Amy Melinda McGrath (born June 3, 1975) is an American former Marine fighter pilot and political candidate from Kentucky. McGrath was the first woman to fly a combat mission for the Marine Corps and the first woman to pilot the F/A-18 in a combat mission. She was inspired to be a fighter pilot after studying World War II aviation in middle school and taking family trips to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. During her 20 years of service in the Marine Corps, McGrath flew 89 combat missions against al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
Toward the end of her service, McGrath worked domestically as a political adviser, liaison officer, and instructor at the United States Naval Academy. Following retirement from military service in 2017, McGrath entered politics. She was the Democratic nominee for Kentucky's 6th congressional district in the 2018 election, losing to incumbent Republican Andy Barr by a margin of 51% to 47.8%. In July 2019, McGrath announced her campaign in the 2020 election for the United States Senate, challenging incumbent Mitch McConnell. In a close primary, McGrath defeated state representative Charles Booker to gain the nomination of the Democratic Party. McGrath outraised McConnell by more than $32 million, but lost the general election by nearly 20 points. In October 2025, McGrath declared her intent to run as a Democrat in Kentucky's 2026 Senate election. She lost to Booker in the primary.
Early life and education McGrath was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. She grew up in Edgewood, Kentucky, just outside of Covington, the youngest of three children. Her father, Donald McGrath, was a high school teacher who taught in Cincinnati for 40 years. Her mother, Marianne McGrath, is a psychiatrist who was one of the first women to graduate from the University of Kentucky's medical school.
McGrath graduated in 1993 from Notre Dame Academy in Park Hills, Kentucky where she played varsity soccer, basketball, and baseball, and was captain of the soccer team her senior year. In her senior year, she received an appointment to the United States Naval Academy, the same year Congress lifted the Combat Exclusion Policy that banned women from becoming fighter pilots.
McGrath graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1997 with a Bachelor of Science in political science. As a student, McGrath was the student director of the Naval Academy Foreign Affairs Conference and a member of the academy's women's varsity soccer team.
McGrath received a graduate certificate in legislative studies from Georgetown University in 2011. In 2014, she earned a Master of Arts in international and global security studies from Johns Hopkins University.
Military career
Training and pre-deployment (1997–2002) After graduating from the Naval Academy, at the age of 21, McGrath was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps. In 1999, McGrath completed flight school and started her career as a Weapons Systems Officer (WSO), coordinating weapons including air-to-air AMRAAM missiles and heat-seeking Sidewinders. She was assigned to Marine All-Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 121. When McGrath and fellow Marine pilot Jaden Kim joined VMFA-121, they became the first female aviators to join the squadron. During this same time, McGrath was also part of Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 101.
Service overseas (2002–2011) In March 2002, McGrath was deployed to Manas, Kyrgyzstan, for a six-month tour of duty, during which she flew 51 combat missions in an F/A-18D in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. She was the first woman to fly a combat mission in the United States Marine Corps. In January 2003, stationed in Kuwait, McGrath flew in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in Iraq, where she provided air support to ground troops and conducted reconnaissance and air strikes.
After being promoted to captain, McGrath completed flight school in 2004, becoming a pilot. During 2005 and 2006, she was deployed on a second tour of duty over Afghanistan with VMFA 121. During this time she became the first woman to fly in an F/A-18 in combat for the U.S. Marine Corps. In 2007, she was promoted from captain to major. From 2007 to 2009, she was deployed to East Asia. During this same time, McGrath was also part of Fighter-Attack Squadron 106. In 2010, she served a second tour in Afghanistan with the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing in Helmand Province.
During her military career, McGrath flew over 2,000 flight hours on over 85 combat missions. She also flew in exercises in the U.S., Egypt, Australia, Korea, and Japan.
Return to the United States (2011–2017) In 2011, McGrath returned to the United States and was assigned as a congressional fellow for Representative Susan Davis's office in Washington, D.C., as a defense and foreign affairs advisor for a year. Davis was chair and ranking member on the Subcommittee on Military Personnel of the House Armed Services Committee.
From 2012 to 2014, McGrath worked at the Headquarters Marine Corps in The Pentagon, as a Marine Corps liaison to the Department of State and the United States Agency for International Development.
From 2014 to 2017, McGrath served as a senior political science instructor at the United States Naval Academy.
After reaching the 20-year service mark, McGrath retired from the armed forces on June 1, 2017, at the rank of lieutenant colonel.
2018 U.S. House campaign
On August 1, 2017, McGrath announced she was running for the United States House of Representatives from Kentucky's 6th congressional district as a Democrat in the 2018 election against incumbent representative Andy Barr, a Republican. McGrath's campaign announcement video attracted national attention.
McGrath said that she saw former representative Ben Chandler, Barr's Democratic predecessor, speak at the Naval Academy and she had reached out to him for help when she began considering running for election.
To focus on rural voters, McGrath set up multiple field offices in less populated areas of Kentucky. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) supported McGrath's opponent in the primary. McGrath was endorsed by Representative Seth Moulton, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and a veterans' political action committee (PAC)s VoteVets.org and With Honor.
McGrath won the Democratic Party primary on May 22, 2018. She defeated Jim Gray, the mayor of Lexington, and a well-known figure who was one of the first openly gay Kentuckians elected to public office. She won all 18 rural counties in the district with the exception of Fayette County. After the win, Gray endorsed McGrath, as did the DCCC via their Red to Blue campaign. Former Vice President Joe Biden called to congratulate McGrath.
McGrath was defeated in the November 2018 general election by Barr, who won 51% of the vote to McGrath's 47.8%.
2020 U.S. Senate campaign
On July 9, 2019, McGrath announced on Twitter that she was running for the United States Senate for Kentucky in the 2020 election, challenging incumbent senator Mitch McConnell, a Republican and the Majority Leader. McGrath raised $3.5 million in her first week. In her launch video, McGrath stated that "bit by bit, year by year, [McConnell has] turned Washington into something we all despise – where dysfunction and chaos are political weapons."
McGrath endorsed Joe Biden's 2020 presidential campaign ahead of the Democratic Party's Iowa caucuses.
McGrath's campaign reported raising $12.8 million in the first quarter of 2020, outraising McConnell, who reported raising $7.4 million in the same period. As of September 2020, donors had contributed $43 million to the Amy for America PAC and $39.6 million to the Amy McGrath for Senate PAC through ActBlue.
McGrath won the Democratic nomination with 45% of the primary vote. McGrath's vote share skewed towards rural areas: she won all but five counties, with those counties being among the most populous in the commonwealth. Other candidates in the primary included Kentucky representative Charles Booker, who received 43%, and retired Marine Mike Broihier, who won 5%. Broihier and Booker both ultimately endorsed McGrath.
In September, McGrath was endorsed by Kentucky's sitting governor, Andy Beshear. She was also endorsed by the Kentucky Education Association,Teachers Group Endorses McGrath in Senate race from WTQV a teachers union affiliated with the National Education Association and the largest professional group in Kentucky. On October 12, she was endorsed in the general election by the Lexington Herald-Leader.
In September, McGrath released a five-point plan for Kentucky involving the federal response to COVID-19, health care, infrastructure, racial equality, and corruption. On October 12, McGrath and McConnell held a debate. McGrath criticized McConnell's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, arguing that he should have been able to pass an additional relief bill over Democratic objections, as was done with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.
McGrath outraised McConnell by more than $32 million. Nevertheless, on November 3, McGrath lost to McConnell by a margin of nearly 20 percentage points.
2026 U.S. Senate campaign
On October 6, 2025, McGrath declared her candidacy for U.S. Senate in Kentucky in 2026. On May 19, 2026, she lost the Democratic nomination to Charles Booker.
Political positions In her 2018 House and 2020 Senate races, McGrath identified herself as a moderate Democrat. McGrath considers herself a fiscal conservative. Left-leaning news outlets, including Rolling Stone, have criticized McGrath for being too conservative, as have her progressive primary opponents, Charles Booker and Mike Broihier. McGrath has stated "I want to do what's best for Kentucky, and when President Trump has good ideas, I'm going to be for them. To me it's not about your political party, it's not about wearing a red jersey or blue jersey."
Healthcare McGrath supports the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and efforts to preserve and improve it. She has said "we have a very complex health care system in America and right now we have the Affordable Care Act, that just came into effect a few years ago. ... I believe, as with every major piece of legislation in this country, we should try to make it work." She supports a public option for health care, similar to the insurance plan offered to military veterans, and supports allowing people over 55 to opt-in to Medicare. McGrath opposes Medicare for All, saying that she prefers to improve on the ACA and that she opposes the abolition of private health insurance. During her 2018 House campaign, she had indicated she liked the idea of single-payer healthcare plans, but thought they just were not feasible.
Economy McGrath opposed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. She favored making permanent the temporary tax cuts for the middle class contained in the bill.
McGrath supports investing in infrastructure in eastern Kentucky to offset the economic impacts of the coal industry’s continuing decline. She has specifically focused on the need to bring high-speed broadband Internet to rural areas that currently lack it.
Environment McGrath said that climate change "disrupt[s] the environment" and harms the economy. She has also called it an issue of national security, and has stated "our military is already testing, adapting, and researching how to operate and succeed in these rapidly changing environments" brought on by climate change. However, she has promised not to support "legislation that doesn’t have a plan for keeping jobs around and supporting our communities."
Guns McGrath has stated her support for the Second Amendment and the right to bear arms, noting she "went to combat with a nine millimeter strapped to my chest and a 20 millimeter cannon on the front of my jet." She favors stronger background checks on firearm sales, as well as "banning sales to those on terror watch lists, and continuing federal research on the gun violence epidemic."
Race relations