With State Representative Ken Summers rattling off Mike Coffman-esque talking points almost certain to alienate him from a large swath of SD-22’s independent electorate, the narrative in his race against State Representative Andy Kerr is beginning to develop. Summers had been effectively silent all summer, hosting few campaign events and barely raising or spending any money. His campaign-trail invisibility has enabled Kerr to pull ahead in both funds raised and cash-on-hand — no small feat, given that the Republican started this race with three times more money than his opponent.
Indeed, while Summers has stagnated, Kerr has proven his tenacity. For the first time, he’s leading Summers in money raised, spent, and on hand. Perhaps the greatest gift to Kerr’s campaign is its opponent: Summers hasn’t made any effort to develop a campaign infrastructure. That’s either a function of the fact that he’s never had a real opponent before in his overwhelmingly Republican House district or that he doesn’t really want to run for this seat, forced into a competitive race by the looming threat of term limits. That his first remarks about the election in months were so asinine could lead you to either conclusion.
Kerr by no means has the race wrapped up: any campaign between two incumbents is fierce by nature, and Republicans lead in registration by a razor-thin margin. If Summer’s anemic fundraising is any indication, third party groups will likely pour money into the race from both sides. So while Summers can now be attacked over his remarks about the president, Kerr is still vulnerable over his TABOR challenge working its way through the courts.
With both candidates entering the final leg of the campaign, we want to know: who do you think will win in SD-22? That is to say if the election was held tomorrow, who do you think will continue working under the golden dome, Ken Summers or Andy Kerr?
A poll follows.
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