WASHINGTON — Charles Booker became the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Kentucky on Tuesday, setting up his long-shot challenge to Sen. Rand Paul in November.
The 37-year-old former single-term state legislator from Louisville easily dispensed with a slate of marginal challengers after narrowly falling to Amy McGrath in the 2020 Senate primary.
“It’s official,” Booker tweeted Tuesday night. “I am the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Kentucky. In November, we will make history by defeating Rand Paul and expanding our Senate majority”
If he defeats Paul, he would become the first Black U.S. Senator from the commonwealth. But Booker confronts a treacherous political environment and historic headwinds in his race against Paul, the libertarian Republican seeking a third term. Paul easily won his primary on Tuesday as well.
The race is not on the radar of either national party in Washington and Booker hasn’t marshaled anywhere close to the resources that McGrath did in her unsuccessful venture to unseat Mitch McConnell two years ago.
“I think McGrath was so terrible and the national mood is so awful that nobody is paying any attention to him at home or nationally,” said Billy Piper, a former chief of staff and principal political adviser to McConnell. “I expected him to raise a ton of money, get a lot of national buzz but still lose by double digits.”
The money hasn’t materialized for Booker and neither has national political momentum.
Paul has raised more than $20 million for the 2022 cycle compared to the just over $3 million Booker has collected thus far. The only public poll of the race, taken in January by Mason-Dixon, found Paul ahead by 16%. And Democrats haven’t won a U.S. Senate contest in Kentucky in 30 years.
But Booker’s nomination will be a test of a progressive proposition: That a more liberal candidate will fare better statewide than a cautious, centrist contender like McGrath or Jim Gray, the former Lexington mayor who fell to Paul by 15 points in 2016.
While progressives have steadily increased their power inside Kentucky’s Democratic Party over the past decade, many Democrats are skeptical that a lurch to the left will make them more competitive.
“They have exactly what they’ve clamored for and deserve – a unified party behind the most progressive candidate we’ve ever nominated for statewide office,” said Kim Geveden, a Democratic consultant in the state. “This matchup will now test that wisdom.”
Paul has largely ignored Booker, instead spending much of the last year being a thorn in the side of establishment Washington by badgering Dr. Anthony Fauci in congressional hearings and putting the breaks on Ukrainian aid without oversight of the funds.
“As I do most weeks, I’m here in D.C. battling the socialists and petty tyrants,” Paul said in a video statement. “Kentucky and all of America deserve better than the massive spending, runaway debt, and crippling inflation that (President) Biden, (Speaker) Pelosi, and (Majority Leader Chuck) Schumer are giving us. I’m working every day to fight back, and I hope you’ll continue to support me and vote them out this fall.”
Booker has repeatedly said he would retire Paul but hasn’t offered many specific details on his exact strategy to facilitate an upset or what progress he’s made in reaching that goal so far.
Democrats largely agree with Booker’s claims of Paul being ineffective and extreme but Geveden says there’s grumbling within Democratic circles about staffing and messaging.
“Unless they get their own house in order – they have a steep uphill battle,” Geveden said. “Most, if not all of the top level staffers who were with Charles in his ‘20 primary campaign … have left. For whatever reasons, they are no longer involved and it shows.”
“To have any meaningful chance to win, the campaign has a lot of work to do, starting from within,” Geveden added.
While Booker had just $474,000 in the bank at the end of April, Paul is sitting on $8.6 million he can deploy over the next five months.
In 2020, McGrath raised a record $94 million – and was still stomped by McConnell by 20%.
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