McGrath, a former Navy fighter pilot who had the backing of the national party establishment, will face the Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in November.
McGrath surpassed his Democratic opponent, State Representative Charles Booker, who enjoyed a belated wave of support when he emerged as a national voice during protests of police brutality and racial injustice and attracted support from progressives across the country.
McGrath congratulated Booker and other Democratic primary opponents in a statement Tuesday afternoon.
“I am proud to have competed against these men and it certainly made me a better candidate,” she said. “I look forward to trusting them for their help, guidance and advice for the fight ahead.”
A prolific fundraiser, McGrath was the Senate Democratic campaign arm’s choice and raised more than $ 40 million for her campaign. She also enjoyed the support of multiple unions and many Democrats, inside and outside the state, who were drawn to her military background. McGrath was the first woman to fly an F-18 in combat, and carried out more than 85 combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
McGrath’s supporters argued that his moderate stances were more aligned with the traditional Kentucky electorate than Booker’s more progressive views. Booker, 35, supports the green New Deal (he is often referred to as the “Kentucky New Deal”), a universal basic income, and “Medicare for all.” McGrath favors a public choice and acceptance of Medicare for people 55 and older, rather than overhauling the US healthcare system with a single-payer program.
Booker, the youngest black legislator in Kentucky, received high-profile endorsement from Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who voiced their support for McGrath last year, and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
McGrath called for unity in her statement Tuesday, saying she does not need to be convinced on equality issues.
“While each of our experiences is unique, as a woman in the military, I had to repeatedly fight the establishment during my 20-year career,” said McGrath. “No one needs to convince me of the urgency of addressing the issues of equal pay and fair justice, affordable health care for all, real action on voting rights, and ending the corrosive control that special corporate interests have over our federal government.”
“But you can’t eliminate Mitch McConnell without a unit,” McGrath continued. “We must unify our Democratic family to make that happen, including those who did not vote for me in the primaries, and I intend, immediately, to begin the necessary dialogue to unite us all in our common cause for the general election.” “
McConnell’s Senate seat is rated “Likely Republican” by the Cook Political Report. The state voted for President Donald Trump by 30 points in 2016, and has not sent a Democrat to the Senate since Wendell Ford’s reelection in 1992. McGrath now faces an uphill battle to beat McConnell, who is the Kentucky most time has served. senator.
In 2014, McConnell defeated another well-funded Democratic challenger, former Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, who backed Booker in this primary, by more than 15 points.
Last year, McGrath launched his Senate nomination in a video highlighting his military background where he recalled writing a letter to McConnell when he was 13 and asking the senator to change a law that, at the time, prohibited women from becoming in fighter pilots. .
“He never answered,” McGrath recalled. “Many times I have wondered, how many other people Mitch McConnell never took the time to answer, or even think about?”
McGrath’s campaign has tried to portray McConnell as part of the Washington swamp who cares more about Wall Street and special interests than his own constituents. The McConnell campaign, which did not wait for the primaries to start attacking McGrath, called her an “extreme liberal” whose campaign will waste millions of dollars from Democrats.
Democrats, in turn, will be pleased that the Majority Leader has to divert his attention and his own fundraising apparatus to maintain his own seat, rather than training him more directly in a series of headlines in his caucus than they face difficult reelection races.
This story has been updated with additional developments on Tuesday.
CNN’s Alex Rogers contributed to this report.
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