2018 saw a surge of energy in Democratic Kentucky politics: Amy McGrath, a former Marine Corps fighter pilot, was challenging Republican Andy Barr in Kentucky’s 6th Congressional District. She had raised more money than her opponent, and an attack ad, which quoted audio of her saying, “I am more progressive than anyone in the state of Kentucky,” likely sounded pretty good to the state’s Democratic voters. William Byerman, 18, was among the young people who canvassed for her campaign. “At this time, I supported her as a candidate and as a person, and I appreciated her message in trying to appeal to a generally conservative area,” he explained to Teen Vogue.

Following a narrow loss to Barr, McGrath burst back onto the political scene in summer 2019, with a viral video announcing she would officially be taking on Senator Mitch McConnell in the fall 2020 race. She raised $2.5 million in the first 24 hours following the announcement, and it seemed like Kentucky would finally have a forceful challenger to McConnell, who remains the second-least-popular senator in the country.

But now, as the Democratic primary approaches, some younger voters are expressing misgivings. (The date was recently delayed from May 19 to June 23 on account of the coronavirus pandemic.) Kentucky teens who spoke to Teen Vogue say that they believe McGrath has pivoted rightward, and they think the national Democratic Party has centered her campaign at the expense of more progressive candidates. Even young adults who described themselves as moderate or centrist Democrats expressed frustration, saying they feel the campaign has failed to excite and engage young voters the way her congressional campaign did. As Byerman, the former McGrath volunteer, explained, this time he’ll likely “end up gritting my teeth and voting for her.”

Among their specific critiques: McGrath repeatedly changing her position on whether she would have voted to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court (first saying that she would not; then claiming in 2019 she “probably” would; and then soon after tweeting that “upon further reflection and further understanding of his record” she, in fact, would not.) Then there’s McGrath’s tendency, they say, to talk about the policies she opposes rather than what she supports.

“She regularly has been tentative to express any explicit policy or stance, going for an anti-McConnell campaign rather than a pro-McGrath,” Byerman said.

Will Powers, 19, agreed that he had no idea what McGrath stood for, but rattled off some of the things she opposes, including Medicare for All and tuition-free college. “It’s hard to understand McGrath as a candidate beyond what she isn’t in favor of,” he said.

The McGrath campaign did not provide Teen Vogue with comment.

Kentucky politics is more complicated than the stereotype of a red state that is largely on board the MAGA train. The state was run by a Democratic governor for all but eight years since 1992. In 2019, when Governor Andy Beshear defeated Matt Bevin, the other state races went pretty solidly red. As youth activism surges throughout the country and young voters become a voting bloc presidential candidates are striving to lock down, the young Kentuckians Teen Vogue spoke to feel like McGrath’s Senate race is leaving them out. Other candidates include Mike Broihier, who recently announced universal basic income as part of his campaign; Charles Booker, who was elected to the Kentucky State House of Representatives in 2018, and is running on supporting the Green New Deal and Medicare for All; and Jimmy Ausbrooks, a mental-health counselor and advocate — but the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) endorsed McGrath in February. On the ground, young voters say, it often feels like a primary isn’t happening at all.