Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is reportedly angling to have a well-known fighter pilot challenge Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell when the Kentucky Republican is up for re-election in 2020.
Marine veteran and 2018 congressional candidate Amy McGrath met with Schumer at the Democratic headquarters in January about a potential race against McConnell, Politico reports.
McGrath, the first female Marine to fly in an F/A-18 on a combat mission who would go on to lose a close race against incumbent Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., in November, is open to going head-to-head with McConnell, but people close to her said she hasn’t decided whether she will run in 2020. McGrath aide Mark Nickolas, who attended the meeting, echoed similar sentiments and said nothing has been finalized.
“The military officer in her always approaches these things pretty methodically and thoughtfully,” Nickolas said.
Schumer and McConnell have been at odds with one another recently over a series of issues, including the partial government shutdown that lasted 35 days.
McConnell’s political team has also taken notice of McGrath and has already begun gathering opposition research. For example, they have examined past statements she has made and are perusing years-worth of video footage. Also being evaluated is Barr’s strategy against McGrath, in which he characterized her as being too liberal.
McConnell, who was first elected to the Senate in 1984, has raised more than $4 million from his personal campaign bank account. Leaders for his super PAC are scheduled to meet on Wednesday.
“The brilliance of McConnell’s campaigns are that they are comprised of a complex orchestra of political instruments brought together for a symphony of absolute destruction,” Josh Holmes, a McConnell political adviser, told Politico. “His opponents may hear a note or two before they decide to run but he saves the full composition to ensure it’s the last thing a candidate hears before they enter the political graveyard.”
