Washington, D.C. – Joe O’Dea: the candidate Colorado Democrats didn’t want to face. They spent $10 million trying to take him out in a primary and failed miserably.
Now, the national media is paying attention…
A Trump-weary Republican angles for an upset in Colorado Senate race
By Henry J. Gomez
Democrats eager to engineer an easier re-election for Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., spent millions of dollars during the Republican primary to brand Joe O’Dea as a Joe Biden-loving liberal while establishing the far-right candidate as the unquestionable conservative.
The strategy failed. Come November, it could backfire completely.
O’Dea won the GOP nomination and continues to present himself as a moderate, an image that meddling Democrats helped enhance in a state that has become increasingly difficult for Republicans. As GOP candidates struggle in battlegrounds like Georgia and Pennsylvania, O’Dea is stirring talk of an upset in Colorado. Cook Political Report last week shifted its rating of the Senate race from “likely Democratic” to “lean Democratic.”
Now Democrats are scrambling to redefine O’Dea, a political novice who rose from carpenter to construction company CEO, as unreasonable and extreme — an extension of former President Donald Trump and his “Make America Great Again” movement. They also dismiss O’Dea’s vocal support for abortion rights early in pregnancies, a stance that has been a calling card for his campaign.
“I think it did backfire on them,” O’Dea said in an interview with NBC News this week, referring to Democrats’ involvement in the GOP contest. “I started out as a moderate during the primary. That’s where they framed me. I was pro-abortion. Now all of a sudden I’m not pro-abortion. I’m MAGA man. I mean, it’s all over the place.”
Independent polling has been scarce in Colorado. But the National Republican Senatorial Committee has spent some money on TV ads there since the primary, an indication that GOP leaders see potential in the race. Bennet, who briefly was a candidate for president in 2020, won his 2016 re-election by a 5-point margin. In a midterm election cycle that could be especially brutal for President Joe Biden’s party, Democrats like Bennet could be vulnerable.
“O’Dea clearly has Bennet and national Democrats running scared,” NRSC spokesperson Chris Hartline said.
Read More at the NBC News
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