Fresh off her primary win, Alison Lundergan Grimes rolled out her first television ad in her general election campaign against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, casting herself as a post-partisan figure who is ready to shake things up in Washington and is not going to be a rubber stamp for any president.
In the minute-long “Moment” ad, Mrs. Grimes, the Kentucky Secretary of State, says it is time to elect a senator who puts partisanship aside and works with both parties to do what is right for Kentucky and the nation.
“And no matter who the president is, I won’t answer to them,” Mrs. Grimes vows. “I’ll only answer to you.”
“It’s time Washington put the good of our people ahead of the bad that comes from acting petty and small,” she says. ’We’ve had too much of that for too long.”
The ad comes less than 24 hours after Mrs. Grimes and Mr. McConnell won their party’s respective nominations, beginning a high-profile battle that will test the power of incumbency and see both candidates navigate gender politics.
Polls show Mr. McConnell, 72, and Mrs. Grimes, 35, are running neck-and-neck in their general election contest.
In a likely preview of what’s to come in their race, Mr. McConnell and Mrs. Grimes traded sharp attacks Tuesday in their election night victory speeches.
Mrs. Grimes struck a softer note in her first ad of the general election campaign.
“The economy is still struggling, people are working harder for less and here in Kentucky, we feel it more than most,” Mrs. Grimes says in the spot. “And it seems no matter how many elections we have, nothing gets better in Washington. It only gets worse.”
“A lot of that is because of the people at the top in both political parties. If we keep sending them back, nothing will change,” she says.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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