Former Marine fighter pilot Amy McGrath launches a second U.S. Senate bid

Former fighter pilot Amy McGrath enters the Democratic major for U.S. Senate in Kentucky. (Campaign photograph)

Former Marine fighter pilot Amy McGrath has launched a marketing campaign for Kentucky’s open U.S. Senate seat, her second U.S. Senate bid after shedding to longtime Republican incumbent Sen. Mitch McConnell in 2020. 

McGrath in a social media post Monday morning featured a video of her strolling up to a lone chair while saying, “This isn’t just a chair. It’s an open seat.” McConnell, 83, the Senate’s longest-ever occasion chief, set off what guarantees to be a fierce battle for his seat when he announced in February that he wouldn’t search an eighth time period.

McGrath is joining three Democrats already vying for the open U.S. Senate seat and at least three Republicans.

McGrath wrote in her social media post that “democracy was under siege” and “cowards in Washington are bowing to Donald Trump.” 

“Kentuckians deserve someone battle-tested and ready to fight for them on day one. I’ve spent my life stepping up when the mission was tough and the stakes were high, first as a Marine and now for Kentucky. I’m ready to complete the mission,” McGrath wrote in her post launching the marketing campaign. 

McGrath said in her video that Kentucky’s open U.S. Senate seat “will decide the balance of power in the Senate.” 

The veteran fighter pilot spent more than $90 million as the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate difficult McConnell in 2020, shedding by over 400,000 votes. She beforehand ran for Congress in 2018 to signify Kentucky’s sixth Congressional District masking Central Kentucky, shedding to Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Barr by 3 share factors in a considerably nearer election. 

Barr is now among the candidates in the Republican major also looking for the U.S. Senate seat, along with former Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron and Lexington businessman Nate Morris.

In response to a Lexington Herald-Leader article revealed last month reporting that McGrath was contemplating launching a marketing campaign, Barr wrote in a post on X: “Bring it on, Amy. This will be fun. I beat you once, and I’ll beat you again.”

Other Democrats who have announced for the Senate seat are former Secret Service agent Logan Forsythe, former CIA officer Joel Willett and Kentucky House Democratic Floor Leader Pamela Stevenson.