“Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) announced Wednesday he will run for reelection in 2026 but added his second term will be his last,” Punchbowl News reports.
Said Hickenlooper: “I’m only going to do two terms. I said it first here. Two-term limit. Oath of conscience.”
“Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is recording a robocall for underdog Senate contender Joe O’Dea, a boost for the Colorado Republican after former President Donald Trump urged grassroots conservatives to abandon his campaign,” the Washington Examiner reports.
“Joe O’Dea, the Republican nominee for US Senate from Colorado, fired back at Donald Trump on Monday after the former President slammed him as a ‘RINO’ and suggested Trump’s supporters wouldn’t vote for a ‘stupid’ person like O’Dea,” CNN reports.
“For months, top party operatives have mused that Joe O’Dea is the best Republican candidate running for Senate this year,” Politico reports.
“While other GOP nominees are countering reports that they have encouraged abortions, killed puppies or waffled on the 2020 election being legitimate, O’Dea has been talking non-stop about soaring inflation.”
“The moderate Colorado Republican Senate nominee has never led a public poll in the race, and polling averages show O’Dea continues to trail his opponent, Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet, by 8 percentage points. But Bennet’s approval ratings are in line with President Joe Biden’s, in the low 40s, and both parties see the potential for a surprise.”
A new Marist poll in Colorado finds Sen. Michael Bennet (D) has a 7-point advantage over challenger Joe O’Dea (R), 48% to 41%.
In the governor’s race, Gov. Jared Polis (D) leads challenger Heidi Ganahl (R) by 18 points, 54% to 36%.
A new Emerson College poll in Colorado shows Sen. Michael Bennet (D) leading challenger Joe O’Dea (R) by 10 percentage points, 46% to 36%.
For comparison, the FiveThirtyEight polling average shows Bennet leading by nine points.
“From Arizona to Georgia, GOP candidates backed by former President Donald Trump have floundered, putting Mitch McConnell’s quest to take back the Senate majority at serious risk,” CNN reports.
“Now, top Republicans are weighing whether to pour huge sums of money in the final months of the 2022 campaign to lift Joe O’Dea, the Colorado Senate GOP nominee who has kept his distance from Trump and survived a Democratic attempt to meddle in his primary.”
“Republicans are now putting money behind their claims that Colorado and Washington are potential Senate pickup opportunities this fall,” Politico reports.
“The National Republican Senatorial Committee is launching ads this week in the two blue states, a sign that the GOP is seeking to expand the map of Senate battlegrounds this year as Democrats remain on defense over soaring consumer prices — and as polling shows GOP candidates struggling in some other top battlegrounds.”
“Colorado isn’t viewed as a prime Republican Senate pickup opportunity this fall — not yet at least,” Politico reports.
“In the hopes of keeping it that way, Democrats are aggressively advancing the campaign of a hardline MAGA Senate candidate in a last-ditch effort to elevate him over a moderate Republican who is viewed as a more serious threat to Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet.”
“How precarious is Senate Democrats’ majority? Just ask Colorado’s Michael Bennet,” Politico reports.
“The low-key Democratic senator hails from a state that President Joe Biden won by 13 points. His in-state colleague, Sen. John Hickenlooper, won by 9 points in 2020 against a Republican incumbent. Yet Bennet has an ominous warning for any Democrat feeling optimistic about holding the majority and even expanding it in November.”
Said Bennet: “When you’re in the same party as the president, that’s gonna be a tough cycle.”
Colorado state Rep. Ron Hanks (R), who has peddled unfounded claims about the 2020 presidential election being fraudulent and attended the January 6 rally outside the U.S. Capitol, filed to run for U.S. Senate, the Colorado Sun reports.
Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) ruled out a 2022 U.S. Senate bid, ending speculation that he may try to challenge Sen. Michael Bennet (D) next year in a repeat of their face off a decade ago, the Colorado Sun reports.
A new Morning Consult poll in Colorado finds John Hickenlooper (D) leading Sen. Cory Gardner (R) in the U.S. Senate race, 48% to 39%.
In the presidential race, Joe Biden leads Donald Trump, 51% to 41%.
Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO) is running a new Facebook ad, touting his close relationship with President Trump — but it’s only targeted to voters outside of Colorado, the HuffPost reports.
“John Hickenlooper has stumbled in the closing weeks of Colorado’s Senate primary, creating openings for his opponent and Republicans that have unsettled a critical race for Democrats in their bid to recapture the Senate,” Politico reports.
“Democrats acknowledge Hickenlooper has made serious mistakes on what was supposed to be a glide path to the Democratic nomination. After being cited for contempt this month for initially failing to appear before Colorado’s Independent Ethics Commission, Hickenlooper was fined $2,750 for two violations dating back to his second term as governor.”
“Former governor John Hickenlooper’s ethics woes have unsettled a Colorado Senate race that Democrats consider one of their best chances of flipping a Republican-held seat, with the quirky brewery owner’s reputation taking a hit with voters within days of the state’s primary,” the Washington Post reports.
“The two-term governor and former Denver mayor is on the defensive after the Independent Ethics Commission found he violated a state gift ban in 2018 when he accepted a ride in a Maserati limousine at a conference in Turin, Italy, and traveled on a private jet owned by a home builder to Connecticut for the commissioning of the USS Colorado submarine.”
A new Keating-Onsight-Melanson poll of likely voters in Colorado finds former Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) is ahead of Sen. Cory Gardner (R) by 18 percentage points in the U.S. Senate race, 54% to 36% with 9% undecided.
The poll also found Joe Biden leading Donald Trump by a 19 percentage point margin in the presidential race, 55% to 36%.
A new Keating-Onsight-Melanson (D) poll in Colorado shows John Hickenlooper (D) crushing Sen. Cory Garnder (R) in the U.S. Senate race, 54% to 36% with 9% undecided.
A new Montana State University poll shows Hickenlooper leading 48% to 31%.
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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