Amy McGrath’s second Senate campaign lands with a thud, not a bang | Opinion
Amy McGrath hopes the third time is a charm for winning elected office in Kentucky by running as a Democrat in the US Senate race for Mitch McConnell’s seat.
But last week’s announcement landed with a resounding thud across the commonwealth, followed by the tapping sounds of a thousand keyboards as a diverse coalition of social media users expressed their dismay.
(Also audible: The tinkling laughter of Kentucky Republicans.)
In these politically divided times, it was extraordinary to see the concurrence of thought over McGrath’s reappearance. People seem to react in three kinds of threads:
1. The idea that someone who brought in more than $94 million to lose to McConnell by 20 points in 2020 should not get back into electoral politics.
2. National Democrats and/or consultants pushing someone who has already lost two Congressional races, the 6th District in 2018 and the Senate in 2020, is insulting to Kentucky.
3. Please, please, no more talk about fighter pilot moms, which appears to be the only message from McGrath’s last two campaigns that really stuck.
Some high-profile Democrats have been direct. California Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna thanked McGrath for her military service on X.
“But Amy has previously run for this seat & only succeeded in enriching consultants & bleeding well-meaning donors dry, one text at a time,” he wrote. “We need a different kind of Democratic party & approach to build a majority.”
Former US Rep. Susan Wise, D-Pennsylvania, tweeted in response to McGrath’s video announcement: “Please don’t.”
McGrath’s fundraising abilities and name recognition put her at the top of the pack of the other three candidates who have declared so far in the Democratic primary, even though they also have strong public service records.
Kentucky House Minority Leader Pamela Stevenson, also an ordained minister, was a judge advocate general in the US Air Force. Logan Forsythe is a Lexington attorney and a former US Secret Service agent. Joel Willett joined the military after the 9/11 attacks, and later worked for the CIA and as a military contractor for national security agencies.
Jared Smith, co-host of the Kentucky Politics Weekly podcast and occasional Democratic consultant, echoed the sentiments of Khanna and many others.
“I want to thank (Lt.) Col. McGrath for her service to this country, and I respect her for that, and I respect anyone who decides to run for office,” he said. “But the Kentucky voters have had plenty of time to choose McGrath to represent them, and twice they have decided not to.”
It might be different if she had run again for the 6th District seat, now open, which she narrowly lost to US Rep. Andy Barr in 2018 with 47.8% of the vote.
“She’s a wonderful person, but I was shocked to see her enter the race,” said state Sen. Robin Webb, who recently switched from being a Democrat to a Republican. “It’s sort of like déjà vu all over again.”
A Marine and a mom and ...
On paper, McGrath has a formidable resume: First woman to fly a combat mission for the Marine Corps, graduate and later instructor at the US Naval Academy, visible presence on political shows and in national fundraising circles.
But many people told me that besides being a Marine and a mom, they don’t know what her platform encompasses. This time around, she said she’s running against Trump, but people don’t know what she’s for.
“I’m not sure there’s a sense of possibility when it comes to Amy McGrath,” said former state Rep. Attica Scott, a Louisville Democrat. “I’m not sure people feel connected to the values or vision of what she stands for. I don’t know any positions I could say she stands for.”
Yes, Scott agreed, McGrath is probably the front-runner in the Democratic primary.
“But even if Amy can win the primary, when it comes to winning the general election, money and name recognition is not enough,” Scott said.
In the best of circumstances, this race will be tough for Democrats. Three strong Republican candidates in the GOP primary are vying for McConnell’s seat in a state that went for Trump by more than 30.5 percentage points in 2024 and hasn’t had a Democratic senator since Wendell Ford left office in 1999.
Republican consultant Tres Watson, who also does the Kentucky Politics Weekly podcast with Smith, agreed, saying McGrath’s past waffles turned voters off.
“She has no ability to think and process and be a real human,” he said. “Voters want people who are relatable; she’s not a good retail politician. She’s uncomfortable and standoffish.”
Fundraising may not be as easy this time around. In a Bulwark article about Democratic vanity candidates, Biden-Harris fundraising chair Rufus Gifford said it’s easy to raise money against a well-known, well-hated incumbent like McConnell.
“Political fundraising is in part based on emotion,” Gifford told the Bulwark, a center-right media company.
“But at a time when democracy is under threat every single day, we can’t let our emotions dictate our decisions. We have to be level-headed and understand what the winnable races are.”
The best they’ve got?
Very few elected Democrats agreed to speak on the record about McGrath.
“That’s because they think she’ll win the primary, and she’s the best they’ve got,” said former Republican Secretary of State Trey Grayson. “At least Amy knows how to be a statewide candidate.
“They also know that none of the Democrats can win in the fall, except for one.”
That’s Gov. Andy Beshear, of course, who, despite passionate entreaties from many, has so far declined to step into the Senate race as he instead flirts with a presidential run in 2028.
McGrath could force the three Republican front-runners in the race to spend more money, but people seem extremely doubtful she could defeat any of them.
“I’ve been fascinated by the reaction,” Grayson said. “Some of this frustration is about how she raised a ton of money and got destroyed, but also the question of why she wouldn’t run for an open seat in the 6th District.”
McGrath’s candidacy seems to speak to a darker truth about the Kentucky Democratic Party, which seems to lose ground in every election, and seems likely to continue to do so any time a Beshear isn’t on the ballot. Increasingly, there are local races without any Democratic candidates. The state Senate just lost two more Democrats with Webb’s defection and Sen. David Yates’ resignation to become Jefferson County Clerk.
Building a Democratic Party back bench “is imperative to our survival as a party,” said Nicholas Hazelett, chair of the Johnson County Democrats.
“We have three years of nonstop elections coming up in Kentucky — we have to get candidates in line for every single one of those seats, we have to put people in every single possible position to win. We have to take the mentality to contest every single seat because you never know.”
More Democratic candidates mean more choices for voters up the line — candidates known to them — rather than folks who please national political donors and operatives.
“I don’t think McGrath fits in well with what Kentucky voters want,” Watson said. “At the end of the day, we’re going to waste a lot of time, money and column inches, and the Democrat still loses by 20 points, because Kentucky Democrats have to figure out what they are.”
This story was originally published October 13, 2025 at 11:55 AM.
