Coloradans from the Western Slope to the Eastern Plains would have an advocate for solutions to dinner table issues should Joe O’Dea be elected to the U.S. Senate, he said during a recent campaign stop in Fort Morgan.
O’Dea is seeking the Republican nod to face Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Denver, in the general election.
“I jumped in the race to be the voice of working Americans,” O’Dea said. “For too long they haven’t had a voice.”
The son of a Denver police officer, O’Dea worked his way from laborer, to journeyman carpenter and ultimately to own a construction company which employs 250 along with other family business ventures.
“We’ve been blessed. I want an America that gives everyone a fair shot at success,” O’Dea said. “We should all be entitled to the same opportunities.”
Treatment of oil and gas, construction and agriculture industries inspired his run for the Senate seat.
“For me, enough is enough,” O’Dea said. “I decided if not me then who, if not now then when?”
As he has put in the miles crossing Colorado during the campaign he has found crowds willing to listen to his message to restore American exceptionalism.
“Rooms are full with a level of excitement,” he said, “energy to be part of a movement.”
He would like to address public safety by restoring lost funding.
“It’s time to fight back against crime,” O’Dea said. “We have to take back our neighborhoods. Defunding police is morally wrong.”
He also looks at a national debt in excess of $30 trillion and an inflation of 7.5 percent and says America has to reign in spending.
“We must reduce the frivolous spending,” he said. “We have to balance the budget first. Its possible to pass a balanced budget.”
He’s also concerned with lost freedoms, such as with censorship from Big Tech.
“I don’t think anyone should take away another’s 1st Amendment right to free speech,” O’Dea said. “If Big Tech has to be broken up to ensure that, then we should break them up.”
O’Dea was among those watching in disbelief this summer, he said, as the United States exited Afghanistan without first removing Americans, assets and equipment.
“That led us to Russia-Ukraine and China-Taiwan,” he said. “I’ll be committed to peace through strength.”
O’Dea also wants to work toward solutions in education.
“It has been a real eye opener [during COVID] and we have started to hear parents ask for choices for their children,” he said. “We need to empower our parents to make those choices.”
O’Dea’s solution to energy is to pursue all options.
“We can’t kill off fossil fuels until we have a replacement. Now, it is obvious we don’t have enough green energy,” he said. “Renewable energy is great. We should build as much as we can to keep energy prices down. We have to support an all of the above approach.”
He would also support the other leading industry in Colorado.
“Agriculture is very important to Colorado,” O’Dea said. “Michael Bennet didn’t speak out for agriculture when he had an opportunity. I will speak out.”
Proposals such as the PAUSE Act and reintroduction of wolves could decimate ranching, he says.
“They are both bad for Colorado,” O’Dea said. “These are issues important to rural Colorado and they should have a voice.”
Among the ways he would increase that voice is through an Eastern Colorado office located in Eastern Colorado, he said, pointing out Bennet’s Eastern Colorado office located in Fort Collins.
He would also support term limits and be inclined to address Congressional trading.
“I’ve already made my money,” he said. “I’m not going to Washington to get wealthy.”
O’Dea has campaigned as a solution to partisanship, a return to an advocate of Coloradans of all backgrounds. He has pledged to cut wasteful spending, advocate for fiscal discipline and return to responsible government.
“We need to restore balance,” he said. “When we run on these issues there’s a good chance we’ll take back the Senate. If I’m in that chair, rural Colorado will be represented.”
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