George W. Bush injects his anti-Trump energy into Colorado's Senate race by fundraising with GOP hopeful Joe O'Dea
- Former President George W. Bush is lending his support to the US Senate hopeful Joe O'Dea.
- O'Dea, a Republican in Colorado, has repeatedly said he doesn't want Trump to run again.
Former President George W. Bush has agreed to fundraise for the US Senate hopeful Joe O'Dea, joining forces with another Republican who doesn't want to see former President Donald Trump back in the White House.
O'Dea, who is vying to unseat Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet in a state where Joe Biden beat Trump by nearly 14 points in 2020, has repeatedly said he hopes Trump stays away from the 2024 race.
"I think a lot of people are ready to move our country forward," O'Dea said this summer. FiveThirtyEight's forecast shows Bennet, a three-term lawmaker, with a 10-point lead.
Bush's backing of O'Dea's bid against Bennet — first reported by NBC — tracks with the former two-term president's efforts to keep the scandal-plagued Trump out of politics.
Bush condemned the insurrectionists at the US Capitol in January 2021 and maxed out his political contributions to Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, both of whom supported Trump's impeachment.
Bush also campaigned with Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia ahead of a bitter GOP primary with David Perdue, who was backed by Trump. Trump had urged Perdue, who lost his Senate seat to Jon Ossoff, a Democrat, in January 2021, to try to oust Kemp as punishment for not going along with Trump's baseless election-fraud claims.
Kemp handily beat Perdue and now faces a rematch with the Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Stacey Abrams in November.