Summary
- Amy McGrath announces second Kentucky Senate bid.
- She aims to succeed retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell.
- McGrath, a retired Marine aviator, calls herself “battle tested.”
Despite spending over $90 million during her campaign, McGrath lost to McConnell in 2020 by almost 20 percentage points. McGrath lost to U.S. Rep. Andy Barr by fewer than 10,000 votes in a far closer 2018 House contest.
“I know what courage looks like right now. Way too many politicians don't and Americans are being thrown under the bus by cowards in Washington without the moral backbone to serve our nation with honor,”
McGrath said in the announcement.
“You deserve a Senator who acts with decency and patriotism, who believes in the goodness and the promise of America.”
With the campaign slogan "Country over Party," which she shared with former Vice President Kamala Harris during her 2024 presidential campaign, McGrath is back and running for the Democratic nomination. McGrath used her background as a Marine Corps fighter pilot to make a well-known argument in her campaign ad.
Over the course of his 20-year military service, McGrath flew numerous combat missions in Afghanistan and Iraq. In addition to being an author, she has taught at the U.S. Naval Academy, served as a liaison officer at the Pentagon, and founded a nonprofit organization that supports women with military experience in political office.
McGrath, who was "not pro or anti-Trump" at the time, said during her maiden Senate race that McConnell was impeding President Donald Trump's objectives.
In a distinctly anti-Trump news statement on Monday, McGrath states that she is running "to prevent another Trump-aligned candidate from securing an easy path to the Senate."
Using her prior efforts as evidence, McGrath described herself as "battle-tested" and claimed to know how to develop a campaign that "can truly compete."
“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 the release.
Retired Air Force Colonel and state representative Pam Stevenson, former Secret Service agent Logan Forsythe, and former CIA officer and veteran Joel Willett are among the other Democrats who have entered the contest and have experience in public service. Barr, Lexington businessman Nate Morris, and former Attorney General Daniel Cameron are the main contenders in the Republican primary.
In a statement, a National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesman criticized McGrath for her past defeats and expressed his confidence that a Republican would take the available Senate seat.
"Amy McGrath will never be a U.S. Senator, but we look forward to watching her light Democrat donor dollars on fire trying,”
said Regional Press Secretary Nick Puglia.
In a series of television appearances over the past few months, McGrath has criticized the Trump administration and, in particular, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, mostly on MSNBC. She denounced Hegseth's remarks against women in the military this past weekend, calling them a "slap in the face" to women who had fought in combat roles like herself.
The primary election day is set for May 19, and candidates still have months to file for the primaries.
How might McGrath's entry reshape the Republican primary?
McGrath's prominent return and fruitful fundraising capabilities will likely lead national Republican organizations and candidates to increase spending to defend McConnell's seat, injecting further competitiveness into the primary.
McGrath's entrance will put more pressure on McConnell allies and Republican candidates to defend McConnell's legislative record, likely deepening differences among establishment Republicans and Trump-aligned Republicans in pursuit of the nomination.
Republican candidates will be forced to alter their messaging to appeal to both McConnell loyalists within the traditional GOP and Trump backers concerned with McConnell's leadership.