Joe O’Dea is the same candidate today as he was a little more than a month ago when Democrat dark money accused him of being too moderate in the Republican primary, he said Monday during a campaign call with The Fort Morgan Times.
Now he’s being painted by Democrats as too conservative, he says.
“They spent $10 million to show State Rep. Ron Hanks was the real Trumpster and hardcore Republican,” O’Dea said. “Now, all of a sudden, I’m the hardcore Republican? It is actually comical and somewhat ridiculous.”
O’Dea is running, his campaign says, as a center-right Republican for U.S. Senate. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Denver, is seeking his third term in the Senate. Election Day is Nov. 8.
An email Monday from the Colorado Democratic Party attacked O’Dea for a position he claims to never have taken.
“O’Dea would give McConnell the Republican majority he needs to pass a nationwide abortion ban, cut taxes for the rich and put Social Security at risk,” Colorado Democrats’ communications advisor Nico Delgado wrote in an email.
Bennet has also tweeted related to the abortion claim that it is the Republican agenda.
On abortion, O’Dea previously said in a debate with Hanks, “I do think the decision should be left up to the woman and her doctor early on in the pregnancy. I don’t support a total ban.” He added that in cases of “rape, incest or for medical reasons,” abortion should be an option. He has called the abortion law in Colorado “outrageous,” while also often noting he was adopted at birth.
On the issue of McConnell, O’Dea says he has met with the minority Senate leader, who is hardly considered the most conservative member of the Senate.
“He has done some great things for our country,” O’Dea said. “But, I’m Joe O’Dea. I’m going to stay the course for Colorado. A lot of people are tired of partisanship. I’m not going to be owned by either party.”
Meanwhile, Democrats have called him a “yes-man” for McConnell, including in Delgado’s email.
“I find it interesting that is being said, when Bennet has voted with [President] Joe Biden 98 percent of the time,” O’Dea said. “I’m a businessman. I have no political record. He has supported Biden’s agenda the whole time.”
He criticizes Bennet for his record on fentanyl and immigration, and especially on spending. Just last week, Bennet noted gun legislation and an endorsement from Everytown for Gun Safety, environmental priorities and childhood poverty among the work he’s continuing.
“He has been wrong on inflation, wrong on oil and gas, wrong on crime,” O’Dea said. “He has done nothing to help the working American.”
Most surprising, O’Dea said, is how as a private businessman he is now being tied to Trump, when his primary opponent attended the Jan. 6 rally and questioned election integrity, becoming the pro-Trump candidate in the primary.
“O’Dea is proving to be a reliable vote for MAGA Republicans,” Delgado said.
Bennet noted in a Tweet on his campaign account CNN has projected his seat as one of the 10 most likely to flip, which O’Dea says is the reason for attacks he’s receiving.
He has asked Bennet for a series of three debates, but claims to have not received a response.
“We should have one in Grand Junction, and go down to Pueblo, which appears it could go either way,” O’Dea said. “Let’s get in front of people all over the state, not just in Boulder and Denver.”
Those were similar venues to which Republican candidate for governor Heidi Ganahl wanted as debate locales with Democrat Gov. Jared Polis.
O’Dea has also been hit on his position related to the Inflation Reduction Act, which Democrats say would help lower costs, tax corporations and make a historic investment in climate change. O’Dea says he doesn’t see the legislation that way.
“To call this a reduction is hypocritical. It is a tax. This is going to come back on working Americans,” O’Dea said. “We don’t need to be spending any more money. We’ve already taken a 10 percent inflation tax that Bennet and Biden are responsible for. I pulled up at a gas pump and saw someone pumping two gallons of gasoline for $8. That’s hard to see. It is what that person could afford. Americans are having a tough time.”
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