1/30/2019

ELECTION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Republican Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado is endorsing President Donald Trump, a reversal after he opposed Trump’s election in the final days of the 2016 race. Widely seen as the most vulnerable GOP incumbent in 2020, Gardner told a conservative publication in an article published Wednesday that he would back Trump this time…But Gardner is squeezed by the realities of politics — though Republicans are a dwindling share of Colorado’s electorate, they are fiercely loyal to the president. Indeed, the two Republican senate candidates who did not endorse Trump in states that were competitive in 2016 — Joe Heck in Nevada and Kelly Ayotte in New Hampshire — both lost. Gardner opposed Trump during the 2016 GOP primary. He eventually endorsed the reality show star, but he quickly rescinded that after a tape surfaced in which Trump bragged of sexually assaulting women. Gardner said he would write in the name of Mike Pence, Trump’s vice president, instead.”

Associated Press, “Sen. Cory Gardner Endorses Trump Re-election,” The New York Times online, January 30, 2019