McConnell uses Booker’s criticism of McGrath in first attack ad of general election
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell launched his first general election attack ad against Democratic nominee Amy McGrath Wednesday, seizing on Democratic criticism of McGrath during the primary.
The ad features several criticisms of McGrath from newspapers during the primary, including one from the The Courier Journal that said her campaign has been “unimaginative and uninspiring,”
It ends with a quote from Rep. Charles Booker, D-Louisville, who surged late in the race in part by juxtaposing himself against McGrath as a more authentic candidate who was willing to take immediate action on many of the issues the progressive Democratic base cared most about.
“Perhaps Charles Booker had the best line on McGrath, saying ‘I know that Kentuckians can smell BS from miles away,’” the narrator of the ad says. “That’s a Democrat on McGrath.”
Mark Nickolas, McGrath’s campaign manager, said McConnell was looking to shift the focus away from “the atrocious job he’s doing in Congress.”
“This is par for the course,” Nickolas said. “If you can’t defend your record, you deflect. This is why all polls clearly show that the voters are fed up with him and his lack of leadership during times like these.”
The ad seizes on the perception that McGrath is limping into the general election after a hard-fought primary with Booker and Lincoln County Farmer Mike Broihier, both of whom ran ads critical of McGrath in the final weeks of the campaign.
She won the Democratic primary by three percentage points, winning big in the more rural areas of the state and Northern Kentucky while losing Kentucky’s three largest cities. Booker caught the attention and imagination of many Democrats late and he ran several attack ads against McGrath in attempts to win the race, implying that she was not a “real Democrat.”
In his concession statement after the race, Booker did not congratulate McGrath. While the two have spoken and plan to work together heading in the general election, according to McGrath’s campaign, it is unclear what working together will look like and whether Booker plans to campaign for McGrath in the fall.
Regardless of any movement toward unity on the Democratic front, the McConnell campaign is quickly seizing on the fact that much of McGrath’s support appeared to erode late in the campaign against Booker.
“McGrath spent more than $25 million during the primary to get Kentuckians to like her, but between a narrow primary victory and a clear lack of support from nearly half of Kentucky Democrats show that her approach to campaigning is having the opposite effect,” said Kevin Golden, McConnell’s campaign manager. “The same thing that has eluded her in every campaign she’s run is eluding her yet again — adequate support for her candidacy.”
McConnell has already spent more than $15 million on the race and did not face a competitive primary. The majority of McGrath’s money spent in the primary was directed at McConnell.
The McGrath campaign did not immediately return a request for comment.
This story was originally published July 8, 2020 at 1:59 PM.
