Former fighter pilot Amy McGrath enters the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Kentucky. (Campaign photo)
by Liam Niemeyer, Kentucky Lantern
October 6, 2025
Former Marine fighter pilot Amy McGrath has launched a campaign for Kentucky’s open U.S. Senate seat, her second U.S. Senate bid after losing to longtime Republican incumbent Sen. Mitch McConnell in 2020.
McGrath in a social media post Monday morning featured a video of her walking up to a lone chair while saying, “This isn’t just a chair. It’s an open seat.” McConnell, 83, the Senate’s longest-ever party leader, set off what promises to be a fierce fight for his seat when he announced in February that he would not seek an eighth term.
McGrath is joining three Democrats already vying for the open U.S. Senate seat and at least three Republicans.
McGrath wrote in her social media post that “democracy was under siege” and “cowards in Washington are bowing to Donald Trump.”
“Kentuckians deserve someone battle-tested and ready to fight for them on day one. I’ve spent my life stepping up when the mission was tough and the stakes were high, first as a Marine and now for Kentucky. I’m ready to complete the mission,” McGrath wrote in her post launching the campaign.
McGrath said in her video that Kentucky’s open U.S. Senate seat “will decide the balance of power in the Senate.”
The veteran fighter pilot spent more than $90 million as the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate challenging McConnell in 2020, losing by over 400,000 votes. She previously ran for Congress in 2018 to represent Kentucky’s 6th Congressional District covering Central Kentucky, losing to Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Barr by 3 percentage points in a significantly closer election.
Barr is now among the candidates in the Republican primary also seeking the U.S. Senate seat, along with former Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron and Lexington businessman Nate Morris.
In response to a Lexington Herald-Leader article published last month reporting that McGrath was considering launching a campaign, Barr wrote in a post on X: “Bring it on, Amy. This will be fun. I beat you once, and I’ll beat you again.”
Other Democrats who have announced for the Senate seat are former Secret Service agent Logan Forsythe, former CIA officer Joel Willett and Kentucky House Democratic Floor Leader Pamela Stevenson.
Kentucky Lantern is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kentucky Lantern maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jamie Lucke for questions: info@kentuckylantern.com.
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