Democrat Michael Bennet Wins Colorado Senate Race

Israel - DENVER, CO - NOVEMBER 2 : Sen. Michael Bennet answers questions from reporters af
Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post
Alana Mastrangelo

Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) won his reelection against Republican challenger Joe O’Dea for Colorado Senate on Tuesday. Polls closed at 9:00 p.m. ET.

“Democrat Michael Bennet has won the race for Senate in Colorado,” Politico announced on Tuesday, just before 10:00 p.m. ET.

Colorado, which President Joe Biden won by double digits in 2020, had become an unexpected battleground state in the 2022 midterm elections.

A Trafalgar Group poll released just days ahead of the election found that the Colorado Senate race was virtually tied between Bennet and O’Dea, with Bennet at 47.6 percent and O’Dea less than two points behind at 46.1 percent.

Bennet is an incumbent who has held the Colorado Senate seat since 2009.

Republicans had hammered Bennet during the campaign season, noting that the once failed presidential candidate — who votes with Biden over 98 percent of the time — has had no significant legislative accomplishments or areas of expertise in the Senate.

Meanwhile, O’Dea shared his experience as a self-made entrepreneur with a successful construction company that will manage the Colorado River Headwaters Connectivity Project.

While Colorado’s U.S. Senate race was not as critical for Republicans as states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, winning the Centennial State would have helped the GOP regain a majority in the upper chamber — as long as the party holds the 50 seats it already has.

Going into the 2022 midterm elections, the Senate is divided 50-50 between both parties, with Democrat Vice President Kamala Harris being able to cast a tie-breaking vote. This means that Senate Republicans must hold seats in states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, and net at least one seat, in order to put the GOP back in the majority and hinder Biden’s agenda.

You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.

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