Yesterday, we had primaries held in Utah, Colorado and Oklahoma. Many of the results trickled in late in the evening, so we offer our thoughts today. Let’s start with Utah where Republicans are picking a congressional candidate in Utah 4th district to run against the Democratic incumbent Ben McAdams. Republicans selected Burgess Owens, a former NFL safety who played for the Raiders and Jets. We believe that Owens is likely to defeat McAdams. Recall that McAdams defeated former Republican congresswoman Mia Love in 2018 by a few hundred votes. Owens should appeal to a broad spectrum of Republican and independent voters and believe he is the clear favorite.
In Colorado, former Governor John Hickenlooper held off a challenge from Andrew Romanoff who ran to his left and embraced the Green New Deal to win the Democratic primary. The race was much closer than had been anticipated earlier this year. Hickenlooper now will try to defeat the incumbent Republican Senator Cory Gardner. Most polls have Hickenlooper leading Gardner by double digits, but the primary left him bruised with many on the progressive wing upset over recent comments. We believe that Hickenlooper is the favorite, but believe Gardner has an opening to make this race competitive.
Perhaps the biggest upset of the night occurred in Colorado’s 3rd congressional district where the Republican incumbent Scott Tipton was upset by challenger Lauren Boebert, 33 year old mother of four and owner of the Shooters Grill, a popular restaurant where guests are permitted to bring in guns. Boebert is also an avid biker for Trump. Tipton, a moderate Republican, was overwhelmed by turnout from gun rights supporters and conservative Republicans. We believe the results highlight the enthusiasm among conservative voters. We also think that Boebert will win the heavily Republican district in the Fall.
In sum, we think that the results yesterday show enthusiasm among Republican voters which should make pundits think twice of predictions that Democrats will win easily in November.
NewEnglandPolitics.com 