After weeks of Colorado’s Republican Sen. Cory Gardner trailing his Democrat opponent and considered a likely — if not certain — loser, there are signs that the conservative freshman is on the rebound.
The latest Morning Consult poll conducted Sept. 17-20 showed Gardner trailing former two-term Democrat Gov. John Hickenlooper by 49% to 42% statewide.
In addition, a more recent American Association of Retired Persons-commissioned poll done by a Democrat firm and a Republican firm showed Gardner down by 51% to 46%, which is much narrower than the 15-plus point margins Hickenlooper had this summer.
The figures represent Gardner’s best showing against Hickenlooper in a long time. Having abandoned his long-shot presidential run for the Senate race earlier this year, Hickenlooper had held a firm lead over Gardner in most surveys.
But some Centennial State Democrats resented the former governor entering the Senate race only after it became clear his presidential run was going nowhere. In addition, former state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff was already in the Democrat Senate primary and running on a decidedly progressive platform.
Romanoff drew an unexpectedly strong 41% of the vote against Hickenlooper.
Throughout the primary, Romanoff slammed Hickenlooper for two ethics violations he had received while governor — material that the Gardner campaign is now reusing.
“Also, despite making a solemn, self-righteous pledge to never run a negative in his campaigns, Hickenlooper recently began a series of negative ads against Cory,” former state Republican Chairman Dick Wadhams told Newsmax, “This suggests they are not confident in where this campaign stands.”
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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