COLORADO VOTE 2022: Senate seat focuses on national crises with altitude

AURORA | With just less than a month before the midterm election, it’s still wholly uncertain whether Republicans will take back control of the U.S. Senate, but a handful of close races, including a few longshot races like the one in Colorado, could swing the pendulum back in the GOP’s favor. 

Democratic Sen. Michal Bennet, running for re-election against Republican first-time candidate Joe O’Dea, won 48 percent of the vote in 2010 and 50 percent of the vote in 2016. A variety of polls so far show Bennet leading by at least six points. But many politicos aren’t counting O’Dea out yet, especially with the plethora of important issues at play: inflation and the economy, the future of abortion rights, gun control, global warming and a worsening water crisis in the West, election security, and intensifying global relations in Russia and eastern Europe.

Abortion became an early contender for the race’s defining issue. Early on, O’Dea said he supported access to abortion in the early weeks of pregnancy, but later clarified that he only supports it after 22 weeks in cases of incest, rape and medical necessity. He now touts pro-life endorsements prominently on his website.

O’Dea has told Colorado media outlets that he voted for a ballot measure in 2020 that banned abortions after 22 weeks of gestation and considers 20 weeks the point of vitality. Data shows that abortions rarely occur after 21 weeks. Recent stories showed he was an original proponent of the measure.

In September, O’Dea released a campaign ad that again reinforced his stance on abortion. 

“For the first five months, that should be a decision for her and her doctor,” he says in the ad.

Democrats have pounced on the issue, saying it hearkens back to another Colorado Senate abortion controversy.

This is not the first time women’s rights have become centerstage in a Colorado Senate race. Mark Udall made it the centerpiece of his campaign in 2014, when he lost to Cory Gardner, who then lost to John Hickenlooper.  

Elsewhere on the topic of healthcare, Bennet said he sees “opportunities for bipartisan progress to increase transparency and competition in the health care sector, expand access to telemedicine, and streamline bureaucracy to lower costs and accelerate proven treatments, similar to my bipartisan bill with Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina that fast-tracked drugs for serious diseases, like cancer.”

O’Dea, who says he’s supported some aspects of former President Barrack Obama’s landmark Affordable Care Act, prefers getting government “out of the way” to spur competition. 

“This is about making sure consumers have more choice—making sure we have more competition in the marketplace. That’s how we can drive down costs. I support reforms that would allow more portable coverage and allow employees to have more control over their health spending, while also giving employers more options,” he said. “States should be empowered to approve health insurance plans tailored to consumers’ largest needs.”

The two are also tackling the issue of inflation while campaigning across the state. 

“Inflation has made a difficult situation even harder, and it’s put tremendous strain on Colorado families. We need to do more to bring costs down,” Bennet said in a candidate survey. “We can start by making the expanded child tax credit permanent, a bill I fought to secure in the American Rescue Plan that gave families up to $300 a month per child to help them pay for rent, groceries, school supplies, and more.” 

O’Dea claims that “reckless spending” has accelerated inflation in the U.S. 

“With a substantial portion of spending cuts, we should drive down the deficit. We need to get the deficit back to pre-pandemic levels, and work in a concerted way to fully balance the budget over time,” he proposes on his campaign website. “The other part is reprioritizing federal spending. We should zero-out the 87,000 new IRS agents and cut the federal bureaucracy in Washington, D.C., and make a massive investment in border security —including a border wall— and hire more police to protect our neighborhoods and schools instead.”

Michael Bennet

Democrat Michael Bennet has served as a U.S. Senator to Colorado since 2009, when he was appointed to the position after Ken Salazar was appointed Secretary of the Interior. Prior to his time in federal politics, Michael was at the helm of Denver Public Schools for four years. He also worked in the private sector, as the managing director for the Anschutz Investment Company. After leaving Anschutz, Michael served as chief of staff to then-Mayor John Hickenlooper, who is now the junior Senator for Colorado. Michael is married and has three daughters.

Joe O’Dea 

Republican Joe O’Dea is a construction company owner in Denver. He dropped out of college while studying construction management to start his firm, Concrete Express, and now employs more than 300 people. This is his first candidacy. Joe was raised in southeast Denver. Today, Joe lives with his wife in Denver and together operate event centers near Mile High Stadium. They have one daughter.