GOP Senate Candidates Silent on Republican Tax Plan
As Coloradans are filing on Tax Day and many are seeing new benefits from tax credits provided by the American Rescue Plan, they should be aware that next year’s Tax Day could be different if Republicans take the majority and enact their unpopular agenda.
“Ron Hanks and Joe O’Dea would act as a rubber stamp for the Republican Party’s agenda to raise taxes and end Medicare and Social Security as we know it. Colorado can’t afford Ron Hanks, Joe O’Dea, or the Republican Party’s disastrous agenda.” – Colorado Democratic Party Spokesperson Nico Delgado
NRSC Chair Rick Scott came to Colorado last week to double down on the Republican agenda that would raise taxes on lower income Americans and seniors and sunset Social Security and Medicare. There are an estimated 939,000 Coloradans who depend on Medicare, 916,000 who depend on Social Security, and 26% of Coloradans who would see a tax increase under this plan.
The agenda that was meant to rally Republican candidates has proven to be an electoral liability. According to the Washington Post, GOP Senators are furious with Rick Scott and “they chastised him in round-robin fashion for the unnecessary headache he had created.”
NRSC Chair Rick Scott Says Ron Hanks is a “Very Good Candidate,” Doubles Down on Agenda to Raise Taxes
NRSC will not endorse in Colorado’s Republican Senate primary
NRSC Chair Rick Scott stopped by Colorado the week after the chaotic GOP state assembly to say that election denier and frontrunner Ron Hanks is a “very good candidate.” He added the NRSC will not be endorsing during the Republican Senate primary.
Rick Scott: “The NRSC is not going to endorse. No we're not going to endorse. We've got two very good candidates.”
When asked about the Republican plan that’s currently fracturing Republicans nationally and could hurt GOP candidates in states like Colorado, Scott doubled down on the Republican agenda that would raise taxes on seniors and lower income Americans, and sunset Medicare and Social Security. Hanks and O’Dea would be rubber stamps for a Republican plan that would devastate seniors and working families.
Matt Mauro, Fox 31: “You and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have clashed recently. Particularly about an agenda you release that includes tax hikes for some Americans. Are you at all concerned that the fracturing that some say is happening in the nationwide GOP could hurt Republican Senate candidates, especially in a swing state like Colorado?”
Rick Scott: “...I want to make sure we have an agenda going forward. And that we're united.”
The NRSC refusing to endorse comes as the Colorado Times Recorder pointed out O’Dea’s extensive history of donating to Democrats, including Michael Bennet, and writing op-eds to thank Democrats for their accomplishments.
“I’m not talking to Democrats,” O’Dea said when approached for an interview. The Colorado Times Recorder is a nonpartisan news outlet whose coverage reflects a progressive perspective, as explained on our website.
But O’Dea, who owns a construction company and an event center in Denver, has let his money talk to Democrats.
He’s supported candidates from the Democratic Party since 2010, according to reports from Colorado’s Secretary of State TRACER database.
Since 2009, O’Dea has made monetary campaign donations to 13 candidates for public office in Colorado. Five of those 13 were Democrats, including then-Gov. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) in his 2014 reelection campaign.
O’Dea’s campaign donations for these 13 candidates total just over $4,000.
O’Dea has talked to Democrats via the news media as well.
In 2008, O’Dea authored two op-eds, one in the Boulder-based Daily Camera and one in the Colorado Springs-based The Gazette, thanking then-Gov. Bill Ritter (D-CO) for extending funding for a state panel tasked with educating Coloradans on public transportation funding. At the time, O’Dea was on an advisory committee for the panel.
During a February senate candidate forum, O’Dea said that those who committed violence during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol should face legal consequences, but that violence during the summer 2020 racial justice protests should be punished as well. Hanks attended the insurrection and has admitted to crossing police barriers.