Amy McGrath has returned to her home state of Kentucky after serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and says it is time for a new generation of leaders to turn the country around.

Running as a Democratic candidate for Congress in Kentucky’s sixth district, McGrath is calling her campaign her “new mission,” and will be in Clark County today to talk about her reasons for running and the important issues she believes are facing the U.S. 

The meeting will be from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. today at The Cairn, 17 S. Main St.

The visit is part of a week-long 20-stop, 19-county tour of the district. McGrath, who flew 89 combat missions as a Marine, considers her congressional campaign her 90th mission, and has dubbed this her “90th Mission Tour.” 

“I put my life on the line in 89 combat missions,” McGrath said in a press release. “And while this campaign may be my first in politics, it is my 90th mission for the people in Kentucky and our country.”

McGrath has no political background, but spent 20 years in the Marine Corps and four years teaching U.S. government, elections and national security courses at the Naval Academy.

Retiring in June 2017, she returned to her native Kentucky and felt compelled to get involved with politics after the result of the last presidential election.

“When she was young, her mother taught her about government and how Congress and the presidency worked,” said Calvin Penn, McGrath’s deputy campaign manager. “She taught her to advocate to make a change and that is when she started her letter-writing campaign.”

At 13, McGrath wrote letters to local newspapers, as well as the House and Senate, expressing her desire to fly jets. Because of the Combat Exclusion Law, she was told she could not be a pilot. When McGrath was a senior in high school, the law lifted and she entered the Naval Academy in Maryland.

Penn said McGrath wants to be a leader for the people in the sixth district and is diligent in taking the time to talk to and have conversations with the people she wishes to represent.

“Veterans can easily work across the aisle,” Penn said. “She decided to change the system by becoming a part of it and changing it from within. Veterans tend to work in a bipartisan effort. She is someone who wants to do that when she gets to Congress.”

“If elected, I promise to fight for all 19 counties in the district — not just the biggest Fayette County, or where I live in Scott County,” McGrath said. “I want to inspire younger generations to care, to be involved, to become leaders themselves, and to serve their country, their commonwealth and their communities.”