But Republicans still saw the race as an opportunity to grab a seat in the Senate and spark political turmoil in a purple state with a moderate candidate who openly rejected Trump’s change of party.
The Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC linked to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, gave away its first money last month, around the same time Republicans like South Carolina Senator Tim Scott and the Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton flocked to Centennial State for campaign events.
O’Dea was a moderate and took a different path from the other Republican candidates vying for power in Washington. He branded himself as an independent thinker with no intention of simply falling into the party and, perhaps in particular, challenged the GOP’s public loyalty to former President Donald Trump.
O’Dea told CNN last month that he would “actively campaign against” Trump if he sought the White House again, and urged the former president to discourage his supporters from speaking “for stupid people to big ones. “through his mouths on social networks.” Some Republicans complained that Trump’s attack would undermine O’Dea’s campaign and potentially a Senate majority of the GOP.
Bennet’s campaign sought to portray his opponent as a far-right conservative out of touch with Colorado’s more moderate voters, a line of attack that seemed less convincing given O’Dea’s disapproval of Trump and opinions. more moderate on issues such as access to abortion and immigration.
Ultimately, Bennet faced the challenge every other Democrat has faced in this election cycle: convincing voters that the party can manage the economy despite record inflation and nagging fears of a recession.
Bennet has strongly touted the approval of the American Rescue Plan, the bipartisan law on infrastructure and, more recently, the Inflation Reduction Act, arguing that the list of legislative packages has helped working-class families overcome the pandemic and investments needed in the United States – They built traffic systems. energy and production.
But the bills haven’t dampened the current cost of groceries, gas, and other daily expenses that Americans have been paying the most money for in recent months. This economic reality weighed on the approval ratings of President Joe Biden and other Democrats in Washington.
However, Bennet did not distance himself from Biden’s record. Indeed, his campaign received a boost when Biden visited Colorado in October to designate a WWII-era military site as a national monument, a key priority for Bennet, who failed to get the approval of the appoints to an equally divided Senate.
Bennet first entered the Senate in 2009 when he was nominated for a seat vacated by former Democratic Senator Ken Salazar, who was appointed Secretary of the Interior by President Barack Obama and now Biden’s ambassador to Mexico. Bennet was elected by the voters the following year and re-elected in 2016 with a majority of 6%.
Natalie Allison contributed to this report.
