Amy McGrath Jumps Into Senate Race To Replace Mitch McConnell

Amy McGrath, a retired Marine lieutenant colonel and combat pilot, announced Tuesday she’s running against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

McGrath tweeted a video marking the launch of her campaign, in which she describes writing a letter to McConnell as a 13-year-old girl, noting he never wrote her back. She claims “everything that’s wrong in Washington” started with McConnell, “who was elected a lifetime ago, and who has, bit by bit, year by year, turned Washington into something we all despise.”

Within an hour of her tweet, McConnell’s campaign released an ad attacking her progressive beliefs.

McGrath’s new ad echoes a similar spot she released when she challenged GOP Rep. Andy Barr ― who received an endorsement from President Donald Trump ― in Kentucky’s 6th District in 2018. Her announcement comes after months of speculation that she might run, including reports that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) actively recruited her for the race.

McGrath is the first major Democrat to jump into the race against McConnell, who was last challenged by Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes in 2014.