2022_United_States_Senate_election_in_Colorado

2022 United States Senate election in Colorado

2022 United States Senate election in Colorado

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The 2022 United States Senate election in Colorado was held on November 8, 2022, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Colorado. Incumbent Democratic Senator Michael Bennet won reelection to a third full term, defeating Republican businessman Joe O'Dea. Originally appointed to the seat in 2009,[1] Bennet won full terms in 2010 and 2016.[2][3]

Quick Facts Nominee, Party ...

Bennet won by nearly 15 points, significantly outperforming his polling. His margin was the highest for a Democrat in a Senate election in Colorado since 1974. This was the first time in Bennet's Senate career where he received a majority of the vote.

Democratic convention

Candidates

Bennet was appointed in 2009 by Governor Bill Ritter following the resignation of Ken Salazar to become the Secretary of the Interior under President Barack Obama. Bennet was then narrowly elected in 2010 for his first full term. In the 2016 election, he was re-elected to a second term with 49.97% of the vote over Republican El Paso County Commissioner Darryl Glenn.

Due to some of his centrist positions, such as his opposition to Medicare for All and his support for fracking, Bennet faced a potential challenge from the left, particularly from Joe Salazar, a former state representative. Salazar ultimately opted to run for Colorado's State Senate, and thus Bennet was easily renominated at the Democratic convention.[4]

Nominee

Eliminated at convention

  • Karen Breslin, lawyer and university instructor[6]

Declined

Endorsements

Michael Bennet
Executive branch officials
U.S. senators
U.S. governors
  • Jared Polis, 43rd Governor of Colorado (2019–present) and former U.S. Representative from Colorado's 2nd congressional district (2009–2019)[11]
  • Bill Ritter, 41st Governor of Colorado (2007–2011)[11]
  • Roy Romer, 39th Governor of Colorado (1987–1999)[11]
U.S. representatives
State legislators
Organizations

Results

More information Party, Candidate ...

Republican primary

Candidates

Originally, a wide field of candidates declared their intention to run for the Republican nomination, with former Olympian Eli Bremer being thought as the best candidate to take on Bennet. However, instead of gathering the required number of signatures to be placed on the primary ballot, Bremer and most of the other candidates sought to get 30% of the delegate vote at the Colorado GOP convention in April 2022. Due to the wide field of candidates, delegate support was split, with the only candidate to achieve the threshold being State Representative Ron Hanks, while Debora Flora, a radio show host, missed the ballot by a single percentage point, getting 29% of the vote, and Bremer getting third place with 15% of the vote.[22]

With the other candidates eliminated, Ron Hanks and construction CEO Joe O'Dea were the only two candidates on the primary ballot. The contrast between the two Republicans was stark, with Hanks, who supported a complete ban on abortion and echoed former president Donald Trump's claims of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election, getting pitted against O'Dea, a moderate who supports LGBT rights, some abortion rights, and did not believe in widespread voter fraud.

Hanks was considered the underdog due to O'Dea consistently outraising him, however he received a boost when Democrats began spending over $4 million to influence the Republican primary, launching ads attempting to drag down O'Dea due to his prior support of Democratic candidates, and prop up Hanks as "too conservative". This was done in the hopes that Hanks would be an easier opponent for Bennet to beat than O'Dea, who can appeal to moderates.[23] This attempt to interfere in the GOP primary was denounced by numerous former Colorado Democratic officials, including former governor Roy Romer, and former senators Mark Udall, Tim Wirth, and Gary Hart, who previously mounted unsuccessful attempts to win the Democratic nomination for president in 1984 and 1988.[24] Ultimately, despite the boost from the Democrats and his attempts to receive the endorsement of Donald Trump, Hanks would lose the nomination to O'Dea by 9 points. He performed best in the rural parts of Colorado, which are typically the most conservative counties that typically vote Republican in landslide margins in general elections, while O'Dea performed best in urban counties, such as Denver.[25]

Nominee

Eliminated in primary

Eliminated at convention

Withdrew

Declined

Endorsements

Erik Aadland (withdrawn)
U.S. representatives
Eli Bremer (eliminated)
Executive branch officials
U.S. senators
  • Ben Nighthorse Campbell, former U.S. Senator from Colorado (1993–2005)[45] (switched endorsement to O’Dea after Bremer was eliminated)
U.S. representatives
State legislators
County officials
Gino Campana (eliminated)
Executive branch officials
U.S. representatives
Deborah Flora (eliminated)
U.S. senators
State officials
U.S. representatives
Joe O'Dea
U.S. Executive Branch officials
U.S. senators
Federal officials
Statewide officials
State legislators
Local officials
  • 4 county commissioners[65]
Individuals
Newspapers

Polling

More information Poll source, Date(s) administered ...

Results

Results by county:
  O'Dea
  •   50–60%
  •   60–70%
  Hanks
  •   50–60%
  •   60–70%
More information Party, Candidate ...

General election

In recent years, Colorado has started voting more Democratic in the federal level, transitioning from a purple state to a moderately (and increasingly strongly) blue state, and the shift was largely contributed to the left-wing shift in the growing Denver metropolitan area, with President Joe Biden winning the state by 13.5% in the 2020 election, almost nine points to the left of the national result of around 4.9%. Prevailing in 2010, a year where Colorado was considered a swing state and Democrats performed very poorly, Bennet had a generally strong electoral history. He also outperformed Hillary Clinton on the same ballot in 2016. Ahead of 2022, Bennet was generally favored to win, though polling showed him as potentially vulnerable, largely due to the state of the economy and President Biden's low approval ratings.[69] Colorado had not elected a Republican to the U.S. Senate since Cory Gardner in 2014, another very strong year for Republicans nationwide and while Colorado was still considered a swing state, even then Gardner only won narrowly. Bennet ultimately won reelection by a comfortable 14.6 point margin, outperforming Biden's victory two years prior and his own polling averages. Bennet also flipped three counties he had lost in his 2016 re-election bid, flipping Grand County by a narrow 1.1% and Chaffee County, and Garfield County by wide margins. However, O'Dea did narrowly flip Conejos County by a slim 1%.[70]

Predictions

More information Source, Ranking ...

Endorsements

Michael Bennet (D)
Executive branch officials
U.S. senators
U.S. governors
U.S. representatives
State legislators
  • Polly Baca, former state senator from the 25th district (1979–1987) and former state representative from the 34th district (1974–1979)[11]
Labor unions
Organizations
Newspapers
Joe O'Dea (R)
U.S. presidents
Executive branch officials
U.S. senators
U.S. representatives
Statewide officials
State legislators
Local officials
  • 4 county commissioners[65]
  • 20 current and former mayors[97]
Individuals
Newspapers
Brian Peotter (L)
State legislators
Declined to endorse
U.S. presidents

Polling

Aggregate polls
More information Source of poll aggregation, Dates administered ...
Graphical summary
More information Poll source, Date(s) administered ...
More information Poll source, Date(s) administered ...
More information Poll source, Date(s) administered ...
More information Poll source, Date(s) administered ...
More information Poll source, Date(s) administered ...
More information Poll source, Date(s) administered ...
More information Poll source, Date(s) administered ...
More information Poll source, Date(s) administered ...
Hypothetical polling
Michael Bennet vs. Ron Hanks
Michael Bennet vs. Eli Bremer
Michael Bennet vs. Gino Campana
Michael Bennet vs. Lauren Boebert
Michael Bennet vs. generic Republican
Michael Bennet vs. generic opponent
Generic Democrat vs. generic Republican

Debates

More information No., Date ...

Results

More information Party, Candidate ...

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

By congressional district

Bennet won 5 of 8 congressional districts.[104]

More information District, Bennet ...

See also

Notes

  1. Key:
    A – all adults
    RV – registered voters
    LV – likely voters
    V – unclear
  2. Calculated by taking the difference of 100% and all other candidates combined.
  3. "Someone else" with 3%
  4. "Another candidate" with 2%
  5. Atwood (AV) with 1%; Cole (U) with 1%; "Someone else" with 1%
  6. "Someone else" with 2%; Atwood (AV) with 1%; Cole (U) with 1%
  7. "Someone else" with 6%
  8. "Other" with 2%
  9. "Someone else" with 2%
  10. "Another party's candidate" with 2%
  11. "Another party's candidate" with 2%
  12. "Another candidate" with 1%
  13. "Someone else" with 4%
  14. "Other" with 0%
  15. "Someone else" with 4%
Partisan clients
  1. This poll was sponsored by O'Dea's campaign
  2. This poll was sponsored by ProgressNow Colorado, a liberal nonprofit organization.
  3. This poll was sponsored by the Senate Opportunity Fund
  4. This poll was sponsored by the Republican Attorneys General Association
  5. This poll was sponsored by Bremer's campaign
  6. This poll was sponsored by Ready Colorado

References

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  2. "Colorado - Election Results 2010 - The New York Times". www.nytimes.com. Retrieved September 16, 2022.
  3. "Official Certified Results November 8, 2016 General Election". results.enr.clarityelections.com. Retrieved September 16, 2022.
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