The big new player in Colorado’s Senate GOP primary? Democratic groups

Additionally this week, mailers blasting O’Dea for supporting Biden’s infrastructure invoice and for beforehand donating to Bennet and “gun management advocate John Hickenlooper” arrived in some GOP main voters’ inboxes. The message additionally highlights that Ron Hanks received high billing on the state GOP meeting (O’Dea petitioned onto the poll). 

O’Dea marketing campaign spokesman Sage Naumann stated the mailer was despatched to the houses of Republican voters and doesn’t embody any details about which group is behind it, so that they aren’t certain who despatched it. However Naumann believes all of those efforts are linked.

“We all know that Ron [Hanks] would not have the cash for it,” stated Naumann. “The timing of this press convention occurring on the identical precise day as the primary mailer going out and the primary TV advert operating appears to be a little bit too coincidental.”

O’Dea’s marketing campaign stated these are messages that might resonate with GOP main voters in two methods — assaults that spotlight Hanks’ conservative document may convey out extra of the bottom for the state consultant, whereas efforts to make O’Dea look inconsistent would possibly hold extra average unaffiliated voters from supporting him.

Advert campaigns met with criticism

A candidate or get together making an attempt to select their opponent just isn’t a brand new tactic; earlier this yr the Democrat operating for governor in Pennsylvania spent huge on adverts within the GOP main, arguably serving to to spice up the far proper candidate to victory.

Rep. Larson was fast to blast the Democratic-funded efforts in Colorado as a “cynical ploy” to meddle within the GOP main.

“I believe folks simply should be conscious. Once they’re seeing these adverts, they’ve gotta ask themselves, ‘why are Democrats spending one million {dollars} to assist a radical insurrectionist, a do-nothing candidate towards Joe O’Dea?’ I believe they’re good sufficient to see by means of it and assume, oh, you recognize what? It is as a result of [Democrats] are scared for Michael Bennet.”

Former Republican Governor Invoice Owens stated it’s clear that Democrats see Hanks because the weaker candidate within the basic election.

“Democrats ought to make their very own selections of their primaries and Republicans ought to make our personal selections in ours,” Owens instructed CPR Information. As for serving to a candidate win the opposite get together’s nomination: “I simply do not assume it will be the appropriate factor to do.”

Former Democratic state lawmaker Dan Grossman additionally weighed in critically on Twitter. He stated he had no concept if Democrats have been serving to Hanks, but when so, “it’s dangerous to democracy.”  

“People who worth the rule of legislation, no matter get together and partisan benefit, ought to be certain that seditionists like Hanks by no means see the poll as a serious get together nominee,” he wrote.

Nevertheless, Alan Franklin, the political director of ProgressNow defended going after O’Dea and never Hanks. Voters, he stated, may have no bother discovering Hanks’ document on the problems.

“He is very clear about it. So the duplicitous part of this that we fear about with O’Dea simply is not there,” stated Franklin.

Andrew Kenney and CPR Information intern Will Cornelius contributed to this report.