Colorado has recently acted as a swing state at all levels, moving back and forth between the Democrats and Republicans. Most recently, the Democrats won both Senate seats off the Republicans at the 2004 and 2008 elections
This year’s seat was won by Ken Salazar (D) in 2004. Salazar was state Attorney-General. The seat had previously been won by Republicans only once since it was won by Gary Hart in 1974, which was in 1998. The seat was held from 1993 to 2005 by Ben Nighthorse Campbell, who was elected in 1992 as a Democrat, but switched parties in 1995, and was re-elected as a Republican in 1998 before retiring in 2004.
The other Colorado Senate seat is held by Mark Udall (D), who won the seat in 2008. The seat had previously been won for five terms in a row by Republicans, with the last Republican senator, Wayne Allard, retiring in 2008.
Salazar resigned as Senator in January 2009 upon his appointment as President Obama’s Secretary of the Interior. Colorado’s Democratic Governor nominated Michael Bennet, superintendent of Denver Public Schools, to take over the seat.
Bennet won the Democratic primary over Andrew Romanoff, former Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives, with 54.2% in a two-candidate race.
The Republican primary in August was won by Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck, defeating former Lieutenant Governor Jane Norton 51.6% to 48.4%. Buck had been a relatively unknown underdog in his first run for statewide office. He ran to the right of Norton with the support of much of the Tea Party movement, gaining momentum and defeating his prominent opponent. Buck’s far-right positions have provoked attacks from the Bennet campaign.
Buck has gained on Bennet in recent polls, and is now slightly ahead in most recent polls, although Bennet has disputed this lead, releasing internal polls showing him with a slight lead.
