Sen. Mitch McConnell turned up the political rhetoric at a campaign stop in Oldham County on Wednesday, telling supporters that the country is in danger of being taken over by “radical liberals.”
About 50 people gathered in a barn for the event in Smithfield, less than a week before Election Day and two days after the Senate confirmed Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.
McConnell attacked his Democratic opponent, retired Marine fighter pilot Amy McGrath, claiming she is too liberal for Kentucky voters.
“She reflects the elitist, leftists on the coasts who look down on this country, who don’t believe in our basic values and who think we need to fundamentally change our country,” McConnell said.
McGrath has been fighting an uphill battle against McConnell, who has been in the Senate since 1985 and served as majority leader since 2014.
A poll released last week showed McConnell leading McGrath by 9 points.
But Republicans are facing fiercer Democratic headwinds in other parts of the country and might lose control of the Senate even if McConnell wins.
McConnell, who is 78 years old, said he’s confident he’ll still steer his party as minority leader if they lose control of the chamber.
“I’ve been the majority leader and I’ve been the minority leader, it won’t surprise you to know the majority’s better,” McConnell said.
McConnell warned the audience that he has “never seen the Democrats so radical,” claiming that every Democratic candidate running for senate across the country is in favor of adding justices to the Supreme Court, eliminating the Senate filibuster and increasing the number of states in the union.
“These are not your mom and dad’s Democrats, they’re not even the Democrats you observed as recently as the Obama administration. In some ways they even think President Obama’s a relic of a bygone era,” McConnell said.
Though Election Day is next week, Kentuckians have been casting ballots for more than a month now.
According to the secretary of state, through Tuesday, more than 689,000 people have voted early in person and almost 521,000 absentee ballots have been received—about 79% of absentee ballots that were issued.
