LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell says he would try to repeal the Affordable Care Act if he’s elected Senate majority leader.

But the veteran senator won’t say what would happen to the 421,000 Kentuckians who have health insurance through the state’s health care exchange.

McConnell told reporters Friday that the fate of the state exchange is unconnected to the federal health care law. Yet the exchange would not exist, if not for the law that created it.

Democratic candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes has embraced the state exchange. But she won’t say if she would have voted for the law had she been in office.

The two are vying in a nationally-watched race for McConnell’s Senate seat. Republicans need to gain six seats in the November elections to control the Senate.

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