Retired Marine fighter pilot McGrath announces she will challenge Barr for 6th Congressional seat

By Tom Latek
Kentucky Today

Another Democrat has announced a run for Kentucky’s Sixth District Congressional seat, currently held by Republican Andy Barr of Lexington.

Amy McGrath, a retired Marine Corps Lt. Colonel and former F/A-18 fighter pilot from northern Kentucky, made her formal announcement in a two-minute YouTube video Tuesday morning.

“I believe we need to elect a new generation of leaders who put our country before politics,” she said in a statement that accompanied the video. “I am enormously grateful to live in America, to have been given the opportunity to defend it, and I owe it to my home state of Kentucky to dare to make a difference when our country needs better leaders.”

McGrath, a Covington native and 1993 graduate of Notre Dame Academy, said that’s why, after retiring from the Marine Corps, she made the decision to run.

Amy McGrath, a retired Marine fighter pilot and a Democrat, officially announced she is running for the Sixth District Congressional seat. (McGrath campaign photo)

“I’m fed up with career politicians playing politics and not doing the work of the people. As I’ve traveled around my district, my calling to serve has only been encouraged by the voices of those folks I’ve spoken with who just want a better life for themselves and their kids.”

In the video, McGrath described her decorated military career.

“I spent 20 years as a U.S. Marine … flew 89 combat missions bombing Al Qaeda and the Taliban. I was the first woman marine to fly in an F-18 in combat, and I got to land on aircraft carriers.

“This is my new mission. To take on a Congress full of career politicians who treat the people of Kentucky like they’re disposable.”

McGrath joins state Sen. Reginald Thomas, D-Lexington, and Geoff Young, who has unsuccessfully sought office several times, in seeking the Democratic nomination in the May 2018 primary.