Speaking to reporters in Frankfort Monday afternoon, Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, a Democrat, announced her candidacy for the U.S. Senate in 2014.
She is looking to challenge longtime veteran Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in the November 2014 general election.
Grimes told reporters she is accustomed to being an underdog and faced that scenario when she was elected secretary of state 18 months ago.
Within minutes of Grimes' announcement, McConnell released a statement of his own:
“Accepting the invitation from countless Washington liberals to become President Obama’s Kentucky candidate was a courageous decision by Alison Lundergan Grimes and I look forward to a respectful exchange of ideas. The next 16 months will provide a great opportunity for Kentuckians to contrast a liberal agenda that promotes a war on coal families and government rationed health care with someone who works everyday to protect Kentuckians from those bad ideas. Together we’ve invested a lot to ensure that Kentucky’s voice in the U.S. Senate is heard from the front of the line rather than the back-bench and I intend to earn the support to keep it there.”
