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When you’re running for office, Republican state Sen. Dennis Hisey said, “you gotta say you’re gonna win” — whether or not you believe that to be true.
“Two years ago I was at some fundraisers and our folks would get up and say, ‘We’re gonna win!’, and everybody paying attention knew we weren’t going to win a thing two years ago,” said Hisey, of El Paso County.
“There’s a completely different feel this year. It’s really licking your lips, saying we can do this, we will do this, there’s a plan to do this.”
Out of power at a level not seen in Colorado since before World War II, Republicans like Hisey have good reason to feel this way: the unpopularity of first-term Democratic President Joe Biden, combined with increased competitiveness resulting from last year’s redistricting process, presents a clear path for the GOP to claw back some power in state politics.
Conventional wisdom suggests Republican statehouse chances — already strong — actually improved in Colorado after the June primary, when a slate of election-denying, far-right GOP candidates lost in top-of-the-ticket Colorado races. Democrats had prepared for months to spend the general election campaign tying state House and Senate candidates to since-defeated politicians like Ron Hanks, who rallied at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and lost in the U.S. Senate primary, and Tina Peters, the indicted Mesa County clerk who lost in the primary for secretary of state.
Republicans are highly unlikely to defeat Democratic Gov. Jared Polis in November. As a general rule, Coloradans don’t elect Republicans as governor, and Polis has other advantages: the incumbency, massive personal wealth that ensures he won’t be outspent and favorable polling numbers.
— Full story via Alex Burness, The Denver Post
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
Republican senators Jerry Sonnenberg, Dennis Hisey and Cleave Simpson raise their hands against HB 21-1279 as a vote is taken on the bill in the Senate chambers at the State Capitol on March 23, 2022 in Denver.
See more great photos like this on The Denver Post’s Instagram account.
Andy Cross, The Denver Post
NHRA Top Fuel driver Brittany Force during her burnout before her second qualifying run at the Dodge Power Brokers NHRA Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway July 15, 2022.
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