With just more than a month left before the hotly contested Senate election in Kentucky, Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes is making sure voters know precisely what she stands for by laying out six issues she vows to take on as soon as her first day in office — if she is elected.
Challenging Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Grimes writes in an op-ed for The Courier-Journal that her Republican opponent has only pledged what he will not do: “Permit votes or even debate” on raising the minimum wage, extending unemployment insurance, or easing student loan debt.
“I prefer to tell Kentuckians what I WILL do,” Grimes writes.
The secretary of state’s six priorities are as follows: Create jobs in Kentucky and raise the minimum wage, end tax loopholes, protect and strengthen Social Security and Medicare, champion equal pay for equal work, sponsor legislation to provide access for veterans to good-paying jobs, and fight to reduce student loan debt for Kentuckians.
After detailing her agenda, Grimes promises she’ll fight for families in the state, concluding, “Thirty years is long enough. Kentucky deserves a new senator.”
The Grimes campaign released a new 30-second spot Tuesday called “Rally” following the op-ed. It reiterates her claim that McConnell is “the biggest part of the problem in Washington.”
“Rally” is just one of many attack ads in what’s arguably the most heated Senate race of the midterm election. Polls over the past six months saw the candidates essentially deadlocked. A September NBC News/Marist poll saw McConnell with an 8-point advantage, leading Grimes 47-39 among likely voters, while a Reuters poll shows 52% of Kentuckians view Mitch McConnell unfavorably.
No doubt, this race will be close, and Grimes — the youngest woman currently serving as secretary of state in the country — isn’t backing down ahead of the Nov. 4 election.
Anna Brand