McConnell, McGrath spar over coronavirus

Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell and Democratic challenger Amy McGrath sparred Monday evening over the federal response to the coronavirus crisis in a hard-hitting televised debate.

McGrath, a retired Marine combat pilot, was aggressive from the outset in blaming the Kentucky senator for the lack of another round of federal relief for a pandemic-battered economy, calling it a “dereliction of duty.” McConnell blamed congressional Democrats for the stalemated negotiations.

The debate offered McGrath her best chance for a breakthrough against McConnell, who has long dominated Kentucky’s political landscape and has consistently led in polling as he seeks a seventh term. It was their first and potentially only faceoff of the campaign. Inperson early voting begins today, and many Kentuckians are already filling out absentee ballots.

The debate comes at a crucial time for McConnell, who is running his own race while also focused on keeping his job as majority leader as the GOP struggles to retain control of the Senate.

The Kentucky rivals wrangled over health care but some of the sharpest of their early exchanges came when they were pressed about the federal response to the coronavirus outbreak.

McGrath gave President Donald Trump and Congress an F grade for their handling of the health crisis, before turning her attention to McConnell.

For his part, McConnell said he offered another coronavirus relief bill about a month ago that drew no Democratic support in the Senate.

The two rivals in the hotly contested Senate race had few kind words for each other Monday. Perdue called Ossoff “desperate,” and Ossoff said his opponent is so deeply entrenched in the “swamp” of Washington insiders that he lacks empathy for the problems everyday Americans are facing due to the pandemic.

Throughout the debate, Perdue accused Ossoff of being a “rubber stamp” for liberals’ wishes and of hiding his true “radical socialist agenda” — a phrase Perdue used at least six times during the hourlong debate.

Echoing his own false ads that have deluged Georgia TV markets, Perdue accused Ossoff of wanting to defund the police and said Ossoff has been getting support from the Community Party USA. Ossoff has said he does not want to defund the police and the claim about the Community Party USA is “flatly false,” the Associated Press has previously reported.

The debate, which was held virtually as a safeguard against the coronavirus, coincided with the first day of in-person early voting in Georgia. Voters in some areas waited several hours to cast a ballot Monday morning.

While statewide races in Georgia tend to favor Republican candidates, public polling shows a neck-and-neck battle between Perdue and Ossoff.