Political Wire

Amy McGrath Puts Up Her Closing Ad

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Kentucky congressional candidate Amy McGrath’s (D) closing ad of the general election:

Playbook: “Democrats believe McGrath, who is running against Kentucky Rep. Andy Barr (R), has shown a path for how to run in a district that favors Republicans. And this ad, they say, exemplifies how Democrats in red districts should deal with President Trump.”

Can Amy McGrath Win Without Running Attack Ads?

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New York Times: “The race for Kentucky’s Sixth Congressional District between the Republican incumbent, Andy Barr, and his Democratic challenger, Amy McGrath, has featured one of the highest concentration of political ads in the country — almost 7,000 airings — in one of the most fiercely fought races.”

“But there is a twist. The contest also has one of the most lopsided ratios of negative-to-positive ads, with Mr. Barr and aligned Republican groups spending more than $3 million in the relatively inexpensive Lexington media market in the past six weeks, overwhelmingly on spots attacking Ms. McGrath.”

“Ms. McGrath, so far, has not run attack ads against Mr. Barr, an approach that makes this contest a laboratory to test the long-held proposition that while voters find negative ads distasteful, candidates use them because they work.”

Amy McGrath Wins Nomination In Kentucky’s 6th

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Former fighter pilot Amy McGrath (D) surged to victory over Lexington Mayor Jim Gray (D) in the Democratic primary for Kentucky’s 6th Congressional District, “setting up a November election that will attract national money and attention as Democrats try to make Kentucky part of a possible blue wave in 2018,” the Lexington Herald Leader reports.

“She is a candidate who fits the Democratic moment. The former fighter pilot — the first woman Marine to fly into combat in an F-18 — is a political newcomer at a time Democrats across the country are looking for a fresh response to the 2016 election of President  Trump.”

McGrath Ties Barr to Trump In New Ad

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Amy McGrath (D), the Marine veteran running against Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY), has a new ad which ties the congressman to President Trump.

“There are times when politicians might have to make a difficult choice: do you stand with the president, or do you stand with the country? Right now is one of those times. Every Republican congressman and senator has to make a choice. Standing up to the president may not be what they signed up for, but when the president is in solidarity with white supremacists and Nazis, those members of Congress have to stand up and tell him he’s wrong.”

“That’s why I’m running for Congress against Andy Barr in Kentucky. He has yet to condemn the president on anything.”

Playbook: “So far, GOP operatives believe that Trump is his own brand apart from the Republican Party. If that changes, it could be a major drag on GOP incumbents in the 2018 midterms.”

About Political Wire

Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

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