EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) - Since 2000, a Republican has won Colorado's 5th Congressional District by no fewer than 39,000 votes. That streak of dominance will be broken this year, even if all remaining ballots vote for Jeff Crank.
What's different this year?
"When it comes to elections, money is always a big factor. And she [Jessica Killin] was able to, even before her primary election was complete, she had already started putting out negative Jeff Crank ads," Chairman of the El Paso County Republican Party Ken Davis told KRDO13.
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When asked, Davis said an unpopular White House didn't help Republicans at the local level either.
At Tuesday's Jeff Crank watch party, a couple of attendees spoke about a changing El Paso County demographic impacting the race. Davis said he's noticed that demographic shift, but Republicans aren't going to be shut out.
"[Our] messaging has to become central. We need to definitely coalesce around some central ideas as a party," Davis said they're already working on making changes in their strategy. Davis said they are going to be more front-facing while focusing on educating and interacting more with the electorate.
On the other side of the aisle, the El Paso County Democrats are confident--not only that Jessica Killin will pull off a historic upset, but that it won't be a one-hit wonder, like the band Chumbawamba.
"I think that we'll see competitive races moving forward. We were already moving in that direction," said Chairman of the El Paso County Democrats John Jarrell.
Jarrell attributed the Democratic success this year to Killin's campaign putting extra work into door knocking and working with some of the newer voters in the county.
"We've seen a lot of new housing there which brings in new families, young families that have different point of views on politics than the previous generations did," Jarrell said. "I think, because of the experience they've had since COVID on things like cost-of-living, things like the so-called kitchen table issues that are definitely transcending."
As of Wednesday night at 10 p.m., the race between Crank and Killin was still too close to call. The last update had Killin up by just over 12,700 votes.
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