Amy McGrath

After graduating from the Naval Academy, at the age of 21 McGrath was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps.[17] In 1999, she completed flight school and started her career as a Weapons Systems Officer (WSO),[13] coordinating weapons including air-to-air AMRAAM missiles and heat-seeking Sidewinders.[11] She was assigned to Marine All-Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 121.[13][18] When McGrath and fellow Marine pilot Jaden Kim joined VMFA-121, they became the first female aviators to join the squadron.[11] During this same time, McGrath was also part of Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 101.[16]

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.[13][17] She was the first woman to fly a combat mission in the United States Marine Corps.[19] 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.[10][17][20]

After being promoted to Captain, McGrath completed flight school in 2004, becoming a pilot.[9][18] During 2005 and 2006, she was deployed on a second tour of duty over Afghanistan with VMFA 121.[18] 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.[20] From 2007 to 2009, she was deployed to East Asia.[13] During this same time, McGrath was also part of Fighter-Attack Squadron 106.[16] In 2010, she served a second tour in Afghanistan with the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing in Helmand Province.[13]

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.[13]

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.[13] Davis was chair and ranking member on the Subcommittee on Military Personnel of the House Armed Services Committee.[4]

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.[13][9]

From 2014 to 2017, McGrath taught as a senior political science instructor at the United States Naval Academy.[1][13]

After reaching her 20-year service mark, McGrath retired from the armed forces on June 1, 2017, at the rank of lieutenant colonel.[4]

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.[67][68] McGrath opposes Medicare for All, saying that she prefers to improve on the ACA and that she opposes the abolishment 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 weren't feasible.[69]

McGrath opposed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.[70] She favored making permanent the temporary tax cuts for the middle class contained in the bill.[71]

McGrath supports investing in infrastructure in eastern Kentucky to offset the economic impacts of the coal industry’s continuing decline.[66] She has specifically focused on the need to bring high-speed broadband internet to rural areas that currently lack it.[72]

McGrath has called climate change "a fact," and said it "disrupt[s] the environment" and harms the economy.[71] 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."[72]

McGrath has stated her support for the 2nd Amendment and the right to bear arms, noting she "went to combat with a 9 millimeter strapped to my chest and a 20 millimeter cannon on the front of my jet."[73] 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."[71]

At an August 2020 meeting with black church leaders, McGrath stated support of widespread policing reforms, including federal funding for body cameras, requiring independent investigations into officer-involved shootings, and creating a national database of police officers who are fired for misconduct.[74] She supports national standards including banning chokeholds, banning no-knock search warrants in federal drug cases and supporting independent investigations when warranted.[72] At a meeting with protestors demanding justice in the Breonna Taylor case, McGrath called to “tackle the systemic racism” in the US and called for more details on Taylor’s case to be released to the public.[75]

McGrath has called for comprehensive immigration reform. McGrath opposes building a physical barrier or wall along the entire US border with Mexico, saying it would be "very expensive" and not be effective, and "it would take decades to build and then you can just defeat it with a ladder. We can secure our border with better technology" such as drone patrols.[66] In a debate on KET during the Democratic primary of her 2018 campaign, McGrath displayed a willingness to compromise on immigration issues.[76] She opposes abolishing Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.[71]

As of October 2020, McGrath supports an additional round of coronavirus stimulus funding, including another round of stimulus checks to individuals, and aid to state and local governments that are facing budget shortfalls. She has criticized the response of the current administration and Congress to the pandemic, stating they were not honest about the severity of the situation early on.[72]

McGrath opposes late-term abortions. Generally, she favors the status quo concerning abortion restrictions, saying "there are [currently] enough restrictions on abortion and they're reasonable."[66]

McGrath opposes free college tuition paid for by the government.[69] She does not support defunding the police.[77]

McGrath supports term limits.[78] Specifically, a representative of her 2020 campaign said McGrath "strongly" supports a limit of two terms in the Senate. In the primary, many of the Senators who backed McGrath have spent more than two terms in the Senate. Some of Senators who backed Charles Booker have not.[79]

In 2016, McGrath authored an editorial for Foreign Policy magazine, calling for a thorough investigation of the decision-making process that the U.S. government took leading up to the Iraq War, similar to the British Chilcot Report. She cited the "seven investigations, ... 33 hearings, and ... almost $7 million examining every facet of the disaster in Benghazi, Libya, in which four Americans were killed," and contrasted it with the "4,806 American and coalition members deaths and 32,246 wounded" and estimated $3 trillion spent during the Iraq War, without any investigation.[80]

McGrath has stated that "the major concern for the security of our nation remains the threat of a nuclear device in the hands of a violent non-state actor — so we must be relentless when it comes to seeking nuclear nonproliferation around the world."[72]