Amy McGrath won the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Kentucky and will face Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) in the Nov. 3 general election.
With 99% of precincts reporting, McGrath had 45% of the vote to state Rep. Charles Booker’s 43%. Eight other candidates were on the ballot. The race was called Tuesday, a week following the election, as counties finished counting absentee ballots.
McGrath had raised $41 million as of June 3—more than any other U.S. Senate candidate nationally. The Senate candidate with the second-highest total was McConnell with $33 million. Two other Senate candidates nationally had raised more than $20 million; Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) with $31 million and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) with $21 million.
Among McGrath’s Democratic primary opponents, Charles Booker raised the second-highest amount of $793,000.
McGrath describes herself as progressive on some issues and conservative on others. She supports improving the Affordable Care Act and gradually increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Booker ran as a progressive, backing Medicare for All, an immediate minimum wage increase to $15 an hour, and a universal basic income.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, VoteVets, and more than a dozen unions were among McGrath’s endorsers. Booker’s endorsers included Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), the Working Families Party, and the Sunrise Movement.
McConnell was first elected in 1984. Kentucky last elected a Democrat to the Senate in 1992.
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