U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, answering questions Saturday at a gathering of conservatives in Denver, imagined a Washington where Hillary Clinton is president and Democrats control the Senate.
“Chairman Bernie Sanders of the Senate Budget Committee, thatap who I believe it will be,” Gardner told the Red State Gathering of conservative activists and donors, pondering a scenario in which Republicans lose their majority in November.
Democrats of the 34 seats up for a vote in November. Of those, 24 are occupied by Republicans.
Gardner unseated incumbent Democrat Mark Udall in 2014, but Saturday he said Republicans face a tall order in Colorado this year.
“I think this state is very winnable (now) for our Republican Senate candidate,” he said of Darryl Glenn, who faces incumbent Michael Bennet in November. “I think this is a state that is very winnable for our Republican presidential candidate.
“But I do think some of the issues in Colorado need to be addressed — whether it’s energy, whether it’s economic development. Those issues have to be at the forefront of any campaign for us to win Colorado.”
A poll released Friday indicated Republican Donald Trump trails Hillary Clinton by 14 percentage points, and Glenn trails Bennet by 15.
While speakers and guests at the Red State Gathering on Friday were either opposed to or elusive about Trump, Gardner said the problem is the media, because Clinton and other Democrats have not been questioned as hard as Republicans have.
“We were asked if (candidate) John Kasich ate his pizza the right way, remember that?” Gardner said. “And yet Hillary Clinton is not asked if she supports Bernie Sanders becoming budget chairman of the United States Senate.
“Why? Because they agree with socialism.”
Gardner has , but he has been harshly critical of Trump and supported the Colorado delegation’s of last month’s Republican National Convention in opposition to Trump.
Denver Post staff writer Fabian Reinbold contributed to this story.
