Campaign to draft Democratic challenger to McConnell starts raising funds

A campaign to draft former fighter pilot Amy McGrath (D) to run against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) in Kentucky’s Senate race has kicked off a fundraising campaign, the group said on Tuesday.  

Draft Amy McGrath and Ditch Mitch, two campaigns from the anti-McConnell Ditch Fund, started the campaign Monday to draft a candidate considered one of the strongest among Kentucky Democrats. 

The group said it had received donations from all 50 states in its first 24 hours, though it did not disclose the amount raised.

{mosads}“There is incredible grassroots energy for Amy McGrath to run against Mitch McConnell,” said Ryan Aquilina, the Executive Director of the Ditch Fund and its Ditch Mitch project in an email.

“We had one of our best days ever in terms of fundraising, and that proves in no uncertain terms just how much appetite there is for Amy to run and to defeat Mitch McConnell,” he added.

The groups said all the funds raised on its ActBlue draft page will immediately be transferred to McGrath’s campaign if she announces.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has also reportedly tried to recruit McGrath to challenge his Republican colleague.

McGrath was one of the highest profile candidates in the 2018 midterm cycle, emerging as one of its top fundraisers and only narrowly losing her bid to unseat three-term Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.).

McConnell has been in the Senate since 1985. Morning Consult found in January that the Kentucky Republican was the third most unpopular senator in the country, with 47 percent of Kentuckians disapproving of his job performance.