McConnell’s failed Senate challenger never stood a chance

On Tuesday, McConnell easily defeated his Democratic Senate challenger, retired U.S. Marine Amy McGrath, securing himself yet another term in the upper chamber. Granted, McConnell’s victory this week comes at the expense of a challenger who not even top Democrats believed stood a chance. Still, it is hard not to remember that McGrath’s candidacy launched last year with great, albeit brief, fanfare from members of the press.

In July 2019, certain journalists and commentators hailed McGrath’s entrance into the race, with some going as far as to predict that it would be a “blockbuster” election. McGrath was supposed to be the real deal. Reporters and commentators alike salivated over her “incredible rollout” video.

“What’s your website?” MSNBC’s Mike Barnicle asked the Democratic Senate candidate during an interview promoting her candidacy. “Because people who saw that commercial are going to want to donate to you. What’s your website?”

NBC News even published a conveniently timed hit piece on the eve of McGrath’s campaign announcement, revealing McConnell’s great-great-grandfathers owned slaves.

However, even with assists from the press, it was not long before McGrath revealed she was likely not the best contestant to take on the Senate majority leader.

In the first 48 hours of McGrath’s candidacy, she went from saying she would have voted “nay” on the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh to claiming she actually would have voted “yea” to flip-flopping on the flip-flop to say that she would have voted “nay.” She also bombed in a CNN interview when she was asked to explain what she meant when she said in 2017 of the election of President Trump, “The only feeling I can describe that’s any close to it was the feeling I had after 9/11.”

McGrath’s rollout was anything but “incredible.” It was so bad, in fact, that her handlers abruptly canceled a scheduled interview with MSNBC, of all places, in the very first week of her campaign. There were additional missteps, including when McGrath’s campaign manager bragged that he got a beloved Kentucky television host fired from his job after it was reported the host considered running in the potential Democratic primary.

Things went from bad to worse for McGrath. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts even unendorsed her in June during the state’s Democratic primary.

The rest is, as they say, history.

McConnell’s victory on Tuesday was not even close. The race was called for the senator less than an hour after the polls closed in Kentucky, as multiple outlets declared McConnell the victor with about one-third of the vote counted.

McGrath’s defeat is all the more painful for Democrats considering all the money that went into the latest failed attempt to unseat McConnell.

McGrath raised a whopping $84.1 million since launching her candidacy in July 2019. An estimated $36.8 million was raised between July 1 to Sept. 30. And all Democrats have to show for allocating an estimated $85 million to Kentucky ($85 million that could have gone to more competitive Senate contests in Colorado, North Carolina, or Arizona) is a blown race where their candidate is slated to lose by double digits.

Though control of the Senate still hangs in the balance, McConnell will return to work knowing his six years as majority leader saw him overcome Democratic obstructionism to confirm 220 judges, including Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett. Should McConnell find himself reprising the role as Senate minority leader after Election Day, he leaves behind his record on judges and his take-no-prisoners approach to advancing the conservative agenda. Indeed, with his single-minded focus on confirming judges, McConnell has already accomplished more in six years as majority leader than others in the same position have accomplished with equal, double, and even triple the amount of time.

Spineless “Republican in name only” indeed.