This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/09/us/politics/amy-mcgrath-mitch-mcconnell.html

The article has changed 7 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 1 Version 2
Amy McGrath Opens Challenge to Mitch McConnell in Kentucky Amy McGrath Opens Campaign to Oust Mitch McConnell in 2020
(about 2 hours later)
WASHINGTON — Amy McGrath, a retired Marine lieutenant colonel and combat pilot who was a star Democratic candidate in 2018 but failed to capture 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. 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 announcement 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. 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 says 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.” “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.”
[Make sense of the people, issues and ideas shaping American politics with our newsletter.]
She also reprised a story she used in her 2018 campaign against Representative Andy Barr, in which she recounted 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.She also reprised a story she used in her 2018 campaign against Representative Andy Barr, in which she recounted 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, whose team has been anticipating Ms. McGrath’s announcement for months, responded with his own video with quotes culled from her House campaign, in which she expressed support for things like a single-payer health care system and abortion rights — positions he believes will be largely unpopular in his conservative state. [Make sense of the people, issues and ideas shaping American politics with our newsletter.]
“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,” said Kevin Golden, a spokesman for Mr. McConnell’s re-election campaign. 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 with quotes culled from her House campaign, in which she expressed support for things like a single-payer health care system and abortion rights — positions he believes will be largely unpopular in Kentucky.
“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 veteran candidates. “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 the state 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.