Amy McGrath

Amy McGrath

Amy Melinda McGrath is an American former Marine fighter pilot and former political candidate from Kentucky. McGrath was the first woman to fly a combat mission for the Marine Corps. She was the Democratic nominee for Kentucky’s 6th congressional district in the 2018 election, losing to incumbent Republican Andy Barr. In July 2019, she announced her campaign for the United States Senate in the 2020 election, challenging incumbent Mitch McConnell.

About Amy McGrath in brief

Summary Amy McGrathAmy Melinda McGrath is an American former Marine fighter pilot and former political candidate from Kentucky. McGrath was the first woman to fly a combat mission for the Marine Corps. She was the Democratic nominee for Kentucky’s 6th congressional district in the 2018 election, losing to incumbent Republican Andy Barr by a margin of 51% to 47. 8%. In July 2019, she announced her campaign for the United States Senate in the 2020 election, challenging incumbent Mitch McConnell. Her father, Donald McGrath, was a high school teacher who taught in Cincinnati for 40 years. Her mother, Marianne McGrath,. is a psychiatrist who was one of the first women to graduate from the University of Kentucky’s medical. school. She graduated in 1994 from Notre Dame Academy in Park Hills, Kentucky, where she played varsity soccer, basketball, and baseball, and was captain of the soccer team her senior year. In 1999, she completed flight school and started her career as a Weapons Systems Officer, coordinating weapons including air-to-air AMRAAM missiles and heat-seeking Sidewinders. In March 2002, she flew 51 combat missions in an FA-18D in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. In January 2003, stationed in Kuwait, McGrath flew in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in Iraq. After reaching her 20-year reaching age of 21, she was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Marine corps. In 2007, she received a graduate certificate in legislative studies from Georgetown University in 2011. In 2014, she earned a Master of Arts in international and global security studies from Johns Hopkins University.

She also flew over 2,000 flight hours on over 85 combat missions over the course of her military career. In 2010, she served a second tour in Afghanistan with the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing in Helmand Province. In 2011, she returned to the U.S. and was assigned as a congressional fellow for fellow Representative Susan Davis’s office in Washington, D.C. In 2012, she worked at the Pentagon as a defense and foreign affairs advisor for The United States Agency for International Development – The Pentagon. In 2013, she became a political adviser, a liaison officer, and an instructor at the United United States Naval Academy. In 2017, she retired from military service after 20 years of service as a pilot and political adviser. She is married to former Marine Lieutenant Colonel and former U. S. Marine Corps officer, Mark McGrath. She has three children. She currently lives in Kentucky with her husband, Mark, and their daughter, Emma. She previously worked as a political advisor, a Liaison Officer, and as a senior political science instructor for the Naval Academy until she retired in 2017. Her husband is former Kentucky state senator and former state representative Charles Booker, who served in the House of Representatives from 2010-2014. She served as a liaison to the United State Agency for international Development – the Pentagon, and the Pentagon’s Armed Services Committee from 2012 to 2014. She flew 89 combat missions against al-Qaeda and the Taliban.