Republicans smell blood in Colorado as top GOP super PAC spends $1m in senate race

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Senate Republicans' largest super PAC is throwing its weight into Colorado as the party sees an opportunity to pick up a seat in a state President Joe Biden won by 13 points in 2020.

The Senate Leadership Fund is controlled by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and represents the largest war chest Senate Republicans have. Republican nominee Joe O'Dea is a construction CEO running as an avowed centrist. He is challenging Sen. Michael Bennet for the seat, who leads in polls by roughly 9 points.

O'Dea has distinguished himself from other 2022 senate candidates by rejecting connections with former President Donald Trump. He has repeatedly said Trump should not run for president in 2024.

O'Dea has also bucked Republicans on the abortion issue, stating that he would not support any bans under 20 weeks.

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Joe O'Dea, a construction company CEO and first-time candidate for office, celebrates the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate. (Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, walks to the Senate floor at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022. Photographer: Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

"I’ve been very consistent with my message, even before the primary," O’Dea told KDVR last month. "For the first five months, I believe that decision belongs between a woman and her doctor. After that, for incest, rape, health of the mother, that decision belongs between a woman and her doctor. And I’m going to vote that way."

The SFL has donated $1.25 million to O'Dea's super PAC, the American Policy Fund, according to Politico.

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O'Dea is the second Republican to receive a massive infusion of cash in recent days, however. Nike co-founder Phil Knight also contributed $1 million toward Republican gubernatorial candidate Christine Drazan's campaign in Oregon on Sunday.

Former Oregon state lawmaker Christine Drazan, seen in a TV campaign ad, is her state's 2022 GOP gubernatorial nominee. (Drazan gubernatorial campaign)

While Oregon has not elected a Republican governor in decades, Drazan and Democrat Tina Kotec are neck and neck in polls, with Drazan even holding a 1-point lead according to FiveThirtyEight's polling average.

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The last Republican to win the Oregon governor's office was Vic Atiyeh in 1982.