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October 1, 2020
ADAMS COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
Northglenn-ThorntonSentinel.com
Coronavirus in driver’s seat as state elections near
VOLUME 57 | ISSUE 8
TRAIN IS IN THE STATION
Polls show parties have different strengths, weaknesses in voters’ perception BY JESSE PAUL THE COLORADO SUN
When Suzanne Staiert knocks on doors and asks voters about their topof-mind issues as part of her statehouse campaign, the response these days usually has something to do with the state of the economy or the reopening of schools. What all the concerns have in common: coronavirus. “Some of them want to know what kind of solutions you have,” said Staiert, a Republican running to represent Denver’s southern suburbs in the state Senate. As Colorado enters month seven of the COVID-19 pandemic, and with the election on tap, coronavirus is increasingly becoming a political issue. In a recent survey sponsored by the Colorado Health Foundation, 26% of Coloradans said coronavirus is the most important issue facing the state. About three quarters said they are more worried by pandemicrelated harm to the economy than illness and death caused by COVID-19. And nearly 40% of Coloradans polled said they are worried they won’t be able to afford either housing, health insurance or food in the coming year. Nowhere has coronavirus taken a larger election-year role than in
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 10 | LIFE: PAGE 12 | SPORTS: 15
A light rail train carrying RTD officials and local dignitaries arrives at Thornton’s Eastlake Station for the district’s grand opening of the N Line on Sept. 21. See the story and more photos on page 5. PHOTO BY STEFAN BRODSKY Colorado’s marquee U.S. Senate race, where the two candidates have been running competing television and digital ads and hosting events centered on the pandemic. Both incumbent Republican Cory Gardner and Democrat John Hickenlooper have pitched themself as best positioned to respond to the pandemic. Hickenlooper, Colorado’s former governor, considers COVID-19 to be among the top three or four issues in the campaign. “I keep going around the state and hearing the stories, and people’s lives are upside down,” Hickenlooper told The Colorado Sun. Which party may benefit from the pandemic’s disruptions, however, remains a big question. Republicans surveyed by The Colorado Sun contend that as long as the economic impacts of COVID-19 remain a bigger focus on voters’ minds than rising infection rates and fatalities, they can appeal to voters by
pitching themselves as the party of a recovering economy. Democrats say they can speak to voters either way by pointing to President Donald Trump’s failures in responding to COVID-19 and then painting all Republicans with the same broad brush. That tactic has only been amplified in recent days by revelations that Trump downplayed the seriousness of coronavirus. A recent poll of 800 registered voters conducted by Global Strategies Group and the liberal organization ProgressNow Colorado found that 58% of Coloradans disapprove of Trump’s handling of coronavirus, including 50% who said they strongly disapprove of his job performance. Congressional response under scrutiny In the U.S. Senate race, it’s been a tale of two coronavirus responses. Gardner is running television and Facebook ads touting his efforts in Congress to help Coloradans through the pandemic. “Cory Gardner got us help,” a restaurateur says in a recent TV spot, referring to the federal Paycheck Protection Program, which was
passed unanimously by the Senate. Hickenlooper’s ads, however, paint a very different picture. “Cory Gardner’s on vacation,” a narrator says in a video released by the Democratic Senate candidate earlier this month, when the entire Senate was in its regularly scheduled recess, “still silent about Donald Trump’s failures on COVID.” The tit-for-tat ads come with the backdrop of Congress recently failing, yet again, to pass a new coronavirus relief package. It was June when federal lawmakers last passed legislation to help Americans reeling from the pandemic’s effects, in part because of Republican infighting about how best to move forward. Add to that a partisan impasse, and it looks like nothing will get done before Election Day, meaning pressure is mounting on incumbents like Gardner. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell nodded to that reality, saying “100% of people that are up and are in any form of danger want a vote and want a successful SEE ELECTION, P6
TALKING TURNS
Performers turn to podcasts to grow their audience P12