Thread by @JoshuaADouglas

It's time for the #KYSen debate between @AmyMcGrathKY and @LeaderMcConnell. Follow along, friends, and I'll give you the highlights. It's go time! 1/

McGrath: Hits McConnell right away for knowing about #COVID19 as early as January but not warning Kentuckians about the threat. 2/

McConnell: starts by congratulating McGrath on her military service.

Now we'll wait for McGrath to mention how she wrote to McConnell as a kid about how she wanted to be a fighter pilot and he never responded. It won't take long, I'm sure. 3/

Now they are debating about coronavirus relief.

"She's a national Democrat. She's in line with Schumer and Pelosi."

McConnell said "Pelosi." Drink! 4/

McConnell: we must wear our masks and practice social distancing. (Good to see McConnell continue to tell people to wear masks.)

McGrath: I give the White House an F on its coronavirus response. 5/

McGrath: McConnell's one job is to pass legislation to respond to coronavirus. But all he is doing is ramming through a Supreme Court nomination.

(McGrath brought up Supreme Court.) Drink! 6/

McConnell is essentially arguing against national Democrats. His answers are all about why he thinks the current national Democrats won't negotiate. 7/

McGrath: "You know what's hard? Strapping a fighter jet to your back. Doing what's right for America is not hard."

(McGrath mentions her experience as a fighter jet. Drink!) 8/

McConnell: "she thinks we're the problem. I think they're the problem. We need a solution."

Seems about right. 9/

McConnell: "this virus isn't going away until there's a vaccine."

McGrath: "certainly the coronavirus won't go away until there's a vaccine."

See, they agree! 10/

McGrath: "I was a United States Marine for 20 years."

Drink! (No, I'm not actually drinking each time.) 11/

Next topic: Supreme Court nomination.

McGrath: "no one should be voting on a Supreme Court nominee right now."

"We should be focusing on aid for Kentucky, and not a Supreme Court nominee."

Then she pivots SCOTUS question to ACA, following Dem talking points. 12/

McConnell: "no one believes the Supreme Court is going to strike down the Affordable Care Act."

Really?! 13/

Editorializing here, but I think McGrath didn't hit McConnell hard enough on SCOTUS nominee. Here's why:

14/

cnn.com/2020/09/18/opi…

McConnell pivots SCOTUS answer to claim that McGrath wants to make DC and Puerto Rico as states and pack the Supreme Court.

McGrath: "McConnell is lying to you about my stances, but that's par for the course." 15/

McConnell: "it's been 9 since 1869."

McGrath: "except for when it was 8 when you left a seat open for a year." Best answer yet. 16/

McConnell then once again makes the ridiculous claim that the "rule" is that you *can* fill a SCOTUS seat when the White House and Senate are controlled by same party.

He's changing the rules as he goes because he has the political power to do so. 17/

McConnell: "we don't know how the Court will rule on abortion. Every Republican nominee was projected to be a disaster for women and that didn't happen." Hmmm.... 18/

McGrath shifts question on abortion to health care for children. 19/

🚨 Mail-in balloting/election fraud question.

McGrath: touts bipartisan plan betw Gov. Beshear and SOS Adams.

But "I am very concerned about the U.S. postal service." No! Don't undermine voters' faith in ability to return their ballots (but there are drop boxes all over).

McConnell changes question to something about how long Biden has been in the Senate. Weird. 21/

McGrath: "McConnell likes to talk about Kentucky punching above his weight. Here in Kentucky, we feel like we've been sucker punched."

McGrath then comes out in favor of term limits. (I know some political scientists who have major issues with that.) 22/

Halfway point. Debate has been quite cordial so far. 23/

"Do you think justice was done in #BreonnaTaylor case?"

McConnell: I support peaceful protests. I don't support rioting and looting.

He then discusses his support for law enforcement and doesn't want to "defund the police." 24/

McGrath: "As someone who wore the uniform..." (Drink!)

"The tragedy with Breonna Taylor was an absolute tragedy.... There is systemic racism in this country."

Notes that the "John Lewis Voting Rights Act" is sitting on McConnell's desk (that's true and terrible).

25/

McConnell just brought up Senator Tim Scott, "who is African-American," who he says has experienced the "extra suspicion" that Black people face.

"Extra suspicion"?! Not wholesale systemic racism? 26/

👀 McConnell doubles down on his status as Majority Leader: "a vote for [McGrath] will shift power from Kentucky to New York." Says McGrath will help make Senator Schumer the majority leader.

Did McConnell just implicitly acknowledge that Republicans may lose the Senate?! 27/

Next up: coal and eastern Kentucky.

This is a really civil and extremely substantive debate. If you're an undecided voter, the candidates are definitely drawing clear distinctions on many key issues. 28/

McGrath: "We need to be honest with people. I've always been taught to be honest with people, from the Marine Corp." 29/

As an aside, this would have been a really interesting debate if it had been @Booker4KY v. McConnell. I think the contrasts would have been even more stark. 30/

McConnell: ok, what's your plan. Tell us. I'd like to hear it.

So McGrath goes into ideas for infrastructure, broadband, etc.

McConnell: "everything she's talking about is already being done."

McGrath: "tell that to the people of eastern Kentucky."

31/

McConnell: "her entire campaign is that she was in the Marines, she is a Mom, and I've been there too long. If she wins, she'll just make Chuck Schumer the majority leader."

I mean, none of that is wrong. 32/

McGrath: "Senator, you've been there for 36 years! How's that looking, Kentucky?" 33/

McGrath: "I want to fix the Affordable Care Act and make health care easy to obtain." 34/

Closing statements!

McGrath: "This campaign is not about Mitch McConnell. It's not about Amy McGrath. It's about Kentucky."

Then talks about the oath she took as a Marine. 35/

McConnell: if McGrath wins, she'll vote to make Schumer the majority leader and then to make DC and Puerto Rico states, giving the Senate 4 new liberal Senators. 36/

This debate was so civil that each candidate has 30 more seconds! 37/

That's a wrap! /end