(AP Photo/Bryan Woolston, File)
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Former Marine pilot Amy McGrath overcame a bumpier-than-expected Kentucky primary to win the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination Tuesday, fending off progressive Charles Booker to set up a bruising, big-spending showdown with Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
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Since last summer, McConnell and McGrath looked past their primaries to skirmish with each other, and now those attacks are expected to intensify as they head into the fall campaign.
Democratic candidate for Kentucky Senate, Charles Booker, left, and Senator Mitch McConnell, right.
(Photo: Charles Booker, YouTube/Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
McGrath was backed by the Democratic establishment looking for a challenger to keep McConnell tied down in Kentucky as the GOP tries to hold its Senate majority.