McConnell tops $6M for re-election campaign

FRANKFORT, Ky. - Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has banked another $1 million, pushing his campaign bank account to more than $6 million for an election that's still more than two years away, an aide said Friday.

The early start in fundraising sends a not-so-subtle signal to would-be Democratic challengers that McConnell is bent on winning a sixth term.

Chief of Staff Josh Holmes told The Associated Press that his boss now has more than double what he had at this point in his last re-election campaign.

"Senator McConnell is very humbled by the outpouring of support for his conservative leadership on behalf of Kentucky," Holmes said.

Democrats are certain to target McConnell in 2014, just as they did in 2008 when he won re-election to a fifth term and gained the distinction of being Kentucky's longest-serving senator. He spent some $20 million on the last election and won by six percentage points.

McConnell sparked a Republican revival in Kentucky nearly three decades ago, helping to pick off Democrats in the state's federal delegation that was sparse on Republicans. The GOP now holds both of Kentucky's U.S. Senate seats and four of the six U.S. House seats.