McGrath gets Dem nod in Ky. race against McConnell

Amy McGrath, a retired Marine Corps fighter pilot recruited by national Democrats to mount a long-shot bid against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has prevailed in her party’s Senate primary in Kentucky.

McGrath held off a late surge from Charles Booker, a state legislator who tapped into the energy of the movement for racial justice and won endorsements from several high-profile progressives on the national stage.

The race had remained too close to call on Election Day last week as many absentee ballots had yet to be counted. Booker held a narrow advantage over McGrath in a large field based on early and in-person totals released a week ago.

But McGrath made up ground as more votes were tallied, according to updated results, and benefited from early voting.

In a statement Tuesday, McGrath said she was “humbled” to have won the Democratic nomination and said she “can’t wait to get started in sending [McConnell] into retirement and finally draining the toxic Washington political swamp that he built.”

She also congratulated Booker “for his very impressive result” and urged party unity in seeking to oust McConnell.

“There is no doubt that Charles tapped into and amplified the energy and anger of so many who are fed-up with the status quo and are rightfully demanding long overdue action and accountability from our government and institutions,” McGrath said. “Sadly, our system is broken. We need to elect people who will have the courage to meaningfully tackle the socio-economic, legal and educational inequities that continue to prevent true equality in our country.”

McConnell, who is seeking a seventh term, easily prevailed in the Republican primary last week.

In the closing weeks of the race, Booker tapped into the anger over police killings of African Americans, including Breonna Taylor, who was shot eight times after Louisville police officers used a battering ram to enter her apartment.

He also fully embraced a progressive agenda, including “Medicare for All” and the Green New Deal, while McGrath offered more centrist policy prescriptions.

Booker issued as a statement last week saying he was “fired up by what we’re already seeing in the early returns.”

“When we started this thing, we were down 50 points, up against a candidate with millions of dollars in the bank and all of Washington behind her,” he said.

McGrath drew the backing of Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., which helped bolster her fundraising. By the start of June, she had raised more than $400 million.

Booker had support from some leading progressive luminaries, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.