McGrath, Booker neck and neck in hypothetical Kentucky Senate primary: poll

Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell plans to step down at the end of his current term, opening up the seat he has held for four decades. Former Democratic Senate candidate Charles Booker hasn’t announced a plan to run for a seat in the upper chamber, but polling shows that he would shoot to the top of primary voters’ list.

A new poll from Public Policy Polling played out a hypothetical Senate primary among prominent Democrats from the Bluegrass State. Booker came out just barely ahead of former fighter pilot Amy McGrath, with 33% of those surveyed saying they’d cast a ballot for Booker. McGrath earned the nod from 30% of would-be voters, coming in just behind “Not sure” at 31%. McGrath had a significantly higher unfavorability rating among potential voters, with nearly a quarter of respondents saying they held a negative view of her.

Both Booker and McGrath are two-time losers in runs for national office. Booker lost his initial primary campaign to McGrath in 2020. He won the Democratic Party’s nomination in a Senate run two years later, only to come in for a drubbing against Republican Sen. Rand Paul.

McGrath announced another run for Senate earlier this month, to the consternation of several of her fellow Democrats. McGrath’s failed 2020 campaign pulled in $94 million in donations, leading Rep. Ro Khanna to wonder if her next run would line the pockets of consultants on the way to a loss.

“Amy has previously run for this seat & only succeeded in enriching consultants & bleeding well-meaning donors dry, one text at a time,” Khanna wrote on X. “We need a different kind of Democratic party & approach to build a majority.”

Speaking to Salon earlier this week, McGrath called the idea of her campaign enriched consultants “total bullshit” and pleaded with her party to “stay focused on the real fight here, and not each other.” The candidate said she hoped to hit the GOP on kitchen-table issues and to avoid personality clashes.

“You don’t focus on yourself. You don’t focus on what national politicians are talking about,” McGrath said. “You focus on the cost of groceries. You focus on keeping hospitals open. You focus on showing up.”