Amy McGrath isn’t sorry for trying again

The announcement that Amy McGrath a retired Marine fighter pilot would be running for a U S Senate seat in Kentucky again in was met with a mixed reaction from Democrats and Kentuckians who remember her million bid five years ago McGrath however communicated Salon that any suggestion that she was running for the money was total bullshit while adding that she would drop out if her state s popular Democratic governor Andy Beshear decides to enter the race himself In McGrath generated hype among national Democrats with a biography that a great number of thought could be appealing in a conservative state But despite record-breaking fundraising McGrath went on to lose by more than points to Sen Mitch McConnell R-Ky her campaign becoming the prime example for critics who say Democrats have too often fallen prey to expensive but futile campaigns and fundraising tactics that are unsustainable McGrath s announcement garnered pushback from a few elected Democrats like Rep Ro Khanna D-Calif who mentioned Amy has previously run for this seat and only succeeded in enriching consultants and bleeding well-meaning donors dry one text at a time Related Seth Moulton s primary challenger He surrendered to MAGA Former Rep Susan Wild D-Pa also responded to the announcement saying please don t Multiple Kentucky papers likewise published opinions expressing skepticism over McGrath s second Senate campaign In an interview with Salon McGrath addressed the argument over her campaign announcement saying We re all fighting for the same goals to protect people s wellness care to make lives better for people to lower costs We are also all fighting for a Democratic majority that delivers for Americans McGrath mentioned and in this moment we re all fighting to protect our democracy and I ve constantly had deep respect for anyone doing this work I think you know we need to stay focused on the real fight here and not each other McGrath defended running again despite losing to McConnell in arguing that the loss her second in as a multitude of years shouldn t preclude her from trying again Ask Bernie Sanders how plenty of times he ran McGrath disclosed At the same time McGrath noted she would be willing to step aside Of discipline I would backing Andy Beshear in the event he released a bid for Senate she noted He s been an incredible governor We need your help to stay independent Subscribe in contemporary times to advocacy Salon s progressive journalism McGrath when urged why she chose to run for Senate again rather than Kentucky s th House District which she almost won in commented that she no longer lives in the district which encompasses Lexington and the surrounding area and that she believes voters there are entitled to a representative who lives in the district Her strategy this time she stated is to focus more on state-level concerns than on what s happening in Washington DC You don t focus on yourself You don t focus on what national politicians are talking about McGrath reported explaining that she believes healthcare will be central in the race after Republicans cut nearly trillion in healthcare care funding You focus on the cost of groceries You focus on keeping hospitals open You focus on showing up She also alluded to the chaos brought on by Trump s policies like the ongoing regime shutdown This chaos that you re seeing from Trump hurts Kentucky families McGrath reported It hurts them Tariffs raise the prices shutdowns threaten our military pay attacks on our democracy dividing our neighbors McGrath also reported that Trump would loom large over the midterms I have been strong on Donald Trump and been honest about him Now what What do I say to Kentuckians you know who voted for him Look he promised a lot of stuff He promised he wasn t going to go after Medicare and Medicaid And what is what is he doing He did just that you know what about these tariffs People didn t vote for Donald Trump for these tariffs I mean they didn t vote for higher prices McGrath noted When sought what she had learned from the governor s success in the state McGrath mentioned that the best campaigns are built on listening and Andy Beshear is really good at that Beshear has won two statewide elections in Kentucky first in when he won the gubernatorial race by less than a point and again in when he won by five points McGrath also addressed particular criticisms stemming from the immense sum of money raised for her campaign and the Democratic fundraising and consultant complex more generally She explained it was total bullshit to suggest that consultants somehow got rich off of my campaign No one got rich off my campaign she disclosed Start your day with essential news from Salon Sign up for our free morning newsletter Crash Curriculum McGrath also touted the largest field operation in Kentucky history and disclosed that after her campaign had ended we used our operation what was left of the operation to raise money and help out for the two Georgia Senate candidates who were left McGrath was referring to the PAC she founded after her loss in Democratic Majority Action which despite being created after the general voting raised in the cycle and is still operational in the present day In total the two Senate races in Georgia in saw million in ad spending according to the ad spending tracking firm AdImpact The amount of money raised by DMA or transferred to the Kentucky state party by the McGrath campaign does however pale in comparison to the amount of money spent on advertising by the main PAC supporting her candidacy Honor Bound PAC According to FEC filings the McGrath campaign spent just shy of million on advertising that cycle Several agencies received millions of dollars for advertising like Buying Time a DC-based ad firm that managed more than million in ad buys in just one week in October and Do Big Things an Illinois-based political consultancy firm that managed a single million buy around the same McGrath s campaign manager Mark Nickolas also received a salary of about a year during the time he was working on the campaign as well as a lump sum payment of nearly on November about a week after the electoral process While the totals disclosed in FEC filings represent the total sum spent on advertising including production costs and the price of airtime ad agencies typically are paid a percentage of the total spend on advertising meaning the more a campaign spends the more advertising consultants make Though the issue is not specific to McGrath s campaign a great number of Democrats have become increasingly critical of the advertising-centric campaign spending particularly in the wake of former Vice President Kamala Harris s failed bid which raised a record billion Read more about this topic Progressives plan wave of Democratic primary challenges ahead of midterm elections A primary motivation Democrats due for a reality check on priorities Progressive Democrats target -year-old incumbent with a primary challenge 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