Mitch McConnell challenger Amy McGrath flip-flops as she says she would have opposed Brett Kavanaugh - just hours after saying she would have voted for him
- Mitch McConnell challenger McGrath faced a furious backlash for her comment
- She said the accusations against Kavanaugh were too dated to disqualify him
- But later McGrath said she had made a 'mistake' and 'disappointed' people
- She said: 'Upon further understanding of his record, I would have voted no'
Mitch McConnell challenger Amy McGrath has flip-flopped as she claims she wouldn't have approved Judge Brett Kavanaugh just hours after saying she would have.
The former Marine fighter pilot who is running against the Senate Majority Leader said she 'probably' would have backed Kavanaugh despite the bombshell evidence of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford before the Senate Judiciary Committee last year.
Blasey Ford's claims of sexual misconduct were 'credible,' McGrath conceded, but from a judicial standpoint it was not enough to disqualify Kavanaugh.
But hours after the interview surfaced the Democrat candidate, who has vowed to 'destroy the swamp [McConnell] created,' said she had made a mistake.
Amy McGrath (pictured during her campaign in Kentucky last year) is challenging Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, but admitted she made a 'mistake' in recent comments backing Judge Brett Kavaneugh
Supreme Court Judge Brett Kavanaugh testifies before the US Senate Judiciary Committee in September last year (left) and his accuser Dr Christine Blasey Ford at the same venue (right)
She tweeted: 'I was asked earlier today about Judge Brett Kavanaugh and I answered based upon his qualifications to be on the Supreme Court. But upon further reflection and further understanding of his record, I would have voted no.'
And an hour later, added: 'I know I disappointed many today with my initial answer on how I would have voted on Brett Kavanaugh. I will make mistakes and always own up to them. The priority is defeating Mitch McConnell.'
McGrath had told the Louisville Courier Journal: 'I think [Blasey Ford's evidence] is credible but given the amount of time that lapsed in between and from a judicial standpoint, I don't think it would really disqualify him.'
McGrath, who narrowly lost a House race to an incumbent Republican in Kentucky, has set her sights on one of the most entrenched officials in Washington in McConnell.
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She sees him as vulnerable because of his lengthy tenure in Washington, his stance on health care and his taut allegiance to the policies of President Donald Trump.
Her decision to enter the race represents a rare victory for Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, who has had difficulty persuading top-tier candidates in other states to take on incumbent Republicans with control of the Senate at stake.
The contest also will test the power of incumbency against a call for generational change along with a measure of whether Trump's popularity is transferable.
McGrath, 44, will almost certainly be able to raise enough money to mount a serious challenge to McConnell, 77, but she is still a decided underdog in a state that has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since Wendell Ford in 1992.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell at a press conference in Washington DC earlier this month
'I've been always somebody who stepped up to the plate when asked, when I felt like my country needed me, and this is one of those times,' McGrath said in an interview.
'I felt like somebody needs to stand up to him,' McGrath said.
But her attacks on McConnell and his record carry risks because Trump remains highly popular in Kentucky, and McConnell has pushed through much of the president's agenda and, perhaps more importantly, his nominees to federal courts, including Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.
She said that Kentucky voters are not fans of either political party and they supported Trump in part because of his promise to 'drain the swamp' in Washington, lower drug prices and deliver a more effective alternative to the Affordable Care Act.
'Those things haven't happened because of guys like Senator McConnell,' she said.
