Colorado Republicans had hoped that negative campaigning by Democrat Senate hopeful John Hickenlooper and an embrace of China by the former governor would have put GOP Sen. Cory Gardner back in a strong position for reelection by now.
But those hopes were dashed on Oct. 14, as the just-completed Civiqs poll showed Hickenlooper leading Gardner 53% to 42% among likely voters statewide.
A poll by Keating Research released a week before yielded similar results: Hickenlooper over Gardner 51% to 41%.
On Oct. 1, Hickenlooper made major news by praising China as "a great nation" and insisted that the Chinese "do not want to rule the world."
Gardner, an outspoken critic of the Chinese Communist regime, hit that hard. Both the senator and the Centennial State Republican Party pounced on Hickenlooper for not even mentioning the Chinese crackdown on Hong Kong freedom advocates or the evidence that China played a major role in starting the coronavirus.
The issue, however, does not seemed to have dented Hickenlooper's lead.
If Hickenlooper wins, he will be the first former governor to win a Senate seat from Colorado since conservative Democrat Edwin "Big Ed" Johnson in 1936.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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