DENVER – Republican U.S. Senate candidate Darryl Glenn says national GOP interests have largely passed him over this election because he’s guaranteed a win.
His comments have Democrats literally laughing out loud.
The comment from Glenn came last week in an interview with The Durango Herald, when Glenn was asked about his lackluster fundraising and dismal polling. He is down by double digits against Democratic incumbent Michael Bennet in several polls.
“I look at it as a compliment,” Glenn said of the lack of national interest. “They know I can beat Michael Bennet on my own.”
A spokesman for Bennet’s campaign could hardly contain himself.
“Can you quote me laughing?” asked Bennet spokesman Andrew Zucker.
“Darryl Glenn has openly admitted that his agenda is out of touch with even those in his own political party.”
In a September fundraising email, Glenn had a different take on why the Republican Party and many right-leaning allies have largely ignored the race, which was expected to be one of the tightest Senate races in the country before the June primary.
“The reality is that I’m too conservative for the elites in Washington,” Glenn said in the fundraising email. “They didn’t want me to win the primary, they don’t want me in the Senate, and they certainly aren’t going to help me now.”
But last week, Glenn had another take on the situation.
“We have a very unorthodox campaign, and we’ve proven people wrong the entire way,” Glenn said, comparing his efforts to a “Trump phenomenon.”
The El Paso County commissioner shocked political observers this year when he blew past every other candidate seeking to caucus onto the primary ballot at the April state convention. Some believe it was his compelling convention speech that propelled him to victory as a relatively unknown underdog.
He further impressed observers when he won the primary, defeating four other candidates, including some who had mainstream appeal.
“Every single time, when the votes needed to be counted, I prevailed, and it will be the same at the end of this,” Glenn said last week.
Despite several political analysts and party insiders saying otherwise, Glenn believes the national party is concerned with other races across the country, but that in Colorado, those interests are more confident of a Republican win.
“People are trying to say, ‘Well, why aren’t they supporting you?’ They’re (the GOP) having to put out a bunch of fires, and they’re having to work hard. So, to then try to draw the conclusion that they’re not supporting me is not a valid conclusion,” Glenn said.
“They want me to be part of the next generation to move this country forward.”
Glenn went on to say that Bennet suffers from a favorability problem, which the Glenn campaign plans to highlight in television ads.
“If I were him, I would be sounding the alarm,” Glenn said of Bennet.
Political analyst Eric Sondermann, however, said Glenn is either suffering from “noncredible spin, or willful self-delusion.”
“Follow the money,” Sondermann said. “If national Republicans thought Darryl Glenn had a snowball’s chance, they’d be bringing money into Colorado by the truckload. If Democrats thought Bennet’s seat was in the slightest jeopardy, they would not have canceled a $5 million television buy.”
Despite Glenn’s advice, the Bennet campaign and Democrats aren’t sounding any alarms.
“Darryl Glenn is spinning himself silly,” said Chris Meagher, a spokesman for the Colorado Democratic Party. “Does anyone really believe that a clear lack of interest and support shows anything but the fact that people think Darryl Glenn is a weak candidate who is too extreme to win in Colorado?”
pmarcus@durangoherald.com