Only a handful of Senate races this year will determine whether Democrats keep a stranglehold on the chamber, or it will be liberated by Republicans.
Colorado is now one of those elections, according to CNN’s new top 10 races at risk of flipping.
Coming in at number 10, CNN says the addition of Colorado to their list speaks to the challenging national environment for Democrats. Voters are focused on high inflation, gas costs and crime, while progressives are consumed by abortion decisions being returned to the states.
Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet is running for a third full term against businessman Joe O’Dea, whose emergence from last month’s GOP primary makes this race competitive. (Democrats had spent millions trying to help his primary opponent win because they thought he’d be a weaker general election candidate.)
As a Republican who supports abortion rights in the early stages of pregnancy, O’Dea brings a unique profile to the race.
Noting Bennet’s previous election in 2016 was against an “underwhelming opponent whom the national GOP had abandoned,” CNN reminded readers Bennet still lost by six points.
That “underwhelming opponent” was Republican Darryl Glenn, who earned 1.2 million votes to Bennet’s 1.3 million.
Against a more formidable Republican challenger in a tough year for Democrats, Bennet could be vulnerable, CNN admits.
At least one of Bennet’s supporters in the “media” is trying to spin Bennet’s addition to CNN’s list faster than a turd down the toilet.
For all the hype over JO’Dea’s primary win, national observers are still ranking Dem Senate pickups in Ohio and Florida (!) as greater likelihoods than a GOP flip in Colorado. https://t.co/0phwb22BFW
— Chase Woodruff (@dcwoodruff) July 9, 2022
That’s their only bright spot.
Bennet might have made the progressive media mothership’s endangered list, but at least Bennet didn’t come in at number eight like Florida or number nine Ohio, Woodruff sadly tries to assure himself readers.