Sabato: Colorado Senate Race Moves to "Likely Democratic"

12 Comments

by: Colorado Pols

Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Denver)

Well-known political pundit Larry J. Sabato has updated his regular “Crystal Ball” forecast of U.S. Senate and Gubernatorial races throughout the country, and there’s a significant change in Colorado. From the Center for Politics:

Colorado: Coming into the 2016 cycle, it was pretty clear that the Republicans would largely be on the defensive. Only two Democratic-held seats stood out as ones the Republicans could hope to win, one of which was Colorado (with the other being Nevada, now an open seat on account of Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid’s retirement). Sen. Michael Bennet (D) has proven to be more resilient than some might have thought…

…At the outset of this cycle, Bennet appeared a slight favorite to start, but now it looks as if he may hold a stronger edge. Bigger-name GOP politicians — including Rep. Mike Coffman (R), Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman (R), and Rep. Scott Tipton (R) — declined to challenge Bennet in a presidential cycle. Instead, the Republican field is a logjam of double-digit proportions, though only five candidates officially filed petitions to get on the primary ballot. Other candidates will try to get on the primary ballot by getting at least 30% of the vote at this weekend’s state Republican convention. Whoever wins the GOP nomination on June 28 will have a serious financial deficit to overcome as Bennet had $6.7 million in the bank at the end of 2015. More importantly, just as the circumstances at the presidential level have weakened the ratings for a number of GOP Senate incumbents, they have improved Bennet’s odds as the only potentially vulnerable Democratic Senate incumbent. The Centennial State race shifts from Leans Democratic to Likely Democratic.

Quite frankly, this change isn’t a huge surprise. The Republican Senate field is crowded with seriously-flawed candidates no matter how you slice it. We’re still waiting to hear about any Q1 fundraising numbers from the candidates, and rumor has it that every major GOP candidate has been careful in recent weeks to keep the expectations bar set very low in terms of money raised in the last full quarter before the June 28th Primary.

Unless at least one of the GOP candidates are able to come up with a strong fundraising haul — or anything, really, that could begin to separate one candidate from the rest of the Republican field — the trend lines on Colorado’s Senate race are likely to continue moving in favor of incumbent Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Denver).

12 thoughts on “Sabato: Colorado Senate Race Moves to “Likely Democratic””

BlueCat says:

April 7, 2016 at 9:30 am

We local bumpkins could have told him that a while back.

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davebarnes says:

April 7, 2016 at 10:20 am

Wait! What?
Miike is a Democrat? Since when?

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1. Voyageur says:
  
  April 7, 2016 at 11:14 am
  
  He became a Democrat the same day Zappatero published a cool, rational, assessment of his record.
  
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  1. Zappatero says:
    
    April 7, 2016 at 1:19 pm
    
    actually, it was probably the day or two before Ritter named him to replace Salazar.
    
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    1. BlueCat says:
      
      April 7, 2016 at 1:32 pm
      
      Well nobody can say for sure that Bernie has ever become a Democrat. You don't register by party in Vermont and he sure looks uncomfortable when he tries to explain it so do you really want to go there?
      
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flatiron says:

April 7, 2016 at 11:10 am

Having a hard time ginning up any enthusiasm for the senator other than the need to have a Democratic US Senate.

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1. Voyageur says:
  
  April 7, 2016 at 11:18 am
  
  Try this test, Flatty:
  
  Will the Senator in question vote to confirm the three or four moderate to progressive justices on the Supreme Court that President Clinton/Sanders will nominate over the next four years.
  
  If the answer is "Yes," that is a Democrat.
  
  The next four years will set the course of the court for the next generation. Compared to that, all other issues before the Senate are secondary.
  
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  1. BlueCat says:
    
    April 7, 2016 at 12:59 pm
    
    And, besides that, he votes the same way as Dems Flat probably likes upwards of 90% of the time. Try getting that out of any R.
    
    I took a quiz a friend posted on FB on which of the remaining presidential hopefuls you agree with more. Lots of serious policy questions. Pretty extensive including, gradations of support or opposition and even opportunities to choose none of the above and write in what your ideal position would be. Not at all like those what historical figure, god or goddes, kind of dog you are quizzes. Friend who sent it to me is a DA in another state and has more sense than to post garbage.
    
    Anyway I got 97% agreement with Bernie (mind you this was stuff you like, not necessarily stuff you think you'd get) but also 94% with HRC (who I'm supporting) and for the Rs percentages that would be very low F range if I were handing out grades.
    
    Point is, if a set of answers results in such a small difference between Bernie and HRC, as it probably would between the Dem Senators considered the devil around here and those who are adored, maybe we should all try to get a grip and dial it back a little, don't you think?
    
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    1. Gray in Mountains says:
      
      April 7, 2016 at 1:38 pm
      
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  2. notaskinnycook says:
    
    April 7, 2016 at 2:11 pm
    
    I’m with you, V. SCOTUS is what really matters.
    
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FrankUnderwood says:

April 7, 2016 at 11:29 am

This news will break Zappatero's two-left ventricled heart.

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Diogenesdemar says:

April 7, 2016 at 1:48 pm

"Howell, …

… Thurston D. Howell …"

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