Police protests upend Democratic Senate contest in Kentucky

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — For months, Charles Booker languished in the shadows, talking about racial and economic justice in a long shot bid to take on Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader of the U.S. Senate. Then came a national eruption over the deaths of Black Americans in encounters with police.

Now, Booker's bid for the Democratic Senate nomination from the left wing of Kentucky politics is on the rise, creating an unexpectedly strong challenge in Tuesday's primary to the party-backed favorite, former Marine fighter pilot Amy McGrath.

Booker has been helped by the endorsement of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and the state's two largest newspapers. It's created a sense of momentum and led to a surge in fundraising, money that Booker has used to slam McGrath, the long-time front-runner, in TV ads. It also has added a measure of uncertainty to the script in Democrats’ uphill efforts to topple McConnell, who is seeking his seventh term.

“Over the past couple of weeks, you all have seen a shift,” Booker, a freshman state lawmaker, said at a rally this past week in his hometown of Louisville. “There is something in the atmosphere. Something is really going on here. We all are a part of history.”

Read more: https://www.state-journal.com/news/state_news/ap_ky/police-protests-upend-democratic-senate-contest-in-kentucky/article_fbf09ad0-4b2c-5db7-84ce-eede6cab0e77.html
(Frankfort State-Journal)