Oct. 6 (UPI) — Retired Marine pilot Amy McGrath announced that she is running to replace U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in 2026. He plans to retire from Congress at the end of his current term.
McGrath, a Democrat and former candidate for both the House and the Senate from Kentucky, launched her campaign Monday in a short video posted to her campaign website.
“I know what courage looks like,” McGrath said in the video. “Right now, way too many politicians don’t and Americans are being thrown under the bus by cowards in Washington without the moral backbone to serve our nation with honor.”
McGrath is the latest to join a crowded field in the Democratic primary for McConnell’s seat since he announced his retirement in February.
Already running for the Democrat’s nomination are former Secret Service Agent Logan Forsythe, former CIA officer and military veteran Joel Willett, and retired Air Force colonel and state Rep. Pam Stevensen, according to Louisville Public Media.
In 2020, McGrath was the Democratic nominee against McConnell, who was first elected to the Senate in 1984 and has long been one of its most powerful members but lost by roughly 20 percentage points.
Three people already are running in the Republican primary: Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, businessman Nate Morris and U.S. Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky, who beat McGrath in 2018 for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, Politico reported.