The Making of a Purple Superhero

Rep. Cory Gardner got called lots of things during his Senate campaign: "extreme," "way too extreme," "just too extreme for Colorado." Coloradans didn't agree. They booted the Democratic incumbent, Mark Udall, and made Gardner not just the next senator from Colorado but the new Republican poster boy. Why Gardner and not someone else? Because unlike Thom Tillis in North Carolina or Tom Cotton in Arkansas, Gardner prevailed handily in a state Obama won twice, most recently by 5 points. His win didn't solidify a red state for Republicans. It blazed a path forward for Republicans in blue states and could serve as a Rosetta Stone for a party hoping to win back the White House two years from now.

Gardner was the object of a transparently manipulative one-issue campaign in which Democrats sought to paint him as an anti-abortion zealot and a four-star general in the "war on women." He'd twice before supported state "personhood" bills granting legal rights to embryos, which would have outlawed abortion and most forms of contraception. Democrats thought a singular focus on this issue would activate female voters and signal Gardner's extremity on other issues, from economics to immigration. National Journal's rankings do show he has the 10th-most-conservative voting record in the House.