REALITY CHECK: Gardner Sold Out Colorado for Trump & McConnell
Denver, CO - Senator Cory Gardner’s new TV ad once again deceives Coloradans about his real record, overtly omitting his blind allegiance to President Trump and Mitch McConnell. Gardner, who’s stood with Trump “100%”, has worked in lockstep with his party bosses to gut access to health care for Coloradans and protections for people with pre-existing conditions.
“Senator Gardner’s new ad continues to deceive Coloradans about his real record of selling out Colorado to President Trump and Mitch McConnell,” said Colorado Democratic Party Chair Morgan Carroll. “In Washington, Senator Gardner has voted to gut access to health care and rip away protections for Coloradans with pre-existing conditions. This ad is a revolting attempt to distract Coloradans from the fact that Gardner is still supporting the GOP’s lawsuit to overturn the Affordable Care Act -- which guaranteed coverage for Coloradans with pre-existing conditions.”
This is Gardner’s third deceptive ad. His first TV ad is facing a complaint with the U.S. Senate Ethics Committee over breaking ethics rules and had to be edited after backlash from AAA Colorado.
Here are the facts on Gardner’s record of selling out Coloradans:
GARDNER’S ALLEGIANCE TO TRUMP, NOT COLORADANS
- Despite promising Coloradans he’d stand up to his party, Gardner has been with Trump “100%” and votes with the president 98% of the time.
- Gardner is “Mitch McConnell’s right-hand man” -- voting with his party boss 95 percent of the time, running McConnell’s Senate Republican campaign arm, and folding like a cheap suit to McConnell after a failed political stunt that left Coloradans waiting for urgent relief from COVID-19.
GARDNER’S CRUSADE TO RIP HEALTH CARE FROM COLORADANS
- Gardner has voted at least 13 times to repeal, gut, or defund the Affordable Care Act.
- When Congress failed to repeal the health care law three years ago, Gardner despaired that “donors are furious… we haven’t kept our promise” and helped lead efforts to pass the GOP tax scam, which sparked the current legal challenge to the ACA.
- Gardner says he believes the ACA is “unconstitutional” and supports the GOP’s current lawsuit to overturn the law, which the U.S Supreme Court will consider this fall.
- The ACA required insurance plans to cover mental health care and expanded coverage to hundreds of thousands of Coloradans.
- Colorado is relying on the ACA in this fight against COVID. But if Gardner and the GOP’s lawsuit to repeal the law is successful, here’s some of what’s at stake:
- 400,000+ Coloradans could lose Medicaid coverage, as an additional half-million are expected to need Medicaid to get through COVID.
- Rural hospitals could shut down.
- CDC’s response could be undermined.
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