McConnell’s Democratic challenger McGrath backtracks on Kavanaugh comments

Amy McGrath

Amy McGrath, the Democrat who announced this week she’s challenging Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), quickly switched her views on whether or not she would have voted to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. 

McGrath first said in an interview with a Kentucky newspaper published Wednesday she would have voted in favor of Kavanaugh’s confirmation, but quickly reversed her stance in a tweet after facing backlash for her comments. 

“I was asked earlier today about Judge Brett Kavanaugh and I answered based upon his qualifications to be on the Supreme Court. But upon further reflection and further understanding of his record, I would have voted no,” McGrath tweeted.

In an interview with the Louisville Courier-Journal McGrath said, “I don’t think there was anything that would have disqualified him in my mind.” {mosads}

{mosads}When pressed on if she believed allegations made during a public testimony by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her as a teenager, McGrath said she thought Ford’s allegations were “credible” but “given the amount of time that lapsed in between and from a judicial standpoint, I don’t think it would really disqualify him.” 

Kavanaugh has denied the allegations. 

He was confirmed in a 50-48 vote, including a lone Democrat vote in his favor from West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin. 

Three Democrats in vulnerable seats who voted against Kavanaugh – Sens. Claire McCaskill (Mo.), Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.) and Joe Donnelly (Ind.) – lost their seats in the 2018 midterms. 

McGrath spoke out against Kavanaugh in a Facebook post, ahead of Ford’s public allegations, in 2018 when she made an unsuccessful bid to flip a House seat. She did not say at the time if she would have voted to confirm him. 

Tags Amy McGrath Brett Kavanaugh Claire McCaskill Heidi Heitkamp Joe Donnelly Joe Manchin Mitch McConnell

Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.