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The other six competitive districts cover terrain that has largely been held by Democrats in recent years. One of those, Senate District 3 in Pueblo, has an incumbent state Sen. Nick Hinrichsen, who was appointed to represent the area earlier this year.

In all, Republicans would likely have to keep Woodwards seat while also capturing at least five of the six vulnerable Democratic districts.

Some people call them vulnerable, said Democratic state Sen. Julie Gonzales, co-chair of the partys Senate election operation, of the candidates in races targeted by Republicans. I call them frontliners, because theyre on the frontlines of flipping those seats blue and keeping them blue.

The results could also show whether Colorado Republicans can move past Trumps deep unpopularity in Colorado. Voters in 2020 swung heavily against the former president, breaking against him by 10-plus points in most of the competitive Senate districts.

Wadhams said he thinks Republicans will get a boost simply because Trump is out of office and off the ballot.

There's no doubt that Trump was a big liability to Republican candidates in 2020 and 2018, he said.

Sen. Paul Lundeen, who is leading the reelection effort for the GOP, said crime and the economy will be the winning issues for his party.

It's just the affordability of life, and everything that Biden and the Democrats in the state of Colorado have done to make life unaffordable, he said. That's what's driving the conversation right now When I'm on doorsteps, that's the only thing people wanna talk about."

But Gonzales said the last few months have improved the outlook for Democrats.

At the beginning of summer, there were all of these doomsday reports about the end of the Democratic trifecta, and The red wave is coming, she said.

Thats changed, she argued.

The Supreme Court decision overturning Roe vs. Wade has motivated some Coloradans to vote against Republicans, citing their opposition to legal abortion. And Gonzales said Democratic candidates will also drive home the partys gains for working families, such as the Polis administrations moves to offer free all-day kindergarten and expanded preschool, as well as health care reforms.

The state Senate battlegrounds are arrayed across the state. In the northwestern quadrant of Colorado, state Rep. Dylan Roberts is running to replace state Sen. Kerry Donovan, a fellow Democrat who is term-limited, in a district that has leaned toward Democrats recently.

About 48 percent of voters within the new borders of Senate District 8 favored Trump in 2016, but that support dropped to 44 percent in 2020. The vast district includes ski towns like Vail and Steamboat Springs, coal mining communities like Craig, and remote swaths along the Wyoming and Utah borders.

Roberts is close with the Polis administration and sponsored the Colorado option a new program aimed at reducing health care costs, especially in rural and mountain areas. It has not yet gone into effect.

I absolutely believe it's a competitive district the way that it was drawn, and just given the environment this year, Roberts said.

Hes running in part on Democrats recent legislation on health care and housing.

Not everything happens overnight, but we are making really good headway on the biggest challenges facing this district, he said. I think I offer somebody who's willing to compromise and get things done rather than stick to a hard-line political position.

Opposing Roberts is Republican Matt Solomon, whos resume includes stints as a paramedic, deputy coroner and a council member for the town of Eagle, as well as a gun shop owner, among other gigs. His website highlights traditional conservative priorities fighting tax increases, defending freedom, protecting gun rights.

Colorado has traditionally been a balanced state. It forces conversation, and when we force conversation, better policy comes about, said Solomon, who was urged to run by party officials and friends. He wants to slow the growth of the state budget while also increasing education funding, though he said he wasnt sure yet what cuts he would push for to achieve that.

Economic issues are the focus for business consultant and first-time Republican candidate Tom Kim, who is running in Senate District 27 in Centennial against Democratic state Rep. Tom Sullivan.

I really want to focus on the economy and affordability as the number one issue. Crime and public safety is a very close second for me, because without safe communities, it's hard to live the rest of your life, Kim said.

His opponent, Sullivan, has been a champion of stricter gun laws during his time at the state capitol. He decided to get into politics after his son Alex was killed in the Aurora theater shooting. And Sullivan is no stranger to competitive races; in 2018 when he first ran for the House he unseated an incumbent Republican to win his seat.

Candidates and political parties are pouring money into the elections already. In the top Senate battleground districts, Democratic candidates have raised about $875,000 in donations, compared to about $749,000 for Republicans.

Meanwhile, independent Republican groups have spent an estimated $844,000 on the battlegrounds, almost twice the $470,000 spent on the Democratic side.

But some of the biggest money is still to come. The Senate Democrats spending group had nearly $3 million in reserve as of Aug. 31, and Republicans could have more waiting in other accounts, too.

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As Colorado Republicans look for a way back to power, the state Senate may be the party's best chance. Here are the races to watch - Colorado Public...

In August 2020, as the presidential election drew closer, Donald Trump decided it was time to roll out a new line of attack against Americans he didnt like. At a campaign stop in Minnesota, with uniformed military personnel in view, the Republican declared, in reference to his opponents on the left, Fascists. They are fascists. The then-president liked the phrasing enough to repeat it before voters headed to the polls.

By any fair measure, the response from Democrats was muted, to the extent that Trumps opponents cared at all. It wasnt as if the Republicans use of fascists immediately sparked a public conversation, front-page headlines and an avalanche of op-eds. In general, few cared.

Indeed, regular readers might recall that MaddowBlog covered the 2020 race in granular detail, but when I checked my archive this morning, I discovered that I made no references to the incumbents use of the word fascists.

Theres no great mystery as to why: There was no serious pushback in response to Trumps rhetoric because it was plainly unserious. Democrats, among others, seemed wholly unconcerned that voters might actually believe that that they resembled fascists. Much of the political world simply shrugged its collective shoulders, realized that the then-president routinely used needlessly inflammatory rhetoric detached from reality, and moved on.

Two years to the month later, President Joe Biden described radicalized elements of the Republican Party as being like semi-fascism, which the Democrat soon followed by a speech in which he warned the public about Trumpism.

Too much of whats happening in our country today is not normal, Biden said. Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic. Now, I want to be very clear upfront: Not every Republican, not even the majority of Republicans, are MAGA Republicans. Not every Republican embraces their extreme ideology. I know because Ive been able to work with these mainstream Republicans.

But there is no question that the Republican Party today is dominated, driven and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans, and that is a threat to this country.

I think its fair to say the response to this presidents remarks included more than just shrugged shoulders.

Nearly two weeks after Bidens address in Philadelphia, leading GOP voices continue to whine incessantly about the speech. Just yesterday, for example, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said he felt attacked by the presidential comments suggesting, as a great many Republicans have in recent days, that Biden had targeted all Trump voters, despite the fact that Biden has repeatedly and explicitly said the opposite.

But there was one response that stood out for me as more notable than most. The Hill reported:

Former Vice President Mike Pence railed against President Bidens speech arguing MAGA Republicans pose a threat to democracy, telling a conservative womens group that the address amounted to a partisan campaign rally that demonized the right.

In remarks to a religious right group called the Concerned Women for America, Trumps former vice president told his audience: The president made it clear that he views pro-life Americans as enemies of democracy. In fact, he said that anyone who refuses to bend the knee to his extremist left-wing ideology represents an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.

Pence added, Never before in the history of our nation has a president stood before the American people and accused millions of his own countrymen of being a threat to this country.

For now, lets put aside the fact that Biden isnt an extremist and he didnt ask anyone to bend a knee to any ideology. We also wont dwell on the Hoosiers indifference to the kind of sweeping condemnations his former boss made against millions of his own countrymen.

Instead, lets consider just how poor a messenger Pence is for this specific message.

The unmistakable point of Bidens Sept. 1 address was that theres a radicalized wing of the GOP that not only rejects the legitimacy of U.S. elections, but also embraces violence as politically justifiable. The incumbent president made a compelling case that such extremists represent a small-but-dangerous faction of the contemporary Republican Party.

If theres anyone in GOP politics who can relate in a deeply personal and direct way to how right Biden was, its Pence who was not only pressured by the then-president and his allies to advance an illegal coup scheme, but who was literally hunted in the halls of the Capitol by violent Trump followers who intended to do him harm.

Pence doesn't have to imagine whether Biden is right as some kind of philosophical exercise. The Republican can simply reflect on his personal experiences.

As recently as June, the former vice president himself said that what Trump asked him to do on Jan. 6 was un-American. That didnt mean, of course, that Pence was accusing all Republicans of being un-American, but his assessment served as a reminder that he, as much as anyone, knows how much Trumpism is at odds with the rule of law in the United States.

Its unrealistic to think that Pence would ever endorse Bidens vision, but with the events of Jan. 6 in mind, he knows full well how right Bidens warnings were about radicalized Republicans.

Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MSNBC political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "The Impostors: How Republicans Quit Governing and Seized American Politics."

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Pence is the wrong Republican to slam Bidens democracy speech - MSNBC

A one-time top campaign adviser to the Republican Party now finds himself part of a small "never-Trump" minority. Tim Miller has written a book on how the GOP literally shifted under their feet.Miller crafted messaging for lots of moderate Republicans like Mitt Romney. But in 2015, he says everything changed with the rise of Donald Trump who found an eager grass-roots audience for HIS messages. As well as other politicians and a willing media megaphone.

"And what happened was those peoples' grievances and anger were exacerbated by a conservative eco-system. That was the other part of the 'Triangle-of-doom' that was telling them they should be upset and giving them phony enemies within and without, whether it's the caravan, or Sharia Law in schools. We could go down the whole list."

Miller, now an MSNBC analyst and a writer for "The Bulwark," will be at Tallahassee's Midtown Reader this Thursday evening, Sept. 15 at 7:00 p.m. He'll talk about his new book, "Why We Did It," on the takeover of the Republican Party by supporters of the former president. Midtown Reader is a WFSU Public Media supporter.

Continued here:
Former Republican messaging maven brings his analysis of the GOP's Trumpian trend to Tallahassee's Midtown Reader - WFSU

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Newly minted "The View" co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin is a Republican, and she's not shy about reminding viewers of that fact.

In her many stints as a guest co-host over the past year, an appearance on "Good Morning America" last week promoting the ABC gabfest's new season, and since taking the chair officially as the show's token conservative, Griffin has frequently noted her political affiliation, sometimes in a defensive posture or while taking shots at her party.

"I will say this as a Republican," she said during a discussion in May about the then-rumored pending overturning of Roe v. Wade. "My party needs to start If we are, in fact, going to undo 50 years of precedent by overturning Roe, we need to invest in maternal care, paid parental leave, funding for rural health care funding."

"I'm a Republican who believes the more voters the better," she said in May, suggesting that stance in the party made her an outlier. "Everybody should have fair access to the ballot."

Alyssa Farah Griffin was recently named a permanent co-host of "The View." (Screenshot/ABC/TheView)

ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN SAYS TRUMP RESONATED WITH WORKING CLASS AMERICANS, PUSHES BACK ON SUNNY HOSTIN

In her appearance on GMA last week, she called Chelsea Clinton "fabulous" while adding, "as a Republican," she was excited to question Hillary Clinton when the pair appeared on the program later in the week.

"As a Republican," she said in February, she had once held a top security clearance and was thus critical of both Clinton and Trump for mishandling classified material.

The former top Trump White House aide is now one of Donald Trump's staunchest critics and has repeatedly said he should not be president again, but she said last week she hopes to be a "voice" for his 74 million voters in 2020. She has often invoked her Republican identity while distancing herself from Trump's unfounded 2020 stolen election claims.

"Here's what's kind of scary about it. I'm a conservative, I'm a Republican," Griffin said once after bemoaning a conservative Republican who was defeated in a primary by a staunch Trump backer.

NEW THE VIEW CO-HOST ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN WANTS TO BE VOICE OF TRUMP VOTERS

"As a Republican who has spoken out I resigned before January 6, a month prior who has consistently said it was not stolen, we lost," she said on another episode.

"As a Republican, we don't have to do that whole Trump thing again," she said in May of politics becoming a binary choice between him and Joe Biden.

Hillary and Chelsea Clinton were guests on the new season of "The View" last week. ((Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images))

While questioning Chelsea and Hillary Clinton on the show last week, Griffin mentioned President Biden's controversial speech against MAGA Republicans, noting "as a Republican" herself she had been outspoken that threats to democracy constituted "one of the biggest issues facing our country."

The ABC show has never troubled to balance out its panel over the years, pitting a token conservative in the chair furthest to the right of the screen to face off with staunch progressives like Rosie O'Donnell, Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin and others through the years.

How much the conservative is willing to "fight" has depended on the person. Meghan McCain, while a Trump critic, had fiery exchanges almost daily with her co-hosts on the issues of the day, while Griffin has been far more deferential and affectionate toward her colleagues. That hasn't always endeared her to right-wing media figures; the conservative watchdog NewsBusters has dismissed Griffin, who is also a CNN commentator, as a "faux conservative." There are also far-left voices who think she shouldn't be on the show by virtue of ever working for and praising Trump, such as MSNBC's Tiffany Cross.

'THE VIEW' TOUTS NEW CO-HOST ANA NAVARRO AS REPUBLICAN POWER PLAYER DESPITE LIBERAL VIEWS, BIDEN SUPPORT

For her part, Griffin has defended her conservative bona fides and says she deserves to have a voice despite working for a president she now despises.

In the same GMA interview last week, she said "as a Republican," the show clearly "skewed left" but added she wasn't going in trying to change anyone's minds, but simply present an alternative point of view.

While some conservatives may find her insufficiently feisty, Griffin looks downright right-wing compared to the other new co-host.

New "The View" co-hosts Alyssa Farah Griffin and Ana Navarro are strongly anti-Trump Republicans.

Sitting in the middle of the table on Monday was fellow "Republican" co-host Ana Navarro. Navarro is nominally a Republican but strongly supports Democrats, espouses liberal positions nearly across the board, worked for Joe Biden's 2020 campaign in Florida, and has referred to Vice President Kamala Harris affectionately as "Auntie Kamala."

Navarro was named a permanent co-host alongside Griffin last month. While Griffin worked for and praised Trump for years, Navarro has been anti-Trump from the start of his political rise in 2015.

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Navarro used some of her airtime on Monday to declare the Supreme Court was illegitimate in part because conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh have been hit with sexual harassment and assault accusations.

Nikolas Lanum is an associate editor for Fox News Digital.

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Token 'View' conservative Alyssa Farah Griffin loves reminding viewers of her party: 'As a Republican...' - Fox News

Trump declared Diehl the only conservative running for governor in deep-blue Massachusetts during a telephone rally Monday night. Chris Doughty, Diehls rival for the nomination, Trump said, is just a tool of outgoing Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, a Trump nemesis who has not endorsed in the primary.

Doughty will do nothing but surrender to the left-wing extremists, Trump said in his five-minute speech, painting the businessman who was virtually unknown a year ago as a puppet of the establishment. If you want to save Massachusetts from the radical left you must vote Republican up and down the ballot, and vote for Geoff Diehl.

A Trump endorsement also looms over a contest next week in New Hampshire, among the last primaries in the country. Its a race where insiders say the former presidents nod could propel either a far-right candidate who champions his election denials or the establishment-backed state Senate president against vulnerable Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan.

In Massachusetts, Diehl is looking to capitalize on the vocal pro-Trump faction of the states Republican base and those who believe Baker has shifted too far left during his eight years in office.

Trumps endorsement is certainly something thats going to help make sure that we have a victory, Diehl told reporters while campaigning in Boston last weekend.

But his opponents, a mix of conservative and moderate Republicans that include allies of Baker, say Trumps endorsement can only spell trouble in a general election in one of the most anti-Trump states in the country. And presumptive Democratic nominee Maura Healey, who election handicappers say is likely to flip the governors seat blue in November, burnished her profile by repeatedly suing the Trump administration as state attorney general.

The Massachusetts gubernatorial primary is as much a proxy war between the Trump wing of the GOP and more moderate New England Republicans as it is a battle for control of the state Republican Party. The Massachusetts GOP has in recent years been defined by the power struggle between conservative, pro-Trump Chair Jim Lyons and the moderate Baker. But Bakers decision not to seek a third term left his wing of the party with a power vacuum, and Doughty is now the one standing in the way of a Trump takeover.

Our party is headed off a cliff in Massachusetts by supporting candidates that are frankly unelectable, Amy Carnevale, a GOP state committeewoman who voted for Trump but is backing Doughty in the gubernatorial primary, said in an interview. This primary has essentially become a referendum on the future of the Republican Party in Massachusetts.

Voters in solidly blue Massachusetts have elected fiscally minded yet socially moderate Republican governors like Baker and Bill Weld for the better part of 30 years.

But Diehl rejects that mold. The conservative former state representative describes himself as pro-life in a state where more than three-quarters of residents believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases. He opposes the coronavirus vaccine mandate for state workers implemented by the ever-popular Baker.

Obviously, things like having the presidents endorsement help with Republicans in the primary, but my messaging has always been targeted towards that independent voice out there.

Geoff Diehl

And, after initially veering away from Trump, Diehl tied his fate to the former president and his rhetoric. He brought in Trumps former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, as a senior adviser and has falsely claimed the 2020 election was rigged.

Diehls hard-right Trump turn played well at the state GOP convention in May, where he walked away with the partys endorsement for governor after winning a resounding 71 percent support from roughly 1,200 party activists. He followed it up by campaigning with South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a Trump ally, in August.

But Trump who jumped into the GOP primary back when it seemed like Baker would seek a third term and who again made clear hes not a fan of the governor during his telephone rally for Diehl could walk away from Tuesdays primary a loser.

Republicans make up less than 10 percent of registered voters in Massachusetts. The majority, 57 percent, of voters are unenrolled and can pull a Republican ballot in the states open primary.

That larger electorate has little love for the former president. Voters here resoundingly rejected Trump in both of his presidential bids and sent likeminded down-ballot candidates packing in 2020. Diehl, who co-chaired Trumps 2016 campaign in Massachusetts, also lost his 2018 campaign against Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren by 24 points.

Diehl argues that his experience running a statewide campaign will help him this time around and that his platform of restoring peoples freedoms will appeal across party lines to parents who want more say in their childrens education and people tired of living under pandemic rules.

Obviously, things like having the presidents endorsement help with Republicans in the primary, but my messaging has always been targeted towards that independent voice out there, Diehl told reporters while campaigning in Boston over the weekend. I understand that theres going to be Democrats who are going to have a tough time thinking of voting for me. But I think there are event light Democrats who are looking at me and saying hes talking about the things that are important to us.

Still, Doughtys supporters say their candidate is more electable. They argue the wealthy businessman whos poured more than $2 million of his own money into his first campaign is better positioned to take on Healey a fundraising juggernaut who had more than $4.7 million in her campaign coffers at the end of August than Diehl, who ended last month with less than $17,000 in his bank account.

And they point to the fact that, in a bizarre turn of events, influential conservative talk radio host and Boston Herald columnist Howie Carr a Trump ally who backed Diehl in his bid against Warren started urging his listeners last week to vote for Doughty.

Doughtys political leanings are murky at best. He initially labeled himself a moderate, then eschewed the term. He opposes vaccine mandates, describes himself as pro-life though hes vowed not to try and change state law protecting abortion access and has left the door open to voting for Trump in a future presidential run.

Im pragmatic and common-sense. Im not extreme, Doughty said in an interview. I speak to everybody thats just sort of sick of the extreme on both sides of the parties.

And hes won the support of more moderate Republicans including New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu through what they describe as his willingness to embrace bipartisanship in a state where Democrats control the Legislature with supermajorities in both chambers.

Hes not a moderate, Carnevale, the state commiteewoman, said. But I think he understands what it takes to govern in Massachusetts and thats the winning formula that weve seen time and time again on the Republican side for governor.

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The ancestral home of the moderate Republican faces Trumpian swing - POLITICO