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It has been decades since a Democrat won a Senate seat in Kentucky, but Mitch McConnell’s new challenger, former Marine fighter pilot Amy McGrath, showed on Tuesday why she could give the Senate majority leader a run for his money in the dark red state.

During an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, McGrath flatly said Donald Trump and McConnell have sold out the people of Kentucky and failed to keep their promises.

“A lot of Kentuckians voted for President Trump because President Trump said he was going to drain the swamp, he was going to bring back jobs,” the Democrat said. “He was going to do some reasonable things like get down prescription drug prices, which is so important for Kentucky, and Senator McConnell has stopped that, too.”

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As a combat veteran, McGrath also said the Trump “wrapping his arms around” dictators like Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin is shameful, and it’s why she could never vote for him.

“I can’t be a part of that,” she said.

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McGrath said:

A lot of Kentuckians voted for President Trump because President Trump said he was going to drain the swamp, he was going to bring back jobs. He was going to do some reasonable things like get down prescription drug prices, which is so important for Kentucky, and Senator McConnell has stopped that too. … I understand why voters in Kentucky voted for him. Just as I said, the promises that he made. And many Kentuckians really dislike both political parties, and they voted for somebody who they thought would shake things up, who was an outsider. So I get that. I really do. … I’m very concerned about President Trump and his policy by tweet. As a military officer, and I’ve lived my life in the national security realm, I don’t think I could vote for Donald Trump, because, you know, for one, I’m not a fan of a president or commander in chief wrapping his arms around any dictator. That’s very important to me. And also, I don’t like — I really don’t like the fact that he disparages our allies. You know, Chris, these are folks who I lived in tents with overseas and fought in three combat tours. And I just — I can’t — I can’t be a part of that.

McGrath can give McConnell and Trump a run for their money

McGrath is smartly making her campaign about right and wrong, not blue and red. As she said, voters in Kentucky are largely fed up with politics, and Mitch McConnell is the face of America’s broken and corrupt political system.

Since Trump took office, McConnell has made Congress an even more toxic place, transforming the Senate into an extension of the Trump White House.

In a sign that Trump is fearful of McConnell losing his seat to McGrath, he dropped a pair of tweets on Tuesday:

Democrats are coming after our great Kentucky Senator, Mitch McConnell, with someone who compared my election to September 11th…. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 10, 2019

….Why would Kentucky ever think of giving up the most powerful position in Congress, the Senate Majority Leader, for a freshman Senator with little power in what will hopefully be the minority party. We need Mitch in the Senate to Keep America Great!! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 10, 2019

Turning Kentucky blue – even in a good year for Democrats – will be a difficult battle. It will take someone who can appeal to the many voters in the state who may have voted for Trump and McConnell but have been betrayed by them.

On Tuesday, Amy McGrath – a former Marine fighter pilot – showed it’s a battle she could win.

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