December 28, 2019

Amy McGrath Is Now Officially Challenging Mitch McConnell

McGrath, a former Marine pilot, is already out-fundraising the Senate Republican leader.

Former Marine pilot Amy McGrath concedes in November 2018 in Richmond, Kentucky, after losing to Rep. Andy Barr. Charles Bertram/ZUMA

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

Amy McGrath, a Democrat and former Marine fighter pilot, has officially filed to challenge Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in Kentucky’s 2020 US Senate election. 

In the 2018 midterm elections, McGrath narrowly lost to Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.) to represent the state’s 6th Congressional District. During her first months on the campaign trail before officially establishing her candidacy, McGrath outraised McConnell and other Democrats by bringing in nearly $11 million. 

In 2016, Trump carried Kentucky by nearly 30 points. But last month, Gov. Matt Bevin, the nation’s “Trumpiest governor,” lost his reelection bid to Democrat Andy Beshear, after President Donald Trump campaigned for Bevin and said a loss for the unpopular incumbent would send “a really bad message.” The president pleaded, “You can’t let that happen to me!”

McGrath believes Beshear’s win helps her chances in 2020. “It absolutely gives us momentum,” she told the Associated Press, “because it shows that against an unpopular Republican incumbent, a Democrat can win.” McConnell is the country’s most unpopular senator in his home state, with 50 percent disapproval, although he’s still the heavy favorite in deep-red Kentucky.

THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

payment methods

THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate