After a lively debate Monday afternoon, Kentucky's Senatorial election is heating up between Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Democratic nominee Alison Lundergan Grimes.

READ MORE: The Los Angeles County Assessor, A Commonly Overlooked Role

During the debate, Grimes faced additional criticism for her continued reluctance to make public which presidential candidate she voted for in 2012. Given that President Obama is largely unpopular in Kentucky with about 30 percent approval rate, Grims’ answer -- or lack there of--  could sway voters, according to the Washington Post.

McConnell also caught some bad press after getting tongue-tied during the debate while explaining how he squared his promise to repeal Obamacare with his claim that Kentucky could also keep its popular state health care exchange, which runs on subsidies provided by the law, and the state’s Medicaid expansion, which was financed through federal dollars under the health care law as well, according to MSNBC.

When pressed further as to whether he personally supported maintaining the exchange if Obamacare were repealed, MSNBC reported that McConnell responded that “it’s fine to have a website, yeah.”

Mitch McConnell’s Key Issues

1. Education
2. Economic Growth
3. Energy
4. Healthcare Reform
5. Veterans
6. Combating the War on Coal

Alison Ludergan Grimes’ Key Issues
1. Advocating for Women and their Families
2. Energy  
3. Protecting Social Security and Medicare
4. Job Growth
5. Veterans
6. Combating the War on Coal

Incumbent Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell will be running for re-election for a sixth term, facing off Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes. Libertarian nominee David Patterson had also competed in the June primary election, but now with weeks to the general election the race has come down to McConnell and Grimes.

The Kentucky senate race has been considered on of the biggest senate race this election year, with several news outlets predicting that McConnell may reclaim his senate seat following this near toss-up election, according to The Huffington Post political polls.

The two competitors haven’t been taking it easy on one another either, as both McConnell and Grimes, have been throwing as many digs as they can toward the other, hoping to swing public opinion in their favor.

A key issue that fueled several of the candidates’ digs surrounded the candidates' stance on combating the War on Coal. Both parties have maintained a position in support of coal-mining employment and safety, while also noting the financial hardship that many Kentucky coalfields have experienced. As a result, any association with Anti-coal mining organizations could potentially effect public opinion of either candidate.

With the senate race heating up, both campaigns have accused the ladder of receiving financial endorsements by Anti-coal organizations and groups. More specifically McConnell's campaign has created attack adds that suggest Grimes has collected funding from Anti-coal groups, while Grimes has suggested that it was really McConnell and his wife, former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, who have been accepting financial endorsements from Anti-coal organizations.

In an investigation of the allegations, the Tampa Bay Times revealed that both parties had received Anti-Coal funding, well sort of.

McConnell and his wife did take $600,000 from anti-coal organizations, however the bulk of that funding was earned by Chao while sitting on the board of directors for Wells Fargo. And  despite some steps to curb its support of mountain-top removal mining, environmental groups say Wells Fargo bank still maintains about $1.8 billion in coal investments, according to Tampa Bay Times investigation.

As for the allegations against Grimes campaign, environmental groups and activists critical of coal have provided funding and ads that have benefited Grimes’ campaign directly and indirectly, according to the Times.

All this aside, Grimes has continued to follow behind McConnell in the polls, and some are already speculating that the Democratic party is expecting a loss in Kentucky. This was widely considered after a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee official said the committee would be going off the air in Kentucky.

“The DSCC has now spent more than $2 million in Kentucky and continues to make targeted investments in the ground game while monitoring the race for future investments, but is currently not on the air in the state,” CQ Roll Call reported a DSCC official as saying.

With less than a month away, the DSCC decision has left Grimes’ campaign alone in their effort to lock down an unlikely victory over Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

To learn more about Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Democratic challenger Alison Lundergan Grimes prior to the Kentucky state senate general election on November 4th, visit McConnell’s website here or Grimes’ website here.

Reach Staff Reporter Celeste Alvarez here or follow her on twitter here.