mcgrath, Amy
=<div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/12/mitch-mcconnell-re-election/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/12/mitch-mcconnell-re-election/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">many maps tables</font></div><div><b>Busted? Why the numbers behind Mitch McConnell's re-election don't add up</b></div><div>Mitch McConnell slammed for repeatedly sabotaging stimulus negotiation efforts</div><div>Meaghan Ellis</div><div>DC Report December 19, 2020</div><div> </div><div>On a Thursday in August in Louisville, months before the 2020 election, a parade of cars filled with Kentucky Teamster representatives and labor groups, showed their fury at Mitch McConnell's constant blocking of critical COVID aid. They drove by McConnell's office raucously honking and bearing signs saying "Mitch better have my money."</div><div>
</div><div>In 2017, a Public Policy Polling Survey asked Kentuckians, "Do you approve or disapprove of Senator Mitch McConnell's job performance?" Only 18% approved. He clawed his rating back up to 39% on the eve of the election.</div><div>
</div><div>McConnell, leader of Senate Republicans, rarely holds town hall meetings with Kentucky voters—not since a heated exchange with an angry constituent went viral.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">1 out of 5 voters appear to have filled out their ballots with votes for both the female Democratic Amy McGrath and the Republican pussy-grabber Donald Trump.</span></div><div>So, what exactly drove these angry Kentuckians to reelect Mitch McConnell with a 19-point advantage over opponent Amy McGrath—57.8% to 38.2%?</div><div>
</div><div><b>Even as Republicans across the country still insist that the election was rife with fraudulent Democratic votes, no one's asking how McConnell managed one of the most lopsided landslides of the Nov. 3 election. They should. An investigation of Kentucky voting results by DCReport raises significant questions about the vote tallies in McConnell's state.</b></div><div>
</div><div><b>McConnell racked up huge vote leads in traditionally Democratic strongholds, including counties that he had never before carried.</b></div><div>There were wide, unexplained discrepancies between the vote counts for presidential candidates and down-ballot candidates.</div><div>Significant anomalies exist in the state's voter records. Forty percent of the state's counties carry more voters on their rolls than voting-age citizens.</div><div>Kentucky and many other states using vote tabulation machines made by <b>Election Systems & Software all reported down-ballot race results at significant odds with pre-election polls.</b></div><div>[caption id="attachment_21747" align="aligncenter" width="625"] The 2020 Kentucky U.S. Senate election results map[/caption]</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">DCReport focused on the results in three counties in eastern Kentucky's Appalachian Mountains, two of which Democrats usually always win, but similar patterns emerge in other counties across the state. Even in counties that voted overwhelmingly for Democrats as recently as the 2019 gubernatorial election, there were a staggering number of Democrats voting Republican in 2020.</span></div><div>
</div><div><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">In rural Breathitt County, for instance, there are 9,508 registered Democrats and just 1,599 registered Republicans. The county has a history of close contests, but Amy McGrath got only 1,652 votes versus 3,738 for McConnell, a 67% to 29% trouncing. McGrath's votes, if accurate, equaled only 17% of registered Democrats in Breathitt County.</b></div><div>
</div><div>Conventional political wisdom in McConnell-land holds that these days "ancestral Kentucky Democrats" vote Republican, and analysts shouldn't correlate party registration with voting patterns. But simply dismissing any anomalies based on anecdotal hearsay ignores the data and other possible explanations. McConnell won Breathitt County in 2020 with 1,308 more votes than he received in the county's much closer 2014 race, which he won by fewer than 400 votes. The 2019 governor's race was also a squeaker in Breathitt County, but Democrat Andy Beshear eked out a 69-vote victory. Beshear won the race statewide.</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div><b>McConnell's results were even more out of whack in two other nearby Appalachian counties</b>. In his six previous Senate elections, Elliott and Wolfe counties had never voted for McConnell. Even up to last year, Elliott County remained reliably Democratic in non-presidential races, voting for the party's entire Democratic slate in both the 2015 and 2019 statewide elections. Yet in 2020, McConnell won 64% of the votes in Wolfe County and 66% of the votes in Elliott County. McGrath only got 21% of registered Democrats in Wolfe and 20% in Elliott.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Next, take the premise that there would be some basic logic in the voting patterns of those who did vote Democratic. One might expect a registered Democrat, who's going to vote Democratic, would walk into the booth and cast their vote for both Joe Biden and Amy McGrath. But the data tell another story. <b>In 119 of 120 counties, Amy McGrath got more votes than Joe Biden. In some counties, the votes were close. But in counties like Breathitt and Elliott, 1 out of 5 voters appear to have filled out their ballots with votes for both the female Democratic Amy McGrath and the Republican pussy-grabber Donald Trump.</b></span></div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div><b>Then there is the question of why a county like Breathitt has more registered voters than it has people of voting age</b>? 2019 population data shows that Breathitt County had 12,630 people with approximately 23% below the voting age of 18. This means approximately 9,700 people are of voting age, yet there are 11,497 registered voters. Having 100% of the voting-age population registered would be astounding enough, but Breathitt County appears to have almost 120% more registered voters than age-eligible citizens. And looking further, it appears this is not limited to Breathitt.</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>In November 2017, Judicial Watch, a right-wing non-partisan foundation promoting transparency, sued Kentucky over its "Dirty Voter Rolls" and its failure to maintain accurate voter registration lists. </b>The suit argued that 48 of the 120 Kentucky counties had more registered voters than citizens over the age of 18 and alleged that Kentucky was one of only three states with a statewide active registration rate greater than 100% of the age-eligible citizen population. Kentucky's inflated voter rolls, and lack of transparency, provide a perfect cover for malfeasant behavior regarding the election results</span>.</div><div>
</div><div>Turning an 18% approval into a 58% win may seem like a "turning water into wine"-style miracle, but a "smoke & mirrors" parlor trick seems more likely. To better understand how the data could have been manipulated, look no further than Trump's own legal filings. In an incompetent post-election lawsuit, the Trump team may have intended to accuse Democrats of election fraud, but in describing a possible plot, they attributed the cheating to Trump himself.</div><div>
</div><div>In a Dec. 4 filing in Georgia, Trump's legal team referred to a "machine-controlled algorithm deliberately run" by a voting machine vendor, Dominion Voting Systems. They allege this algorithm "generally took more than 2.5% of the votes from Mr. Biden and flipped them to Mr. Trump." So Trump's own legal team, instead of providing evidence of fraud by Biden's side, may have inadvertently revealed fraud benefiting Trump. In describing a deliberate, vendor installed, machine-controlled algorithm automatically taking a percentage of Biden's votes and giving them to Trump, they certainly are outlining how fraud could have been executed.</div><div>
</div><div><b>Trump's team claims Dominion was the machine vendor embedding algorithms to "flip" votes but is Trump pointing to one machine vendor to distract from another?</b></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In Kentucky, when looking at counties where the numbers leap out on behalf of Mitch McConnell, none used Dominion machines. Most used machines from Election Systems & Software (ES&S), a Dominion competitor.<b> If you swap ES&S for Dominion in the alleged vote-flipping scheme, you may arrive at an alternate explanation for why Amy McGrath's numbers weren't lining up and correlating with Biden's.</b></span></div><div>
</div><div>To steal an election it may make sense to use different algorithms for each race on the ballot so results did not appear to be uniform. Knowing the McGrath-McConnell race faced more nationwide scrutiny, schemers might have had to miscount votes by different margins in the presidential and Senate races. Flipping more votes from Biden to Trump than McGrath votes to McConnell would explain her getting approximately 20% more votes than the Democratic presidential candidate.</div><div>
</div><div>Significantly, Trump and his post-election legal team have pointed at Dominion voting machines and implored courts to look into this automated vote-flipping premise—but only in states that he lost. So, let's test it in ES&S states like Kentucky where Trump won.</div><div>
</div><div><b>McConnell had his biggest percentage of registered Democrats voting Republican in counties using ES&S machines. But he wasn't the only senator to perform so well. Other Republican incumbents, whom polls indicated would have close races, had similar luck to their majority leader on election day.</b></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Lindsey Graham's race in South Carolina was so tight that he infamously begged for money, yet he won with a comfortable 10% lead—tabulated on ES&S machines throughout the state. In Susan Collins's Maine, where she never had a lead in a poll after July 2, almost every ballot was fed through ES&S machines. Kentucky, South Carolina, Maine, Texas, Iowa and Florida are all states that use ES&S machines. Maybe the polls didn't actually get it wrong.</span></div><div>
</div><div>When Trump says "look over here" at Dominion voting machines, maybe we should look at ES&S machines instead. When Republicans spout unfounded claims that Democrats stole the election, maybe we should be looking at Republican vote totals instead. And when Trump calls this the most fraudulent election in our history, maybe he knows of what he speaks.</div><div>
</div><div>You can follow Alison Greene on Twitter @GrassrootsSpeak.</div><div>
</div><div>FROM YOUR SITE ARTICLES</div><div>John Oliver breaks down how Dems can bring the pain to Mitch ... ›</div><div>McConnell's re-election campaign slapped with FEC flag over ... ›</div><div>Mitch McConnell is leaving endangered Republican senators ... ›</div><div>McConnell advances another Trump judge as COVID relief bill remains unfinished: 'His top priority' - Alternet.org ›</div><div>'It isn't even really a stimulus': Economists lament paltry $600 checks to citizens - Alternet.org ›</div><div>RELATED ARTICLES AROUND THE WEB</div><div>Senator Mitch McConnell reelected to 7th term in Kentucky - CBS ... ›</div><div>Republican Mitch McConnell defeats Democrat Amy McGrath in ... ›</div><div>Mitch McConnell - Wikipedia ›</div><div>Why Amy McGrath could cost Republicans the U.S. Senate, even if ... ›</div><div>Mitch McConnell wins reelection in Kentucky, defeating Democrat ... ›</div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div>
</div><div>=</div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/03092020/kentucky-2020-senate-climate-change-election-mitch-mcconnell-amy-mcgrath">https://insideclimatenews.org/news/03092020/kentucky-2020-senate-climate-change-election-mitch-mcconnell-amy-mcgrath</a></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">s<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">enate 2020: Mitch McConnell Now Admits Human-Caused Global Warming Exists. But He Doesn’t Have a Climate Plan</span></font></p><div class="wrap main-content section equal-height-section-processed" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; padding: 0px 3.125em 1em; margin: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="page-content col span_7_of_12" style="box-sizing: inherit; float: left; margin-left: 0px; width: 532.766px;"><div class="panel-pane pane-node-content" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="pane-content" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><article id="node-60048" class="node node-article node-promoted node-content-60048 full clearfix" about="/news/03092020/kentucky-2020-senate-climate-change-election-mitch-mcconnell-amy-mcgrath" typeof="sioc:Item foaf:Document" role="article" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><header class="page-header article-header" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em;"><h2 class="page-subtitle" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.333;"><span class="field field-name-field-subtitle field-type-text field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Senate majority leader says he wants “common sense” solutions, His opponent, Amy McGrath, a Marine veteran, calls climate change a security threat</font></span></h2></header></article></div></div></div></div></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2019/07/mcconnell-raised-millionsfrom-outside-kentucky/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2019/07/mcconnell-raised-millionsfrom-outside-kentucky/</font></a></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Senate Majority Leader <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/summary/mitch-mcconnell?cid=N00003389" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Mitch McConnell</a> raised a healthy $3 million for his 2020 re-election campaign from April through June and has a whopping $7.9 million in the bank. But just 9 percent of his campaign cash from large individual donors came from his home state of Kentucky.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;" /><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Instead, most of his money came from out-of-state donors, </span>reflecting the Kentucky Republican’s strong influence on the Senate agenda and national interest in the race as the GOP strives to keep the Senate in its control.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;" /><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The lack of home state dollars could give potential challengers an opening to criticize McConnell as out of step with the state, while McConnell has emerged as a top Democratic target and national groups looking to oust him are already raising millions.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;" /><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Amy McGrath, a former Marine fighter pilot who narrowly lost a Kentucky congressional election last year, reported raising $2.5 million in the first 24 hours of her campaign and has <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2019/07/amy-mcgrath-2020-bid-against-mcconnell/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">drawn widespread national interest</a>.</b><strong style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> </strong>She entered the race on July 9. The latest reports cover a period that ended June 30.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;" /><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In addition to raising money for his own Senate campaign, McConnell drew more than $610,000 from four committees that partner with fellow Republican senators facing reelection. The committees raise massive sums from fundraisers backed primarily by wealthy executives and corporate PACs. Less than $20,000 came from Kentucky donors.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;" /><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">McConnell raised the third most money among Senate candidates in the second quarter. But the Kentucky Democratic Party mocked the haul as “mediocre” and singled out the lack of dollars from Kentucky as “not a great showing for America’s most unpopular senator.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;" /><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">McConnell raised nearly $182,000 from Kentucky donors who gave more than $200, representing less than one-tenth of his big-dollar haul.<b> Donors from New York ($281,000) and Texas ($216,000) gave more.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;" /><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The lack of campaign cash from Kentucky isn’t new or unusual. <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/states/summary.php?state=KY" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Thirty-one states</a> gave more money to all federal candidate committees in the 2018 midterms than the Bluegrass state, which accounted for just over $18 million in contributions.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;" /><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In her losing campaign against Rep. <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/summary?cid=N00031233" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Andy Barr</a> (R-Ky.) in 2018, McGrath <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/races/summary?cycle=2018&id=KY06" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">raised $8.5 million</a>, but three-quarters of her large-dollar contributions came from outside Kentucky.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;" /><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">McConnell’s campaign made it clear Tuesday that it would counter questions about his out-of-state fundraising by pointing to his opponents’ supporters. Noting that actresses Alyssa Milano and Bette Midler tweeted in support of McGrath, McConnell campaign manager Kevin Golden said McGrath’s campaign is “funded by a who’s who of <b>left wing celebrities in Hollywood</b>” and that the campaign would be “thrilled” to revisit the issue when McGrath’s reports become public later this year.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;" /><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?cycle=2018&strID=C00688739" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Ditch Mitch</a>, a national group <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2019/04/mitch-mcconnell-is-a-fundraising-boon-for-liberal-groups/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">formed to counter McConnell</a>, also raised only a small fraction of its money from Kentucky.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;" /><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One of the short-lived joint fundraising committees, a partnership between McConnell and Sens. Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina and Martha McSally, R-Arizona, raised over $405,000 from seven individual donors. McConnell took more than $75,000 for himself.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;" /><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In Kentucky, McConnell has played a big part in reshaping the state’s political landscape, turning the state House and Senate red in 2017 after decades of Democratic power. Even as McConnell focuses on his own race and boosting Republican ranks on the federal level, <b>he’s also focused on state party building,</b> with his cash-rich political action committees routinely contributing to nearly every Republican state office holder.</font></p><div style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; text-align: center;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;" /></font></div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Despite his role as a zealous defender of President Donald Trump, McConnell hasn’t tapped into the small donor base that has catapulted Trump and some of his allies in Congress to massive fundraising numbers.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;" /><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">McConnell raised $340,000 from donors giving less than $200 from April through June. That figure is far less than the small-donor hauls from some of Trump’s top allies in Congress, including Reps. <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/summary?cid=N00027894" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Jim Jordan</a> ($411,000) and <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/summary?cid=N00007248" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Devin Nunes</a> ($1 million).</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;" /><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Instead, McConnell draws from major corporations’ political action committees and their executives hailing from outside of the Bluegrass state.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;" /><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">He’s already received six figure contributions from affiliates of New York City investment firm <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000021873" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Blackstone Group</a>, along with over $88,000 from Georgia-based <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000000081" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">United Parcel Service</a>, nearly $66,000 from Indiana-based pharmaceutical giant <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000000166" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Eli Lilly & Co</a> and $50,000 from affiliates of Florida’s <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000022003&cycle=2018" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">GEO Group</a>, the private prison contractor that runs<strong style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;"> </strong>several federal immigration detention facilities.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;" /><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Of senators up for reelection in 2020, only endangered Sen. <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/summary?cid=N00030780" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Cory Gardner</a> (R-Colo.) has collected more money from PACs than McConnell in 2019. Gardner collected $1.32 million compared to McConnell’s $1.25 million.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;" /><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">McConnell’s reliance on corporate PACs, along with his support for unlimited independent political spending ushered in by the Supreme Court’s 2010 <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/reports//citizens_united.php" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;"><em style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px;">Citizens United</em> decision</a>, has made him a top target of left-leaning groups advocating for campaign finance reform. <b>Chief among them is <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?strID=C00573261" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">End Citizens United</a>, which has pushed Democratic candidates to reject contributions from corporate PACs.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;" /><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">McGrath, who won’t file her numbers with the Federal Election Commission until October, got off to a hot start. But her campaign was swiftly plagued by a series of early blunders, including retracting a statement that she would have supported Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, despite allegations of sexual assault.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;" /><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The McConnell campaign was well prepared for a McGrath announcement, branding the Democrat as “too liberal” for Kentucky in an online attack launched the same day McGrath kicked off her campaign.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;" /><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Despite his low approval ratings, which he has maintained for more than a decade, McConnell hasn’t come close to losing his seat, which he first won in 1984.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;" /><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/races/summary?cycle=2014&id=KYS1" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">2014</a>, McConnell raised and spent more than $30 million against Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes, who raised nearly $19 million but lost to McConnell by 15 points.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;" /><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He also faced a primary challenge that year, but soundly defeated now-Gov. Matt Bevin by more than 20 points. This time, McConnell has sought to shore up his right flank, aligning himself closely with Trump and making the confirmation of Trump judicial nominations a top priority.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;" /><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One election cycle earlier, McConnell <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/races/summary?cycle=2008&id=KYS1" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">spent more than $21 million</a>, including a $2 million personal loan, to beat Democrat Bruce Lunsford, who put nearly $8.6 million of his own money into the race.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p></div><div>=</div></div>