McConnell’s Democratic challenger McGrath backtracks on Kavanaugh comments

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.

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.

— Amy McGrath (@AmyMcGrathKY) July 10, 2019

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.