Grimes: ‘Bigger plan in store’

Kentucky Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes is mulling her political future after a 15-point thumping at the hands of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Election Day.

{mosads}”[The Senate race] might not have ended the way we had hoped,” Grimes said in an interview with ABC affiliate WHAS 11. “But I know that there’s a bigger plan in store.”

Democrats had high hopes for the Kentucky secretary of State, but she made a handful of gaffes in the run up to the election and her campaign was criticized as being overly cautious.

Even with the election behind her, Grimes remained cautious.

“We’re excited for 2015,” she said in response to a question about her political future. “It has been a great year and I’m taking time to reflect on what has been an amazing journey, spend time with family and friends and to continue to do the job that I was elected to do as secretary of State.”

Grimes is up for reelection in 2015. There are two higher-profile openings above her, but Democrats already have leading candidates for both slots.

State Attorney General Jack Conway (D) has already announced he intends to run for governor, and Gov. Steve Beshear’s son, Andy Beshear, will run to replace Conway as attorney general.

In 2016, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) will be running for reelection — and possibly the White House at the same time — and Grimes could also challenge Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.)

“There’s encouragement from all different directions, no shortage of opinions, that’s for sure,” Grimes said. “But no election should be run unless it’s in your heart and the facts are there to win, and that’s what I will weigh and to make sure is there before I make any determination.”

Grimes’s poor showing in 2014 appears to have dampened expectations about her political rise.

“I haven’t made any determination as to what the next step is going to be,” she said. “I know that the future of Kentucky is bright, and I know that I will continue to remain engaged especially in the causes that I committed myself to throughout the 2014 election cycle.”