Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez celebrates after winning the GOP primary at an election party in Denver on June 24, 2014. (Ed Andrieski, Associated Press)
National political handicappers have taken keen interest in Colorado’s hyper-competitive races for governor, U.S. Senate and the 6th Congressional District this year. This week brought updates on ratings for two of those races, with Roll Call making a change in its rating of the governor’s race in former U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez’s favor.
Granted, Stu Rothenberg’s Roll Call blog as “Leans Democratic,” favoring Gov. John Hickenlooper for re-election.
Gov. John Hickenlooper. (Andy Cross, The Denver Post file)
But until Thursday, Roll Call had given it a safer “Democrat Favored” rating. Analyst Nathan L. Gonzales writes that “Republicans appear to have avoided disaster by not nominating polarizing former Rep. Tom Tancredo,” and “Former Rep. Bob Beauprez gives Republicans a credible nominee.” Polls .
“But he has also been underfunded,” Gonzales adds as a reservation, “and this looks like a race the Republican Governors Association is going to have to carry across the finish line if the GOP wants to win it.”
Incumbent Republican Mike Coffman, left, faces Democrat challenger Andrew Romanoff, in the race to represent the 6th Congressional District. (Denver Post file)
Two reports this week from other outlets maintained varying levels of tossup status for suburban Denver’s 6th Congressional District, in which Republican Rep. Mike Coffman is battling Democratic former state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff.
Roll Call: After including Coffman , the D.C. outlet . And Coffman just barely missed the cut of the now-monthly feature: “If there was an eleventh spot on this list, Rep. Mike Coffmann, R-Colo., would have it. He missed inclusion thanks to his fundraising skills, a climate that is starting to favor the GOP and his more vulnerable colleagues.”
Real Clear Politics: The Coffman-Romanoff matchup rates much more strongly in the political website’s . It calls the race “the pricey one,” because of and being spent by outside groups. And Caitlin Huey-Burns notes the district’s diversity, with a heavy share of Hispanics, a dynamic that’s already forced Coffman to moderate his immigration stances.
