Kentucky hasn't even elected its statewide officeholders yet, and next year's U.S. Senate race is already getting attention.
Incumbent Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader and a target of Democrats nationwide, hit the airwaves this week with an ad focused on Amy McGrath, the best-known of the Democrats who have announced their candidacy.
This signals two things.
One is that McConnell is not concerned about his primary challenger. former State Rep. Wesley Morgan. I'll be voting for and supporting Morgan over McConnell, but the safe bet is that the incumbent will win by a wide margin.
Second is that this move makes it fairly obvious that McConnell thinks McGrath will be the Democrats' nominee. Even with sports radio host Matt Jones announcing his formation of an exploratory committee this week, and with state House Minority Leader Rocky Adkins saying he'll delay a decision until after this fall's gubernatorial election despite being a hoped-for candidate by many in the state, it appears McConnell thinks he'll be up against McGrath next November.
Kentucky's Senate election will be in the national spotlight, as Democrats try to depose the majority leader. National groups from both parties will be spending lots of money here in an attempt to sway voters. Who knows, it might even put Kentucky back in the presidential election spotlight. It wouldn't be surprising for President Trump to hold a rally in Kentucky in support of McConnell, even with Kentucky's electoral votes pretty much guaranteed to go to Trump.
For those who grow weary of politics, it's going to be a long 15 months. Many are already cringing at seeing McGrath's ads on television, as they bring back horrible memories of her omnipresent commercials during her failed run for the House of Representatives last year.
But for now, it'll pay to keep an eye on McConnell's tactics and strategy. Will he broaden his aim to include Jones and possibly Adkins? Or will he keep the focus on McGrath?
