Establishment Backed Amy McGrath Hangs On in KY Primary

After a 1 year head-start which gave her a 50 point lead, $40 million dollars, and outspending her opponents 40/1, Amy McGrath, Chuck Schumer and the DSCC’s pick has won the Kentucky Senate primary over insurgent candidate Charles Booker. Booker overwhelmingly won day-of voting but McGrath banked a large enough lead on mail-in ballots that she was able to hang on.

Even though she lost her bid for the House in 2018, McGrath was recruited by Schumer to run for the Senate for 1 main reason, she can raise a shit ton of money from coastal elites. She cuts a good viral ad touting her past as a pilot in the Marines and going after Mitch McConnell which means every person with #resist in their bio will empty their bank account.

The start to her campaign went as well as you’d expect for a Dem establishment candidate. She painted herself as more pro-Trump than McConnell, said she would’ve voted for Kavanaugh…..then back tracked on that immediately when she say the reaction. But mainstream Ds stuck by her because money>substance.

Charles Booker, state Representative, ran an strong progressive campaign around Medicare-For-All, Green New Deal, universal basic income, criminal justice/gun reform, etc. He had support from the people on the ground but really only took off after the nationwide police brutality protests. Meanwhile McGrath fumbled over questions about why she wasn’t at the protests:

When Kentuckians were protesting for Black lives, Amy McGrath stayed at home because she was “busy with family things.”

Meanwhile, @Booker4KY showed up and continues to show up at the protests. pic.twitter.com/CMZbkOxagm

— Jax (@Jaxlzz) June 14, 2020

Even though McGrath hung on to win, this race shows how stupid it is for the national parties to get involved in primaries. Instead of sitting on your D.C ivory tower thinking you know more than everyday people, how about you let the people decide who is or is not “electable”. Without the support of the Dem establishment, there’s no chance McGrath wins this race. Now neither McGrath nor Booker stands a good chance to beat Mitch McConnell in November but only the geniuses in D.C. would rather run a Republican-lite, pro-Trump democrat instead who almost pissed away a 50 point/40 million dollar lead over the person who built a working class movement.

Now I’m sure all the losers on Twitter will be in my mentions saying “she won, she’s the more electable candidate”. They could be right…. only a truly electable candidate could outspend their opponents 40/1 and only win by 3 points.