肯塔基州美国参议院民主党候选人艾米·麦格拉思(Amy McGrath)周四表示，尽管面临与参议员米奇·麦康奈尔(Mitch McConnell)的长期竞争，但她相信选民们希望在本周投票时带来变化。
麦康奈尔是参议院多数党领袖，也是36年的参议院资深议员，他对国会拥有重大权力，并经常吹嘘自己是国会中唯一一位不来自纽约或加州的高级领导人。
麦格拉思周四告诉美国广播公司新闻记者林赛·戴维斯，她认为选民可以看出麦康奈尔在华盛顿政治中根深蒂固，无法为肯塔基州做好事。
麦格拉思说:“除非除掉建造沼泽的人，否则你无法排干沼泽的水，这个人就是米奇·麦康奈尔。”。“我的肯塔基同胞不会走过来对我说，‘哇，参议员麦康奈尔的力量真的在为我们工作。’"
9月中旬的昆尼皮亚克民调显示，麦康奈尔领先麦格拉思12个百分点。参议员的亲密盟友唐纳德·特朗普总统也有望赢得肯塔基州;他在2016年轻而易举地做到了。
麦格拉思是一名前海军战斗机飞行员，她将公共服务作为自己竞选的核心。
布莱恩·伍尔斯顿/路透社
周四，她重点强调了保障弱势公民医疗保健的必要性。她还瞄准了麦康奈尔的努力快速安装艾米·科尼·巴雷特在最高法院没有成功通过另一轮冠状病毒缓解。
“他刚刚强行通过的最高法院提名完全是关于医疗保健的，”麦格拉思说。“10年来，他无法通过立法取消《平价医疗法案》，现在他正试图在法庭上这么做。”
周一，就在11月3日选举的八天前，参议院投票确认了巴雷特的任命。
尽管民主党人反对，但麦康奈尔是推动提名通过的主要力量，他们认为选举的获胜者应该提名下一个填补空缺的人。
民主党反对巴雷特的核心论点是他们认为她对医疗保健构成的威胁。巴雷特在参议院司法委员会作证时多次作证说，她“不敌视”平价医疗法案，尽管巴雷特在2017年的一篇学术文章中批评了首席大法官约翰·罗伯茨(John Roberts)的一项裁决，该裁决支持具有里程碑意义的奥巴马时代的医疗保健法案。
与此同时，麦康奈尔将巴雷特提名吹捧为他在参议院任职期间最重要的成就之一。他称巴雷特为“优秀的”候选人，并在本周早些时候的一次新闻发布会上庆祝了参议院的成就。这一确认使保守派在国家最高法院获得6比3的优势。
“当我们周一晚上确认她的时候，这是一个骄傲的时刻，”麦康奈尔本周说。“我们整个周末都在工作...我们为国家做出了重要贡献。”
蒂莫西·伊斯利/美联社
尽管她反对巴雷特在法院任职，但麦格拉思告诉戴维斯，如果民主党下周赢得白宫和参议院，她对一些进步人士提出的在法院增加更多法官的建议不感兴趣。
“我现在对打包法院没有兴趣，”麦格拉思告诉美国广播公司新闻直播。“我对打开参议院的包装很感兴趣。”
麦格拉思指责麦康奈尔导致参议院运转不良，并表示，尽管经过几个月的谈判，他已经使国会不可能通过新一轮的新冠肺炎纾困。麦康奈尔反对众议院通过的冠状病毒缓解法案，称其为“自由愿望清单”，过于昂贵。众议院议长南希·佩洛西和政府成员几个月来一直在谈判一项协议，但现场没有明确的结果。
与此同时，麦康奈尔提出了更有针对性的救助措施，但没有得到民主党人的支持。他领导参议院对这项救助计划进行了两次失败的投票。
多数党领袖将这些失败的尝试完全归咎于民主党人。在最近肯塔基州的竞选活动中，麦康奈尔向选民兜售他的成就，包括3月份通过的2万亿美元的冠状病毒救助法案。
麦康奈尔竞选团队的一名发言人在7月接受麦格拉思采访后，在对美国广播公司新闻的一份声明中回击了麦格拉思，称她“生活在脱口秀讲述的另一个现实中”。
麦康奈尔竞选连任的新闻秘书凯特·库克西(Kate Cooksey)说:“麦克格拉斯是一个失败的候选人，他唯一有意义的机会是错误地攻击领袖麦康奈尔为肯塔基州提供服务的无可争议的记录。”
Amy McGrath, hoping to unseat Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, confident Kentucky wants to see change
Amy McGrath, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Kentucky, said Thursday that she is confident voters want to bring about change as they head to the polls this week, despite facing long odds against Sen. Mitch McConnell.
McConnell, the Senate majority leader and a 36-year veteran of the Senate, wields significant power over the Congress and frequently touts that he is the only senior leader in Congress not from New York or California.
McGrath told ABC News' Lindsey Davis Thursday that she believes voters can tell that McConnell is too entrenched in Washington politics to get things done for Kentucky.
"You can't drain the swamp until you get rid of the guy who built it, and that's Mitch McConnell," McGrath said. "My fellow Kentuckians don't come up to me and say, 'Wow, Sen. McConnell's power is really working for us.'"
A Quinnipiac poll from mid-September showed McConnell leading McGrath by 12 points. President Donald Trump, a close ally of the senator, is also expected to win Kentucky; he did so handily in In 2016.
McGrath is a former Marine fighter pilot who has made public service a centerpiece of her campaign.
On Thursday, she focused on the need to secure health care for vulnerable citizens. She also took aim at McConnell's push toquickly install Amy Coney Barretton the Supreme Court without successfully passing another round ofcoronavirus relief.
"The Supreme Court nominee that he just rammed through is all about health care," McGrath said. "He couldn't take away the Affordable Care Act legislatively for a decade and now he's trying to do it in court."
The Senate voted to confirm Barrett's confirmation on Monday, just eight days before the Nov. 3 election.
McConnell was a major force in moving the nomination through despite objection from Democrats, who argued that the winner of the election should nominate the next person to fill the vacancy.
Central to Democrats' arguments against Barrett was the threat they felt she posed to health care. Barrett testified repeatedly that she is "not hostile" to the Affordable Care Act during her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, though Barrett criticized a ruling by Chief Justice John Roberts that upheld the landmark Obama-era health care bill in a 2017 academic article.
McConnell, meanwhile, has touted the Barrett nomination as one of his most significant accomplishments in his time serving in the Senate. He's called Barrett a "sterling" nominee and celebrated the Senate's accomplishments at a press stop earlier this week. The confirmation gives conservatives a 6-3 advantage on the nation's highest court.
"It was a proud moment when we confirmed her Monday night," McConnell said this week. "We worked through the weekend ... and we made an important difference for the country."
Despite her opposition to Barrett's installation on the court, McGrath told Davis that she's not interested in the proposal from some progressives to add additional justices to the court if Democrats win the White House and Senate next week.
"I'm not interested in packing the courts right now," McGrath told ABC News Live. "I'm interested in unpacking the Senate."
McGrath accused McConnell of leading the Senate toward dysfunction and said he has made it impossible for Congress to pass a new round of COVID-19 relief despite months of negotiation. McConnell has opposed the House-passed coronavirus relief bill, calling it a "liberal wish list" that is too expensive. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and members of the administration have been negotiating a deal for months, with no clear outcome in site.
McConnell meanwhile has proposed more targeted relief measures that haven't gained support of Democrats. He's led the Senate on two separate failed votes on this relief plan.
The majority leader has placed the blame for these failed attempts squarely on the shoulders of Democrats. In recent campaign stops around Kentucky, McConnell has touted his accomplishments to constituents, including the passage of the $2 trillion coronavirus relief bill in March.
After an interview McGrath gave in July, a spokesperson for McConnell's campaign fired back at McGrath in a statement to ABC News, saying she's "living in an alternate reality narrated by talkshows."
"McGrath is a failed candidate whose only chance to be relevant is by falsely attacking Leader McConnell's indisputable record of delivering for Kentucky," said Kate Cooksey, press secretary for McConnell's reelection campaign.
