Republican congressman Cory Gardner is leading in the polls and racking up endorsements in his race against incumbent senator Mark Udall of Colorado. The Denver Post’s newest poll shows the race flipping to Gardner, who is leading Udall 45–43 after trailing by four percentage points in a September poll by the paper.
Last month, poll respondents were evenly split on Gardner’s favorability, but now his favorability rating is in positive territory. By way of comparison, Udall’s approval rating has sunk sharply in the last month. The poll found 53 percent of respondents disapproved of Udall’s job performance while just 36 percent approved. In September, the Post had him in negative territory, but by just six points.
Following a string of debates last week — including one in which a moderator jokingly referred to Udall as “Mark Uterus” — Gardner has won endorsements from five papers, including the Post and newspapers in Colorado Springs, Grand Junction, Greeley, and Pueblo. The Post, by far the state’s largest paper, is generally moderate or liberal-leaning and endorsed Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012.
As Gardner’s showing promise, donors are flocking: The Ending Spending Action Fund, a super PAC founded by businessman Joe Ricketts, reportedly made a $2 million ad buy benefiting Gardner today, according to the New York Times.