LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Amy McGrath is a retired Marine seeking her first elected office.
She lost in 2018 to Rep. Andy Barr in a high-profile Congressional race. This time, she's looking to defeat Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who is seeking his seventh term in Washington.
"Nobody should be in office 42 years in that same seat. Nobody," McGrath said. "I know who I am. I know what I stand for. I know that we have to work to make a better Kentucky and a better country for our families. And to be able to vote for Amy McGrath as opposed to the man I think has been a very big part of destroying our democracy."
Amy McGrath jumped into this race in the summer of 2019 with a national roll-out. Millions of dollars followed, but that's not necessarily translated to poll results.
McGrath remains confident in her chances and hopes voters boot out the Senate majority leader. She blames McConnell for leading the Senate into an ineffective, dysfunctional mess.
"I think the biggest thing we can do, really, is get rid of him, and then see if we can make some structural changes, and get us back to where we have traditionally had a Senate that has been able to work," McGrath said.
McGrath has also been highly critical of the Senate's decision to confirm a new Supreme Court justice before agreeing on more COVID-19 relief.
"President Trump has said he wants to do coronavirus aid, effective coronavirus aid," McGrath said. "The House already passed two bills that were effective coronavirus aid for Kentucky, for our state, for the country. And Sen. McConnell is not interested in even negotiating."
If elected, she says her priority is helping Kentuckians by pushing for more affordable healthcare, expanding broadband access, investing in infrastructure and education.
But McGrath says her first order of business would be battling the pandemic.
"Kentucky deserves better. Our country deserves better. I have a plan to get us through this virus. I have a plan to get national testing and tracing. To get our schools back open. To get our businesses back open. And to fix our healthcare system that we badly need here," she said.
