National Democrats are giving up on Alison Lundergan Grimes in Kentucky

As we wrote last week, this is the point in the midterms when each party has to take a hard look at its spending priorities, and redirect its money to the closest races. Today, via reporting by Kyle Trygstad of Roll Call, comes the latest news of a candidate apparently cut loose by her party — Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes, in Kentucky. The DSCC is no longer airing ads for Grimes and has no plans to air any more.

This news helps pave the way for an easy reelection victory for Senate Minority Leader — and possibly soon Majority Leader — Mitch McConnell. This also helps explain why Grimes has recently resorted to the rather desperate tactic of running an ad criticizing the 1986 immigration reform bill, while attempting to hide it from a national audience, as Vox's Dara Lind wrote.

Like the NRSC's decision to cancel its ad buys in Michigan last week, this news will come as no surprise to those following the polls and election forecasts. For months, Grimes has polled among the worst of Democratic candidates in races viewed as competitive.

Grimes, once viewed as a promising recruit, is now being criticized for running a bad campaign that squandered the chance to unseat the unpopular McConnell. But last year, election analysts Harry Enten and Nate Cohn predicted that Grimes' polling numbers would eventually be pulled down by the fundamentals of both Kentucky and the national situation.

Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?

Most news outlets make their money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to do at Vox, there are a couple reasons that we can't rely only on ads and subscriptions to keep the lights on.

First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead.

Second, we’re not in the subscriptions business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. We can’t do that if we have a paywall.

That’s why we also turn to you, our readers, to help us keep Vox free. If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today?

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via