Colorado's sleeper Senate race just got real

[Valin]

The Washington Examiner

Salena Zito, National Political Reporter

September 02, 2022

EAGLE, Colorado — There is something going on here in Colorado politics that is not much different than what happened in Virginia exactly one year ago — a shift away from the status quo and the odds-on favorite Democrat toward his Republican challenger.

Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) is seeking a second full term against Republican challenger Joe O’Dea. And the question, in a state where people tend to dislike both parties but increasingly favor Democrats, is whether O’Dea is independent enough to earn their vote.

Democrats viewed O’Dea as enough of a threat that they dropped $10 million into the Republican primary to manipulate voters into backing his "stop-the-steal" primary rival. Their advertising to Republican voters aimed to paint O'Dea as a centrist, which complicates their task now. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden is really unpopular in this state.

For his own part, O’Dea is a really good candidate whose worldview very much reflects that of the voters here — fierce, independent thinking who owes nothing to no one.

Like Virginia, Colorado is a blue state that occasionally flirts with Republican candidates. And as in Virginia, the voters here are unhappy that the Democrat running to represent them has lost his independence......(Snip)