The mayor of Lexington, Kentucky, announced Tuesday he will challenge Rand Paul for the Senate, giving Democrats their best shot yet at defeating the Republican incumbent.
“As your Senator I won’t just talk, I’ll listen. I’ll offer common sense solutions. And I’ll work to restore the American dream for every family in Kentucky,” the wealthy Jim Gray, who had been courted by the party to run, said in a statement.
The mayor, who filed the paperwork to run on Tuesday for what remains an uphill battle, said Paul has forgotten Kentucky in his pursuit of the White House.
“In Washington, Senator Paul has put his own ambition ahead of Kentuckians and is behind policies that would hurt Kentucky families,” Gray said. “He voted for a plan that would double healthcare costs for our seniors and supports privatizing Social Security. He supported massive cuts of over $160 billion to our military, and Senator Paul signed a pledge to protect tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas.”
Paul told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that it is not yet clear if Gray will be a formidable opponent.
“Nobody can tell at this point,” Paul said Tuesday. “He’ll have to admit who he voted for. Does he support Obamacare? Does he support the war on coal? All of those issues are very difficult in Kentucky for Democrats.”
Paul added, “The good news about Kentucky is I think they will reward someone like myself, who is very conservative. We’ve become a very conservative state.”
Democrats in both Washington and Kentucky have wanted to take advantage of Paul’s struggles in the GOP presidential contest to try to knock him out of his Senate seat. They hope Gray will be able to put some of his own money into his campaign.
Paul and his team have been watching Gray closely, and his decision to run could impact the Kentucky Republican’s calculation on how long to stay in the presidential race if he loses badly in the early states, CNN has reported.
Gray met this month with Montana Sen. Jon Tester, head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, to discuss his interest in running. He also spoke with a number of Kentucky Democrats, including the lone Democrat in the congressional delegation, Rep. John Yarmuth. And the advice he received seemed to be universal: Run against Paul.
“I think at this point he’s our strongest possible candidate, without question,” Yarmuth previously said.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee said Tuesday that Paul will prevail.
“Like those who came before him, Jim Gray will be sunk by Obamacare, the war on coal, and the rest of Barack Obama’s toxic agenda,” NRSC Spokesman Greg Blair said in an email.