Former Marine combat pilot Amy McGrath has edged out a victory in the surprisingly close Democratic Senate primary fight in Kentucky.
McGrath narrowly beat state Rep. Charles Booker to the finish line thanks to a flood of absentee ballots caused by the coronavirus pandemic, which led to thousands of votes being mailed in prior to Booker surging in the polls.
Booker, a progressive who openly supports “Medicare-for-all” and the Green New Deal, rose to national prominence in the wake of the killing of 26-year-old Breonna Taylor, a black woman, in Louisville, Kentucky.
Taylor was killed on March 13 during a botched police raid at her home, when officers used a no-knock warrant to enter the premises. Protesters have taken to the streets in Louisville demanding justice for her killing.
Booker, a black man, became actively involved in the protests, which mirrored those taking place nationwide against police injustice.
His involvement gained him the attention of some prominent progressives, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), as well as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), all of whom endorsed Booker. Warren had previously celebrated McGrath launching her Senate bid, but stopped short of an endorsement.
McGrath, meanwhile, had been the longstanding favorite to clinch the party’s nomination prior to the protests, raising an astonishing $41.1 million over the course of her Senate campaign thanks to the support of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
Following a fundraising haul brought in by his progressive endorsements, Booker hit McGrath for her absence at the protests.
McGrath struggled to explain during their final primary debate why she had not yet been to any of the protests in her area, stammering for a bit before saying that she had not done so because she was at home with her family. She went on to cite the coronavirus pandemic as a reason to avoid crowds.
With the Senate primary scheduled for June 23, results poured in throughout the week as absentee ballots were counted, causing the results to fluctuate and move Booker to the lead on multiple occasions.
Booker led McGrath in the state’s more urban areas, specifically Louisville and Lexington, significantly. McGrath, however, bested Booker in rural counties.
With Booker out of her way, McGrath will take on the GOP powerhouse himself, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who is seeking his seventh term.
The Cook Political Report predicts the race will go “Likely Republican.”
In a statement Tuesday, McGrath called for party unity amid the rise in Democratic turnout.
“But there can be no removal of Mitch McConnell without unity. We must unify our Democratic family to make that happen, including those who didn’t vote for me in the primary, and I intend, immediately, to start the dialogue necessary to bring us all together in our common cause for the general election,” the former fighter pilot said.
She also praised her primary opponent, touting how Booker had “tapped into and amplified the energy and anger of so many who are fed up with the status quo.”
A McConnell campaign spokesperson said in a statement that McGrath was “lucky to have gotten out of the primary with a victory, but her reputation sustained significant damage all across Kentucky.”