U.S. Senate candidate Amy McGrath made a stop in Bowling Green on Monday, stumping against Mitch McConnell, decrying Medicare for all and attempting to rally votes in various stops, which included an afternoon talk at the Warren Co. Democratic Woman’s Club and an evening meet and greet at Little Fox Bakery.

McGrath’s speech to the WCDWC touted her experience as a woman in the military and said a letter to her senator as a child, pushing for women to be allowed in combat, was her first encounter with McConnell.

“I wrote my member of congress, he was a pretty conservative guy by the name of Jim Bunning and he later became a senator as you know,” McGrath said. “He wrote me back a fairly condescending letter that basically said ‘you’re a girl, go do something else,’ if you read between the lines. I wrote senator Mitch McConnell, this was my first interaction with him, he never wrote me back, which is kind of a theme.”

After pushing her military bona fides, McGrath spoke of her positions on several issues, particularly health care, arguing for a public option in the current system, as opposed to single payer or Medicare for all, which have become more popular options for other Democrats.

“Taking our system and basically throwing it away completely and starting from scratch in a new system I think is not going to work,” McGrath said. “There’s a lot of Kentuckians that like their health care and to take two-thirds of Kentuckians and say ‘I’m going to take your health care and I’m going to put you on a government health care plan,’ that’s just not going to fly.”

The position on healthcare stands in contrast to her primary opponent Charles Booker, who has the phrase ‘Medicare for all,” listed as a major goal on his campaign website. McGrath, who answered questions before her evening meet and greet, said she hadn’t changed her positions due to change in the party.

“I haven’t moved, I am who I am,” McGrath said. “I believe in solid, practical solutions and if anyone else has a different opinion, they can certainly have their own opinion and I’m going to run on things like ‘hey, let’s have practical solutions for health care, let’s have practical solutions for climate change, let’s have practical solutions for getting wages up in this state.”

According to VoteSmart, a nonprofit organization that tracks campaign finances, McGrath’s campaign has so far raised over $10 million for its quest to defeat McConnell, which she said is extremely important to America’s future.

“We have the chance to change the direction of our country if we can get rid of Mitch McConnell,” McGrath said. “And we have the opportunity to make Kentucky come forward and move forward with better leadership.”

Projects editor and Sports Columnist Matt Stahl can be reached at [email protected]. Follow Matt on Twitter @mattstahl97.