Mitch McConnell Whines About Opponent’s Out-Of-State Donors While Fundraising On Wall Street

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is currently looking at a tough reelection battle. While he no longer has anything to worry about when it comes to securing the GOP nomination, as Tea Party challenger Matt Bevin has pretty much destroyed any chance he had at unseating the long-time incumbent, McConnell is looking at a real test in the general election. Presumptive Democratic nominee, and rising star of the party, Alison Lundergan Grimes is a formidable foe who has been able to connect with voters of the deep-red state of Kentucky. Recent polls show her in a virtual tie with McConnell. At the same time, McConnell’s approval rating in the state is simply atrocious.

Seeing the momentum building for Grimes, McConnell’s team has tried to paint her as a Hollywood liberal whose values are all wrong for Kentucky. When it was revealed that Grimes raised more money ($2.7 million) in the first quarter of 2014 than McConnell, the Minority Leader’s campaign spokesperson, Allison Moore, went on the attack calling out Grimes for raising money outside of Kentucky.

“The very same ultra rich liberal elite who bankrolled Barack Obama into the White House are pulling out all the stops for Alison Lundergan Grimes. Kentuckians know darn well her entire campaign is funded by those who seek to destroy Kentucky values and our way of life and the only way they can accomplish that is by getting rid of the man responsible for stopping them, Mitch McConnell.”

Obviously, the implication here was that Grimes’ campaign was getting money mostly from Hollywood celebrities and rich New York elites. Essentially, Moore was painting Grimes as a ‘liberal elite,’ unable to relate the average Kentuckian. At the same time, Moore was presenting McConnell as someone who spends all of his time and energy in Kentucky when he isn’t in Washington battling the evil Barack Obama.

While it is true that Grimes has attended fundraising events outside of the state, and received money from well-known and wealthy donors, the majority of the donations she’s received are from average Kentucky voters. Her campaign pointed out in April that it has received over 45,000 individual donations with a median contribution amount of $25. Therefore, it appears that voters are sending in small amounts to do their part to help Grimes win in November.

Recently, it has been revealed that McConnell is a huge hypocrite. While either saying it himself, or allowing his staff to do so, McConnell has presented Grimes as a candidate who spends a large amount of her time outside the state courting big-money donors. Meanwhile, the Senator made six trips to New York over the first 3 months of 2014. During those trips, he held at least eight fundraisers where he bagged over $1 million in donations from executives at large companies and firms, as well as from New York bankers. In fact, over 80% of the money he’s raised this election cycle has come from outside the state of Kentucky.

This is just more egg in the face for McConnell, whose campaign so far has been close to a disaster. He told voters at a campaign event in April that it isn’t his job to bring jobs to Kentucky. He mistakenly, and hilariously, used footage of the Duke University men’s basketball team winning the national title when he thought it was of Kentucky. He tried to appeal to gun owners by showing up at CPAC and waving a musket over his head on stage. It was later revealed that McConnell doesn’t even own a gun. Now, he’s given Democrats, and the Grimes campaign, this little gift.

Justin Baragona

Justin Baragona is the Managing Editor at Politicus Sports as well as Senior Editor at PoliticusUSA. He was a political writer for 411Mania.com before joining PoliticusUSA. Politically, Justin considers himself a liberal but also a realist and pragmatist. Currently, Justin lives in St. Louis, MO and is married. Besides writing, he also runs his own business after spending a number of years in the corporate world. You can follow Justin on Twitter either with his personal handle (@justinbaragona) or the Sports site’s (@PoliticusSports).