In August 2017, Amy McGrath, a former Marine fighter pilot, made headlines thanks to “Told Me,” her stirring congressional campaign ad that quickly went viral on YouTube (watch it below). Her irresistible personal narrative—“I spent 20 years as a U.S. Marine and flew 89 combat missions bombing Al-Qaeda and the Taliban,” as she explained in the video—helped propel her to national prominence. After she won the 2018 Democratic Party primary in her bid to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives representing Kentucky’s 6th congressional district, she lost to Republican incumbent Andy Barr in a squeaker (51–48).

Today her YouTube channel has been renamed—now it’s “Amy McGrath for U.S. Senate”—and she just dropped “The Letter,” a more subdued, somber ad (above) in which she announces her intent to challenge the senior U.S. Senator from Kentucky, Mitch McConnell. The title refers to a letter she wrote to McConnell in her youth, which he ignored, as she previously noted in “Told Me.” Her ad this time is rounded out by the appearance of additional ignored-by-McConnell constituents.

Elected “a lifetime ago,” McGrath says that McConnell “has, bit by bit, year by year, turned Washington into something we all despise.... A place where ideals go to die.”

McGrath will surely face a bruising fight; tellingly, YouTube comments have been disabled for “The Letter,” as they were/are for 2017’s “Told Me.”