American Bridge 21st Century released the following statement on Joe O’Dea winning today’s Colorado Republican U.S. Senate primary, after buying his way onto the ballot and touting an out-of-touch agenda on the campaign trail:
“Joe O’Dea has shown that he is wrong for Colorado and won’t protect Social Security and Medicare, fight for workers, secure abortion rights, or support bipartisan measures to prevent gun violence,” said American Bridge 21st Century spokesperson Aidan Johnson. “ His loyalty is to Trump and the former president’s dangerous MAGA agenda. He will always put Trump first, not the needs of Coloradans.”
In the eight months since announcing his candidacy, O’Dea has repeatedly attacked abortion rights, opposed a common-sense and bipartisan gun safety law, indicated support for cutting Social Security and Medicare, drawn scrutiny for his business practices, and pledged loyalty to Donald Trump:
- Indicated he supports slashing Medicare and Social Security:
- O’Dea has said he supports “limiting the size of the federal government and reducing funding for ‘some’ programs like Medicare and Social Security.”
- O’Dea has also previously plugged broad cuts to “entitlement spending.”
- Attacked abortion rights and Colorado’s law codifying Roe:
- O’Dea has called Colorado’s newly passed law that guarantees the right to an abortion in state statute “reckless” and said that he’s “not in favor” of the bill protecting abortion rights.
- Back in May, O’Dea even argued that more abortion restrictions are needed in Colorado.
- Opposes common-sense gun reform:
- Opposing the new bipartisan gun safety law during the primary, O’Dea said he does “not want any more gun laws to be passed” and claimed that he would not “support expanded background checks, magazine capacity limits, or raising age restrictions.” O’Dea also indicated he opposes closing the “boyfriend loophole” in order to prevent abusive domestic partners from purchasing firearms.
- Pattern of mistreating workers — including allegation of age and disability discrimination:
- O’Dea has drawn scrutiny for his business practices after his construction company settled a lawsuit brought by a former employee last year “who alleged a pattern of age and disability discrimination.”
- One employee alleged she faced a hostile work environment, received reduced bonuses, and was ultimately fired, “following a cancer diagnosis in 2014” and after speaking out against age discrimination at O’Dea’s company.
- Pledged loyalty to Donald Trump and his MAGA agenda:
- O’Dea would back Trump in 2024 and said that the former president does not deserve blame for the violence and attempted coup that unfolded on Jan. 6.
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Published: Jun 28, 2022 | Last Modified: Aug 26, 2022