- Donald Trump lashed out at GOP candidate Joe O'Dea for listing others he wants to see run in 2024.
- O'Dea is running for Senate in Colorado, a race that could break the 50-50 Senate stalemate.
Donald Trump denounced Senate hopeful Joe O'Dea as a "RINO character," browbeating the first-time Republican candidate who's turned Colorado into an unexpected battleground for pledging to campaign for other potential GOP presidential contenders in 2024.
"There's this RINO character in the Great State of Colorado, Joe O'Dea … who is having a good old time saying that he wants to 'distance' himself from President Trump, and other slightly nasty things," the embattled former president posted on his self-styled social media site, adding that O'Dea should keep in mind that 'MAGA doesn't vote for stupid people with big mouths."
The tongue-lashing comes just hours after O'Dea, who has previously said he doesn't want Trump to run again, told CNN that he plans to "actively campaign" against Trump if elected to the Senate. O'Dea said he would do his best to prop up candidates like Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and Trump-era ambassador Nikki Haley.
"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.
The Trump-O'Dea feud only benefits incumbent Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet, who pollsters at FiveThirtyEight predict will clinch a fourth term.
Recent polls have shown O'Dea making that re-election bid more interesting than expected, keeping Bennet's lead to just single digits in a state where President Joe Biden beat Trump by 13 points.
Republicans only need to flip a single seat to reclaim control of the 50-50 Senate.
O'Dea suggested back in August that the country is ready to move on from 2020. "I think that seeing a Biden-Trump rematch again in 2024 would rip the country apart," he said.