Amy McGrath, a Democrat and U.S. Marine Corps veteran, is setting her sights on representing Kentucky within the U.S. Senate to exchange outgoing Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell.
McGrath, who beforehand ran towards McConnell for a similar seat in 2020 and misplaced by roughly 20 share factors, introduced her candidacy on Oct. 6 as a rebuke of McConnell’s efficiency in Congress coupled with the present state and trajectory of the Trump administration.
The primary girl to fly in an F/A-18 in fight for the Marines and do it worldwide spoke with Navy.com following the announcement of her candidacy, saying that Kentuckians are in search of totally different outcomes than what they’re seeing now from the federal authorities—notably in response to well being care cuts and President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
“I believe lots of people across the nation and definitely right here in Kentucky are ticked off and indignant about the way in which our nation’s headed proper now, and I am one in all them,” McGrath mentioned. “I believe what we’re seeing from this president is harmful and never regular. And what we have seen from politicians in Washington prior to now six months actually hurts my state, my neighbors, my fellow Kentuckians.
“After I have a look at this open Kentucky Senate seat, I believe my state deserves a senator with decency and braveness who can be a voice. I form of have a look at it as, that is one thing I understand how to do. I’ve served my nation in uniform, I’ve finished arduous issues prior to now, and I am battle examined within the political enviornment, too. That issues as properly.”
McConnell Bows Out
McGrath, 50, and Democrats have a tall job to flip the seat the 83-year-old McConnell has held since 1985. The final Democrat to win a U.S. Senate race in Kentucky was Wendell Ford in 1992.
Though the Senate election will happen in the course of the midterms and in an off-presidential election 12 months, Republican presidential candidates have gained Kentucky’s electoral votes in each election since 1996 when Invoice Clinton defeated Bob Dole.
In February, McConnell—the longest-serving Senate occasion chief and a significant architect of GOP insurance policies—introduced that he wouldn’t search reelection, forgoing a possible eighth time period in workplace. Final 12 months, he additionally stepped down because the Senate GOP chief and was changed by Sen. John Thune (R-SD).
McGrath mentioned her determination to re-enter the political enviornment outcomes from a mixture of McConnell retiring his seat and the way in which the Trump administration has not lived as much as its marketing campaign guarantees.
“Mitch McConnell noticed the writing on the wall and he left the seat broad open, he stepped down,” she mentioned. “I believe folks right here in Kentucky are wanting change, and we now have this midterm—it is not a presidential [election], it is a midterm so it is a totally different voters.
“After which the large factor is it got here right down to this: nobody’s higher off than they have been in 2020 once I ran. And issues are a lot, a lot worse. If issues have been higher, I could not take into account it. However a lot has occurred and a lot is worse in our nation that how will you not get up and be a voice proper now with so many harmful issues occurring?”
She mentioned her state’s voters have “confirmed” that they’ll vote for the most effective candidates no matter their political affiliation, pointing to how Democratic Governor Andy Beshear has led the state since 2019.
GOP Opponents
Ought to McGrath achieve success in her occasion’s major subsequent 12 months, she’s going to probably face one of many following Republicans: Rep. Andy Barr, former Kentucky Lawyer Basic Daniel Cameron, or businessman Nate Morris. The submitting deadline to run is January 9, 2026.
She known as it “fascinating” how candidates like Cameron and Barr have been as soon as McConnell’s proteges however have shifted their allegiance “to please one man,” referring to Trump.
“I believe that there is sufficient Kentuckians who’re on the market saying sufficient is sufficient. … I am not eager about going into the background of a Daniel Cameron, however they’re all racing as far MAGA as humanly doable and puckering up as a lot as they will to Mar-a-Lago.
“That’s what they care about, and Kentucky is secondary to them. Kentucky is a device.”
Navy.com reached out to the Cameron marketing campaign for remark.
“Andy Barr and President Trump beat Amy McGrath as soon as, and so they’ll do it once more,” Alex Bellizzi, Barr’s marketing campaign spokesman, instructed Navy.com. “Collectively, they defeated her in what was as soon as a battleground district, regardless of her thousands and thousands from coastal elites and limitless airtime from the liberal media.”
McGrath added that her state’s voters are feeling the brunt of tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, which she mentioned is “crushing” Kentucky’s bourbon business and hurting the state’s farmers along with the car and, aviation industries.
“They harm folks’s pocketbooks, she mentioned. “Day-to-day prices for Kentucky households have gone up, up, up. The value of beef, the worth of pork, the worth of vitality has gone up. Grocery, automotive costs, you title it. The bourbon business, our manufacturing is plummeting due to this.”
She added: “That is my message to Kentuckians, let’s get someone who cares about you. We might not agree on each single coverage, however I will be a voice for Kentucky and I will have the braveness to face as much as anybody—my very own occasion or this president or any president in the event that they’re instituting or pushing down insurance policies that harm us. That is the distinction.”
Classes Discovered From 2020
McGrath misplaced by roughly 20 share factors to McConnell 5 years in the past, whilst she raised greater than $80 million by way of political motion committees.
She mentioned she realized from that marketing campaign, which was fairly unorthodox because of the nationwide and political local weather that was closely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Working an “previous school-type of marketing campaign” is her endeavor.
McGrath additionally acknowledged the stakes. Republicans occupy the White Home and possess majorities in each the Senate and Home of Representatives, which makes the 2026 elections essential ought to Democrats intend to restrict conservatives’ legislative stranglehold.
The Trump administration’s efforts to militarize American cities ought to trigger residents in Kentucky and elsewhere to heed excessive warning, she added.
“[Next year’s elections are] extraordinarily very important,” McGrath mentioned. “Take a look at all of the stuff that is occurring, the weaponization of presidency towards political opponents—one thing I believed I might by no means see in my lifetime, the politicization of our army—these centrally deliberate tariffs which are assaults on folks. That is purported to be the management of Congress within the Structure, not the presidency.
“We’re having army patrols in U.S. cities, police raids on properties of People, the federal government taking management of personal firms, the focus of energy into one particular person proper now, these mass detentions with out due course of, our politicization of our intelligence. … I believe that lots of people are fearful and fearful, and in instances like that, I am someone who wants to face up as a result of I imagine in our nation and I imagine in our democracy. My entire life has been about defending our democracy.”
