Retired Marine fighter pilot Amy McGrath is joining the Democratic race for Kentucky’s open Senate seat, five years after losing a well-funded bid to unseat Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell by nearly 20 points.
“Kentuckians deserve someone battle-tested and ready to fight for them on day one,” McGrath said in a statement announcing her run. “I’ve gone toe-to-toe with Washington insiders and their special interests, and I know what it takes to build a campaign that can truly compete.”
McGrath’s 2020 campaign spent nearly $90 million in an ultimately unsuccessful effort to oust McConnell in the deep-red state, which hasn’t elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1992. Two years earlier, though, she rose to national prominence with her campaign for the House, coming within 3 points of unseating Republican Andy Barr in the Lexington-centered 6th District.
“Twice now, we’ve built one of the strongest grassroots operations Kentucky has ever seen, and this time we’re poised to complete the mission,” McGrath said in her statement.
Barr is among three high-profile Republicans seeking to succeed the 83-year-old McConnell, the former Senate majority leader who is retiring after seven terms. The GOP primary field also includes former state Attorney General Daniel Cameron and businessman Nate Morris.
“Bring it on, Amy. This will be fun,” Barr posted on social media last month, following a report in the Lexington Herald-Leader that McGrath was weighing a Senate bid. “I beat you once, and I’ll beat you again.”
In their 2018 matchup, Barr used McGrath’s big fundraising hauls to portray her as a liberal outsider who had only recently moved into the district. McGrath responded to those attacks by playing up her military service.
Before taking on the GOP nominee next year, though, McGrath would have to get past several Democrats already running, including state House Minority Leader Pamela Stevenson, former CIA officer Joel Willett and former Secret Service agent Logan Forsythe. Andy Beshear, the state’s Democratic governor, has repeatedly said he is not running for Senate.
In announcing her run, McGrath took aim at the Trump administration’s policies. “Our democracy is under siege, cowards in Washington are bowing to Donald Trump, and Kentuckians are paying the price,” she said in a social media post.
Trump won Kentucky by double digits in three consecutive elections, including by more than 30 points last year.
Senate Democrats face a tough road to win the majority next year, with just one Republican senator on the ballot in a state that backed Kamala Harris in 2024. For the net gain of four seats needed to flip the chamber, Democrats would have to win in red-leaning states that have proved inhospitable terrain for the party in recent cycles.
Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales rates the Senate race in Kentucky as Solid Republican.
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