Told Me - August 1, 2017

MCGRATH: When I was 12 years old, I knew exactly what I wanted to do when I grew up. I wanted to fly fighter jets and land on aircraft carriers, because that's the toughest flying you can do. When I was 13, my congressman told me I couldn't fly in combat. He said Congress thought women ought to be protected and not allowed to serve in combat. I never got a letter back from my senator, Mitch McConnell. I then wrote every member of the House and Senate Armed Services committees, asking them to change the law. I said they just hadn't met me yet and I knew I could do it. But most of them told me I couldn't. Then I got into the Naval Academy and wouldn't you know, that's when they changed the law. I'm Amy McGrath and I love our country. I spent 20 years as a U.S. Marine, flew 89 combat missions bombing al Qaeda and the Taliban. I was the first woman Marine to fly in an F-18 in combat, and I got to land on aircraft carriers. Now I'm running for Congress against Andy Barr in my home state of Kentucky. He's Mitch McConnell's hand-picked congressman who said he would vote enthusiastically to take health care away from over a quarter million Kentuckians. Mr. Barr, my mom is a polio survivor who became one of the first women to graduate from UK medical school. A lot of people told her she couldn't achieve her dreams either, but she persevered and ended up treating many of the same kind of people whose health care you and Mr. McConnell would take away. This is my new mission – to take on a Congress full of career politicians who treat the people of Kentucky like they're disposable. Some are telling me a Democrat can't win that battle in Kentucky, that we can't take back our country for my kids and yours. We'll see about that.