LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Suddenly, it appears to be a real race as Democrats choose who they want to face Sen. Mitch McConnell this fall.
The front-runner in the primary race, former Marine fighter pilot Amy McGrath, is trying to fight off a young state lawmaker from west Louisville as the campaign hits the home stretch.
“We're going to win this race,” State Rep. Charles Booker told a crowd of applauding supporters Wednesday outside a Louisville coffee shop.
It is a bold statement Booker could not have seriously made even a few weeks ago. But the first-term state representative from west Louisville appears to be gaining ground in his unlikely campaign for the U.S. Senate.
Booker began the race with no money, no staff and, most thought, no chance.
“Well, faith plus works and opportunity can lead to a lot of big things,” Booker said.
Booker's campaign has been caught in the wave of national attention on racial injustice. He has literally been on the front lines.
“The tear gas was thrown at my loved ones and folks who were crying out and praying in the streets," he said. "I got hit with that too."
The protests have turned a spotlight on issues Booker said he has lived.
“It sets me apart from anyone else running in this primary on either side,” he said. “I've lived the struggle that a lot of politicians talk about.”
In fact, Booker accuses his main rival, McGrath, of not being a real Democrat.
“People are moving away from the big money candidate,” he said. “I don't know what a Pro-Trump Democrat is.”
McGrath rejects the idea that she is a Trump supporter.
“I've never called myself a pro-Trump Democrat,” McGrath said.
McGrath has the backing of the national Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and has matched McConnell in fundraising. She argues that she is the one who can actually get things done in Washington.
“I will work with any president, no matter whether that president wears a red jersey or a blue jersey, to do what's right for Kentucky,” she said.
McGrath said she is best positioned to beat the second most powerful man in Washington.
“I have built a team to be able to take on Mitch McConnell toe-to-toe in a way he's never seen,” she said.
McGrath brushed off Booker's recent endorsements from both major Kentucky newspapers, former Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes and the members of the liberal wing of the party such as Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
McGrath said her endorsements have come from labor unions and veterans.
“I'm somebody that is not a part of the political establishment, and I don't have endorsement from politicians like Rep. Booker does, because he's part of that,” she said.
The third major player in the race is farmer, teacher and former Marine, Mike Broihier.
He is running a limited campaign as the ultimate outsider.
“I don't have to reach for the right answer," Broihier said. "I don't have to try to remember what someone told me. I just let it go from the heart, and I think that has been what has drawn people to my campaign from the very, very beginning."
Broihier has picked up endorsements from notables such as Kentucky novelist Wendell Berry and former presidential candidate Andrew Yang.
“I think that Rep. Booker and Amy McGrath are splitting the vote of people who are comfortable with politicians,” he said.
The primary is June 23, but with so many ballots being mailed-in because of COVID-19, the final results may not be known for several days.
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