Democrat Alison Lunderdan Grimes has moved narrowly ahead of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in the closely watched Kentucky Senate contest, according to a new Bluegrass Poll.
She leads McConnell by 46 to 44 percent with likely voters, the poll found.
That gap is within the survey’s margin of error, but it’s welcome news for Grimes after a series of polls showed McConnell with a consistent lead over his Democratic rival. According to the Bluegrass Poll, it’s a 6-point shift in the direction of Grimes since late August.
“After fourteen straight public polls all showing Sen. McConnell with a clear lead, this Bluegrass Poll is obviously an outlier. We’re very comfortable with where this race stands and are confident Sen. McConnell will be re-elected in November,” Allison Moore, a McConnell spokeswoman, said in an email.
The poll found libertarian candidate David Patterson winning 3 percent of likely voters. Seven percent had not decided.
The poll was conducted by SurveyUSA on behalf of the Lexington Herald-Leader, Courier-Journal, Louisville-based WHAS-TV and Lexington-based WKYT-TV.
This article has been updated.