Over the weekend, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) re-election campaign proudly published a photo of mock tombstones printed with the names of his potential Democratic challenger Amy McGrath and the former Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland.
Several names are legible on cardboard cut-out memorials placed in front of a Kentucky Farm Bureau camper at Fancy Farm, the Kentucky political tradition known for politicians roasting each other across the aisle: “Green New Deal,” “Socialism,” “Alison Lundergan Grimes,” McConnell’s unsuccessful 2014 opponent, and Garland and McGrath.
The Grim Reaper of Socialism at #FancyFarm today. #FancyFarm139 pic.twitter.com/KMKJifu3b5
— Team Mitch (@Team_Mitch) August 3, 2019
McGrath responded Monday to the photo, which she called “so troubling” and noted was published online “hours after the El Paso shooting.”
Hours after the El Paso shooting, Mitch McConnell proudly tweeted this photo. I find it so troubling that our politics have become so nasty and personal that the Senate Majority Leader thinks it's appropriate to use imagery of the death of a political opponent (me) as messaging. pic.twitter.com/2x5kO5jwPi
— Amy McGrath (@AmyMcGrathKY) August 5, 2019
McConnell’s campaign didn’t immediately respond to TPM’s request for comment.
On the majority leader’s re-election website, supporters can donate to his campaign by purchasing their own tombstone gear: a “Socialism” tombstone shirt with a quote from McConnell on the back.
McConnell’s own remarks at Fancy Farm Saturday were drowned out somewhat by chants of “Moscow Mitch.”
