Kentucky Democrat
Amy McGrath, a former fighter pilot who rose to national prominence last year in her failed campaign for
Congress against Republican Andy Barr, is turning her sights on a new target: Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell.
In a three-minute video released Tuesday, McGrath said McConnell has "bit by bit, year by year, turned Washington into something we all despise."
"I'm running for Senate because it shouldn't be like this," McGrath added.
McGrath's candidacy marks a significant recruiting coup for Democrats. She emerged as an unlikely fundraising juggernaut in her congressional race, bringing in millions of dollars after her campaign released a biographical video that went viral, and becoming a Democratic celebrity in the process.
But it was not enough for McGrath to best Barr, who won by about 3 points in the 2018 election, despite being outspent by McGrath by nearly $3 million.
In the race against McConnell, McGrath appears poised to run as a moderate seeking to break the partisan gridlock in Washington. In an interview Tuesday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," McGrath said she had watched the Democratic presidential debate and was concerned that many candidates were positioning themselves too far to the left on issues like health care.
McGrath will have her work cut out for her, however. President Donald Trump won Kentucky by nearly 30 points in 2016, and his presence at the top of the ticket in 2020 will likely help drive Republican voters to the polls.
Meanwhile, McConnell has shown himself to be a canny and ruthless opponent. In 2014, he beat back a much-hyped rival, Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes, in a 15-point victory.
On "Morning Joe," McGrath conceded that McConnell "has been formidable" after more than three decades in the Senate. But, she added, "this is a different race."
"The things that Kentuckians voted for Trump for are not being done," McGrath said. "He's not able to get it done because of Mitch McConnell."
McGrath brings to the race a compelling biography, as the first woman Marine to fly an F-18 fighter jet in combat. In the video announcing her Senate bid, McGrath recalled writing a letter to McConnell as a 13-year-old girl, asking him to change the law that, at that time, barred women from such missions.
"He never wrote back," McGrath recalled.