Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has won his Republican primary in Kentucky, easily dispatching an attempted Tea Party challenge by businessman Matt Bevin.
The Associated Press has called the race very early; with just 13 percent of precincts reporting, McConnell has 60 percent of the vote against Bevin's 35 percent.
McConnell now faces a very competitive general election against the Democratic nominee, Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes. A recent SurveyUSA poll gave Grimes a narrow one-point edge, but the race could potentially swing back to McConnell due to the state's heavy Republican advantage in national races.
In newly published comments that Bevin reportedly made a few weeks ago, he took something of a parting shot at McConnell's campaign — as well as the voters who bought Team McConnell's attacks:
"I've never lived my life for the impressions of ill-informed people," he said, describing himself as unbothered by "folks moved by a false narrative painted by somebody with millions of dollars."
He added: "I have been disheartened by how generally apathetic people really, truly are about taking ownership in their role in the political process. It wasn't a surprise, but I've just been disheartened by how true it really is." [The New York Times]