Amy McGrath

Amy Melinda McGrath (born June 3, 1975) 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, as well as the first to pilot the F/A-18 on a combat mission.

During her 20 years of service in the Marine Corps, McGrath flew 89 combat missions against al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

Toward the end of her service, McGrath worked domestically as a political adviser, a liaison officer, and an instructor at the United States Naval Academy.

McGrath graduated in 1993 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 her senior year, she received an appointment to the United States Naval Academy, the same year Congress lifted the Combat Exclusion Policy which banned women from becoming fighter pilots.

In 1997, McGrath graduated from the United States Naval Academy with a Bachelor of Science in political science.

While there, McGrath was the student director of the Naval Academy Foreign Affairs Conference.

She was also a member of the Academy's first women's varsity soccer team.

In 1999, she completed flight school and started her career as a Weapons Systems Officer (WSO), coordinating weapons including air-to-air AMRAAM missiles and heat-seeking Sidewinders.

She was assigned to Marine All-Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 121.

When McGrath and fellow Marine pilot Jaden Kim joined VMFA-121, they became the first female aviators to join the squadron.

During this same time, McGrath was also part of Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 101.

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.

She was the first woman to fly a combat mission in the United States Marine Corps.

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.

After being promoted to captain, McGrath completed flight school in 2004, becoming a pilot.

During 2005 and 2006, she was deployed on a second tour of duty over Afghanistan with VMFA 121.

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.

From 2007 to 2009, she was deployed to East Asia.

During this same time, McGrath was also part of Fighter-Attack Squadron 106.

In 2010, she served a second tour in Afghanistan with the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing in Helmand Province.

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.

McGrath received a graduate certificate in legislative studies from Georgetown University in 2011.

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.

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

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.

In 2014, she earned a Master of Arts in international and global security studies from Johns Hopkins University.

After graduating from the Naval Academy, at the age of 21 McGrath was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps.

Following her retirement from military service in 2017, McGrath entered politics.

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.

In a close primary, McGrath defeated state representative Charles Booker to gain the nomination of the Democratic Party.

McGrath outraised McConnell $90 million to $57 million, but she lost the general election by nearly 20 points.

McGrath was born in Cincinnati, Ohio.

She grew up in Edgewood, Kentucky, just outside of Covington, the youngest of three children.

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.