GOP warning about socialism not resonating with many Colorado voters
ALAMOSA • In this San Luis Valley town encircled by prairies and potato farms, U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner drew shouts of approval last week for his message that Democrats are shoving the country toward socialism.
“That’s not what government is or what it should be,” he told about 200 Alamosa County Republicans at a barbecue fundraiser. “We have to stand up and fight. Are you going to join me in this fight?”
For Gardner and other Republicans making the pitch, including President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the key question is whether it will attract not only conservative stalwarts, but also moderate voters.
Interviews with more than three dozen Coloradans, from Denver suburbs to the San Luis Valley, indicate that the argument has yet to take root. But the GOP has 18 months to sell it before Election Day 2020.
Few people saw a drift toward socialism as a major worry; health care and living costs were cited far more frequently. Several said capitalism was too embedded in the U.S. to be truly threatened, and Republicans were using socialism to stir unease by raising the specter of the old, repressive Soviet Union and today’s chaotic Venezuela.
“They’re preying on fear,” said David Kraemer, 67, a financial adviser in Westminster who’s not registered with a political party.
Still, when asked directly about socialism, many expressed a wariness of injecting more government into people’s lives. Many mentioned Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, who’s seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, and freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. The comments suggested Republicans might be tapping into unease over letting either party go too far.
“Checks and balances are what make this country so great,” said Steve Lajoie, 46, a Denver carpenter and independent voter.
Gardner, 44, has been repeating his argument for months. He cites liberal Democrats’ ”Medicare for All” bills for government-provided health care and a Green New Deal proposal to aggressively cut carbon emissions.
Sanders has sponsored Medicare for All legislation that’s been embraced by many of his Democratic presidential rivals. Ocasio-Cortez is an architect of the Green New Deal, which remains a concept, not a bill. Many Democrats, especially moderates, have kept their distance from both plans, divisions that Republicans are happy to exploit.
Democrats reject the socialism assertion as a distraction from Trump’s unpopularity and the issues they will emphasize, especially improving health care and protecting jobs and income. They say efforts to make health care more available and combat global warming have nothing to do with limiting individuals’ rights.
Democrats note that voters gave them total control of Colorado government in November despite GOP attempts to pin the socialism label on former U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, who was elected governor. They say growing numbers of younger, urban and Hispanic residents are steadily making the state more liberal.
GOP cries of socialism are “Cold War stuff” irrelevant to most voters, said Morgan Carroll, chairwoman of the Colorado Democratic Party.
“I think that probably does fire up their base, but you cannot win an election in Colorado with the Republican base alone,” Carroll said.
Republicans argue that voters need a GOP-controlled Senate for protection against Democrats who are coming after their health insurance, energy sector jobs and more. “I think we’re running to be the firewall that saves the country from socialism,” said McConnell, R-Ky.
The GOP insists the anti-socialism message will prevail in a state that overwhelmingly rejected a ballot initiative creating single-payer health care and where unaffiliated voters, often with libertarian leanings, outnumber Democrats and Republicans. They also hope to win over suburbanites whose distaste for Trump helped Democrats capture the House in the fall. Public opinion polls find socialism is especially unpopular among older voters, Republicans and moderates, they said.
Avery Jones, of Westminster, is one potential target.
“Taxes kill,” said Jones, 27. While she’s eager to improve her family’s health coverage, she sees “some merit” to checking Democrats from pushing toward universal health care because “it would just drive up taxes.”
But for every Jones, there’s a Rhett Lucero. The 40-year-old unaffiliated auto mechanic, eating lunch at the Riverwalk park that winds through Pueblo, says Democrats’ efforts to expand health coverage and curb global warming make sense.
“It’s helping each other out,” Lucero said. “It’s putting our taxes to a real good use.”
Not all Democrats dismiss the socialism strategy. Eva Henry, an Adams County commissioner, says her community’s blue-collar families might buy the GOP argument if they believe Democrats’ proposals would drive up taxes. “Our Democrats can vote Republican because they vote their pocketbooks,” the Democrat said.
Pueblo Mayor Nicholas Gradisar said he doubts the argument will sway many Democrats but warned, “Democrats have to be wary of it, and they have to respond” by telling voters the party “will give you a fair shake.” Pueblo County leans Democratic but backed Trump in 2016.
Republicans, who already have digital videos and roadside billboards casting Democrats as socialists, tried the tactic in several states last November to little effect. It isn’t new. Actor Ronald Reagan and GOP presidential candidate Barry Goldwater castigated Medicare as socialist in the 1960s, yet it’s now a cherished medical lifeline for millions of older Americans.
Republicans say this time will be different. But one Coloradan’s comments suggest that past GOP warnings about Democrats might haunt Republicans.
“Every time a Democrat gets elected, they say, ‘We’re going to lose our guns,’” said Marc O’Leary, 48, of Westminster. “It never happens.”
U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colorado, attends the Alamosa County Republicans Lincoln Day dinner on April 24, 2019.
(AP Photo/Alan Fram)
Pueblo Mayor Nicholas Gradisar poses for a photo in his office on April 24 in Pueblo, Colo. Republicans are warning that Democratic proposals aimed at providing universal health care and curbing greenhouse gas emissions show that Democrats want to turn the U.S. toward socialism. Gradisar said he doubts the argument will win over many Democrats but warned, “Democrats have to be wary of it and they have to respond” by telling voters the party “will give you a fair shake.”
(AP Photo/Alan Fram)
Rhett Lucero, 40, an auto body shop mechanic poses for a photo on April 24 in Pueblo. Republicans are warning that Democratic proposals aimed at providing universal health care and curbing greenhouse gas emissions show that Democrats want to turn the U.S. toward socialism. Lucero, says Democrats’ efforts to expand health coverage and curb global warming make sense.