump in Washington.
"Everything that's wrong in Washington had to start someplace," Ms. McGrath said in the video. "It started with this man who was elected a lifetime ago, and who has, bit by bit, year by year, turned Washington into something we all despise."
“The Letter" — Amy McGrath for U.S. Senatewww.youtube.com
She also reprised a story she used in her 2018 campaign against Representative Andy Barr, recounting that as a young woman she wrote to Mr. McConnell "telling him I wanted to fly fighter jets in combat, to fight for my country, and that women should be able to do that," and noting that he never wrote back.Mr. McConnell is in some ways as loathed by Democrats as Mr. Trump. And he has arguably been more effective, maintaining a stronghold over the nation's judiciary and largely refusing to cooperate with Democrats on major legislation.
Mr. McConnell's re-election team has been anticipating Ms. McGrath's announcement for months. On Tuesday, he responded with his own video that highlighted her support for priorities like abortion rights and a single-payer health care system — positions Mr. McConnell believes will be unpopular in Kentucky.
This link show the video The McConnell team posted to attack McGrath. https://twitter.com/Team_Mitch/status/114855499603...
"Amy McGrath lost her only race in a Democratic wave election because she is an extreme liberal who is far out of touch with Kentuckians," Kevin Golden, Mr. McConnell's campaign manager, said in a statement. He said Ms. McGrath would have "a heckuva platform that we will be delighted to discuss over the next 16 months."
Ms. McGrath's decision to take on Mr. McConnell in a state that is generally not propitious for Democrats reflects the party's enduring faith in military veterans, whose career paths and inspiring back stories can help blunt associations with its more liberal proclivities, and who also tend to be fund-raising juggernauts.
Mr. McConnell, Kentucky's longest serving senator, is "one of the most powerful political machines that's ever existed," said Jon Soltz, an Iraq War veteran and co-founder of VoteVets.org, a liberal political action committee that supports veterans running for office. "It takes someone with a compelling, nonpolitical profile to break through that. When you talk about Amy McGrath, you're talking about someone who has the credibility, with her profile, to reach people outside the Democratic base, independents, even Republicans. That's what will break the McConnell machine."
Among the 67 new Democrats in Congress, 10 served in the military or intelligence agencies and were instrumental in returning control of the House to Democrats. The group has formed a tight bond in the 116th Congress. Many of those members, especially the women, campaigned with Ms. McGrath and are eager to see her run.
"I'm excited to support my friend Amy McGrath," said Representative Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, a former Central Intelligence Agency operations officer who last year eked out a victory against a Republican incumbent. "Her race to defeat Senate Majority Leader McConnell should matter to any American, regardless of party, who wants to see us get stuff done in Washington for the American people."
Other candidates may file to run as Democrats in Kentucky next year, but Ms. McGrath is the only prominent potential nominee.
She put up a stronger challenge to Mr. Barr than he had faced in recent elections. And there are certainly no givens in American politics, especially for incumbents like Mr. McConnell who are associated with Washington's enduring dysfunction. Still, Kentucky remains tough terrain for Democrats, and may be more so with Mr. Trump, who remains largely popular in the state, at the top of the ticket.
In 2014, Alison Lundergan Grimes, a Democrat who hoped to capitalize on Mr. McConnell's lack of popularity nationwide, failed to topple him, securing just nine out of 120 counties in a race that was called moments after the polls closed in western Kentucky.
New York Times, July 9, 2019
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July 10, 2019
Voices4America Post Script. #DitchMitch went viral after Amy McGrath's announcement that she was running against McConnell. Imagine DC without Mitch McConnell! #BlueSenate202
Want to contribute to #DitchMitch? here is the link. https://act.amymcgrath.com/signup/join-the-team/?utm_source=g&utm_medium=om&utm_campaign=lb&utm_content=om_g_lb_20190709_g-lb-namenat-search_name-nat_respsearch&source=om_g_lb_20190709_g-lb-namenat-search_name-nat_respsearch&refcode=om_g_lb_20190709_g-lb-namenat-search_name-nat_respsearch&gclid=Cj0KCQjw9pDpBRCkARIsAOzRzisPxdBoNd-BOQMC7qQ23xgx5npaxBNtlNCqYsDiz3CibsaXql82tFgaApxKEALw_wcB
Here are two interesting tweets about the McGrath decision to run against McConnell.
1. Amy gave us a precise version of her own bio in a tweet.
2. And here is a sweetendorsement.
