Colorado GOP Senate candidate Joe O’Dea says he would ‘actively campaign against’ Trump if he runs for president again – msnNOW
© CNN Joe O’Dea on CNN’s “State of the Union” with Dana Bash on Sunday, October 13, 2022. CNN
- Joe O’Dea on Sunday said he would campaign against former President Donald Trump if he runs in 2024.
- “I don’t think Donald Trump should run again,” the GOP Senate candidate said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
- O’Dea indicated that he would be more likely to support either Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Tim Scott or Nikki Haley.
Colorado Republican Senate candidate Joe O’Dea said that he would “actively campaign against” former President Donald Trump if he were to run for president again in 2024.
During an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday, host Dana Bash asked O’Dea if he thought that the Capitol insurrection on January 6, 2021, should disqualify Trump from being president.
O’Dea, who is running as a center-right candidate, called Jan. 6 “a black eye on the country,” adding that he has been “very vocal” in saying he thinks Trump “should have done more to keep the violence from heading towards the Capitol.”
“I don’t think Donald Trump should run again,” O’Dea said.
He continued: “I’m going to actively campaign against Donald Trump and make sure that we’ve got four or five really great Republicans right now.”
O’Dea indicated that he would be more likely to support either Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, or Republican Sen. Tim Scott, all of whom he said “can run and serve for eight years.”
“I’m going to do my job as a US senator to make sure that they have good campaigns in the primary here so we have a good selection of candidates for 2024,” O’Dea said.
O’Dea’s campaign did not immediately return Insider’s request for comment on Sunday.
In August, O’Dea said Trump should not run for president in 2024.
“I don’t want to see him as president,” he said on “The Ross Kaminsky Show.” “I think that seeing a Biden-Trump rematch again in 2024 would rip the country apart. I think a lot of people are ready to move our country forward. So, I wouldn’t support him running again.”
O’Dea is currently trailing his opponent incumbent Democratic Sen. Micheal Bennet by 7 points according to a Marist poll released on October 11.