A chance to ditch Mitch and get a new senator from Kentucky in the nation's capital has big money flowing into Amy McGrath's campaign.

McGrath announced early Tuesday morning that she plans to challenge Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has represented the Bluegrass State on Capitol Hill since 1985, in the 2020 election. And the Kentucky Democrat appears to have raised a ton of money in her first 24 hours – $2.5 million, a campaign spokesperson told the Courier Journal.

That number stands as the most ever raised in the first day of a campaign for U.S. Senate, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee told the Courier Journal. For context, Joe Biden, one of the biggest names in the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, reported raising $6.3 million in the first 24 hours of his campaign in April. And that's one of the most recognizable politicians in the world, in a national race.

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McGrath made an appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" Tuesday morning to go on the record with the news that she'd entered the race, and rolled out a video with more information about her decision at the same time.

Money came pouring in afterward – all of the $2.5 million came in online donations and the average donation came to about $36, according to the campaign.

It's a good start, but she has a ways to go to catch McConnell. The longtime Kentucky senator had already launched his reelection campaign and has raised $2.1 million since January, with $5.6 million available at the moment.

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Lucas Aulbach can be reached at laulbach@courier-journal.com, 502-582-4649 or on Twitter @LucasAulbachCJ. Support strong local journalism and subscribe: www.courier-journal.com/lucasa.