Kentucky Democratic Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes refused to condemn remarks by a top lawmaker in her state that likened Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to the Nazis.
When introducing Grimes at a campaign event on Thursday, Kentucky Speaker of the House Greg Stumbo, a Democrat, said learning Grimes would run against McConnell "reminded me of the feeling our troops must have had when they liberated the European nations after World War II."
"Can you imagine what it felt like that you were liberating a country?" he said.
When asked about his comments on Friday, Grimes declined to denounce Stumbo’s remarks.
According to the Lexington Herald-Leader:
Grimes, who sat down for the interview after giving luncheon remarks to the Women Mean Business Conference in Lexington, declined to parse Stumbo's meaning.
"People try to put words in my mouth all the time, so I don't want to attempt nor would I ever try to speak for Speaker Stumbo," Grimes said. "And what he meant, I'll let you ask him directly what he meant by his comments."
She added: "I, last night, was there to talk about the vision I have for Kentucky, and that's what I can tell you about."
McConnell described Stumbo’s comments as not "helpful" to the debate. "It just shows the lengths to which they're prepared to descend in order to win the election," he told reporters in Lexington on Friday. "I don't think that kind of rhetoric is helpful at all, and I'm sure he's spending the day explaining to people like you that he really didn't mean it."