November 4, 2014 2020 → 806,787 584,698 | Turnout 46.27% 56.2% 40.7% | |
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Winner Mitch McConnell | ||
The 2014 United States Senate election in Kentucky took place on November 4, 2014 to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the Commonwealth of Kentucky, concurrently with elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
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Incumbent Republican Senator Mitch McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader, ran for re-election to a sixth term. He faced Democratic nominee and Kentucky Secretary of State Allison Lundergan Grimes and Libertarian nominee David Patterson in the general election.
The race was initially considered one of the most competitive in the 2014 election year. The Cook Political Report considered the race a toss up and the Rothenberg Political Report considered the race to "lean Republican." McConnell ultimately defeated Grimes by a larger-than-expected margin.
Republican primary
Immediately after a secret recording of Mitch McConnell and his campaign staff was released to Mother Jones, McConnell expressed concerns about what he saw as a threat from the left. David Adams, a Kentucky Tea Party activist who was seeking a Republican opponent to McConnell, told The New York Times that McConnell's fears about "threats from the left" were misplaced. Adams said: "It's going to come from the right. The fact that he's coming unglued about this thing should make clear to observers that he may not be ready for the challenge that lies ahead."
McConnell won the primary with 60.2% of the vote. According to analysis by the University of Minnesota, this is the lowest voter support for a Kentucky U.S. Senator in a primary by either party since 1938.
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Polling
Democratic primary
In late 2012 and early 2013, media speculation focused on the possibility of a challenge to incumbent Mitch McConnell from actress and Tennessee resident Ashley Judd, who was raised in Kentucky. Judd later announced that she would not seek the Democratic nomination. On April 9, Mother Jones magazine released a tape of a private meeting between McConnell and, allegedly, his aides reviewing opposition research and tactics to use against Judd. At the February strategy session, McConnell referred to the early stages of his re-election bid as the "Whac-A-Mole period of the campaign" and he and aides discussed attacking Judd's religious views as well as her struggle with depression.
Alison Lundergan Grimes, the sitting Secretary of State, entered the primary race with the encouragement of former President Bill Clinton, a friend of Grimes' father, a former Kentucky politician. On May 20, 2014, she won the Democratic primary with 77% of the vote. Hollywood executives Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Katzenberg have hosted fundraising events for her in New York City and Beverly Hills. Her father's involvement in the campaign has been noted as a factor in the race because of his personal political history and fundraising connections he brings.
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Results
Patterson won the Libertarian primary on March 1, 2014. While he ran unopposed, all Libertarian Party candidates must defeat None of the above (NOTA) in the primary operated by the Libertarian Party of Kentucky. He became an official ballot-listed candidate on August 11 after submitting over 9,100 signatures.