Well.

Earlier this week, Marine Corps veteran Amy McGrath entered the 2026 race for the U.S.

Senate in Kentucky.

She ran for the U.S.

House in 2018 and the U.S.

Senate in 2020.

She told WKYT's Rene Schulte earlier this week she's driven by her desire to serve her country and to stand up to President Donald Trump.

What are Democrats missing, and your view, and why are you the person that can help them pivot to be more persuasive about what you believe is right for the country?

Yeah, and I also think it's important to note, though, that, you know, Mitch McConnell had all that dark money.

Tons.

And that's really important.

And we got to tackle that in our country number one.

But from the perspective of of this race, it's all about Kentuckians.

And so when I think about Democrats and what we need to do rebuild, let's focus on what people care about what is happening right now.

You know, a lot of people in Kentucky voted for this administration.

And Republicans in office to make their lives better, to lower prices, to tackle inflation.

And what have we seen?

They've gotten into office.

And not only have they not done that, they've made it worse, Renee.

They made it worse with these tariffs, which are attacks on you and me and attacks on our businesses, the bourbon industry, our farmers, our auto industry, you name it, and our pocketbooks.

And then you add that with this bill that they passed this summer, okay, this big, beautiful, whatever you want to call it, bill.

What does that do?

It is the worst bill in my lifetime for Kentucky.

The worst?

Why?

Because it throws Kentuckians off of their health care.

It's going to make our premiums go up for those of us on connect.

And it's it's we have 35 rural hospitals that are now at risk of because.

That's not what Kentuckians voted for, but that's what we're getting.

Okay.

And so my belief is that we all have to focus on Kentuckians, because here's the thing.

These guys in office right now, they know this stuff is bad.

They know it's bad for Kentucky.

And they voted for it anyway.

Why?

Because they're fearful of one man.

Okay.

And that's not me.

And I think that's where we need to focus on is every day Kentuckians.

Why are you better and different and more prepared now than you were in 2020?

What are we going to see differently from the Amy McGrath campaign this time around that we didn't five years ago?

Well, I think the climate is different.

Again.

I think that people of Kentucky and I hear this from my neighbors, I hear this from people I talk to who are Trump voters who have said, look, enough is enough.

You know, he's he's gone too far and there's nobody there to check him.

There's nobody there looking in our interests and Kentuckians interests.

And so to me, that's what I'm focused on.

And I think, you know, this is a really good opportunity right now because as I mentioned before, Kentuckians have been able to vote for somebody who, you know, whether they have a red jersey or a blue jersey for for the best candidate.

And I'll say something about the primary candidate.

And it's very interesting distinction here.

The primary candidates in this race all on the, on the Democratic side, have all serve their country.

They're not lifelong politicians.

They didn't grow up within, you know, a political party.

CIA, Secret Service, Air Force, Marine Corps folks on the other side.

They're all Mitch McConnell's interns.

They all grew up within the party.

And politics is their thing.

And I think, you know, a lot of, a lot of Kentuckians should should take note of that, because it is a very big distinction.

Yeah.

To that point, and you think about Colonel Stephenson and others who, as you just mentioned, have pretty deep military backgrounds and credentials.

Why are you any different?

Aren't you all going to be singing from the same hymnal?

And would it not be better, as you have been doing in the last 4 to 5 years, putting your support behind other Democratic candidates?

Well, I'll tell you, I haven't really been focused too much on my primary opponents campaigns.

But I can say this.

Look, I'm battle tested.

I'm somebody who's been in the arena, not only from the battlefield and in Afghanistan, in Iraq, but also in the political battlefield.

I have gone up against Washington insiders, and I have gone up against Mitch McConnell and, you know, some I think it's really important to have somebody who can build a grassroots operation, which we've built in the past, largest Kentucky's ever seen.

And somebody who's been able to go toe to toe with these Washington insiders.

And here's the thing.

At the end of the day.

You I think what what people really desire is somebody who has the courage to just stand up for them.

We're so tired of the political back and forth of of oh, you're you're, you know, just following the party leadership.

That's not me.

There's nobody in Washington that that tells me what to be or how to be.

I'm just who I am.

Somebody who loves this country.

Somebody who loves Kentucky.

You know, and that's, I think, what we all want from our public servants.

You've probably heard, the question before about did you decide to do this on your own, or were you coaxed into doing it because of national political leaders or those who were already in Washington who said, we'll get behind you.

We'll put the money behind you.

We want you.

Or did you say, this is my time?

I'm going to do it.

Or were you coaxed into it?

I'll let you in on a little.

A little something that a lot of people don't know about politics.

First of all, there's no party leaders that gives you anything in a state like Kentucky.

Okay.

And you go out and you have your campaign.

Campaign.

You rely on Americans and Kentuckians to power that campaign.

No party does that.

And in this case, you know who who encouraged me?

Who?

My son, my 13 year old son.

Why?

And what did he say to convince you?

He said, mom, you know what you believe in right now.

I think we need people to stand up.

And you can do this.

You've done it before.

And I looked at him and I said, you know, my son Teddy is really the only one who who truly remembers the campaigns is my my kids when they were tiny.

Well, Teddy was old enough.

And, for him to say that to me, that was a pretty big deal.

And my husband was a part of it, too, who said, you know, we need better leaders.

You've always said that you ran way back in 2018 because you need it.

We need better leaders in this country.

Now, Renee, are things better?

They're not better.

We still need leaders in this country.

And I would say things are actually worse.

Some people would wonder where you been the last few years.

Did you go crickets and radio silent.

And then you want to come back and go on the national Washington scene?

What have you been doing these last few years?

Well, I haven't been silent.

And anybody that's been following me, but no, I haven't been.

Silence.

I've been out there speaking out on a range of issues.

But also doing a lot behind the scenes to help other Candace around the country.

Pro-democracy candidates.

It's one of the things that that my campaign helped with.

You know, we we, we may have have not won the race in Kentucky, but we put our assets to the Georgia Senate races in 2020.

And then we, raised a ton of money to help pro-democracy candidates for secretary of state around the country.

So those are really important, very big projects that I took on in the last 4 or 5 years.

Along with the Veterans Advocacy post 911, veterans groups that I'm in.

And being a mom, you know, I have I have been the softball coach, the baseball coach, the soccer coach, and, really been there for my kids.

So it's been really fun.

That was part two of Rene's interview with Amy McGrath.

See part one from yesterday's Kentucky edition@ksat.org.