BUCK: We have Joe O’Dea with us now. He is running for a critical Senate seat in Colorado. Joe, great to have you with us, man, first time on C&B.

O’DEA: Yeah, so good to be with you guys. I listen to you all the time on AM 760 here in Colorado. You guys are on every morning. Fantastic. I appreciate it.

BUCK: Thank you. You have excellent taste in radio, so now we definitely have to make you a U.S. senator.

CLAY: (laughing)

BUCK: So tell us how this race is going, because it hasn’t gotten as much national attention, I’m sure, because Democrats don’t want anyone to think about how you’re making this a horse race.

O’DEA: It is a horse race, and voters are going to weigh in on November 8th, and I’m going to tell you right now, we’re going to shock the world when Colorado puts a Republican in the U.S. Senate. I’m not a career politician. My whole life has been about hard work. And the biggest problem we’ve got in D.C. right now is most of those people have never worked a hard day in their lives. I’m going to get in there and stir things up in the U.S. Senate, represent working Americans, start talking about things that matter to us here in Colorado like inflation and crime.

CLAY: So, Joe, first of all, we appreciate you coming on. Secondly, what does it say that Joe Biden is having to come to your state to rally the troops? To me, when I saw this occurring, I said, “Hey, things must not be going that well in Colorado,” because a lot of times people just say, “Hey, we don’t have to go to states that we’re doing well in.” This is actually a huge compliment to how your campaign’s going.

WATCH: Backbencher Michael Bennet says he’s “more progressive than Bernie Sanders.”pic.twitter.com/KO1p8NBgWs

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 11, 2022

O’DEA: Well, yeah. It just reinforces the fact that Bennet and Biden are joined at the hip here. It’s a photo-op today. Bennet votes with him 98% of the time, and those policies that the Biden administration has put in place, you know, it’s the frivolous spending. Inflation now, record high, 41-year high. We got gas prices going back up again. Groceries are out of sight. People are worried about it, not to mention the crime that’s taking over our state.

BUCK: Now, talk about that for a moment, if you would. How is it going in in Denver, some of the other cities within Colorado’s borders. We’ve seen just astronomical increases in places like Oregon, where there is a Republican contender for the governor’s mansion that may be able to pull it out, Christine Drazan. Colorado right now, Coloradoans have got to be fed up with what they’re seeing on the crime front. What’s it been like? I mean, you’ve got progressive prosecutors running amok there, too?

O’DEA: Oh, yeah. They’ll let anybody out without any bail. They don’t hold anybody accountable. And, you know, Bennet has been in the middle of it. He owns all this. We’re number one. We’re number one in auto thefts and bank robberies here — the number one state in Colorado — we’re number three in violent crime. Unbelievable. Denver’s one of the… It’s just shown this morning that they’re one of the most dangerous cities in the United States.

And it’s because of the policies that have been put in place by one Democratic governor here, senator here. I mean, we’ve got Democrats at every level, and they own what’s going on here in Colorado, and that’s why people are so unhappy here in Colorado right now. They don’t feel safe. They don’t feel safe in their home. It’s everywhere. I go to meetings across the state, and I talk to people about, “Hey, how many people have lost a car?” Some people are raising both of their arms because they’ve had it stolen twice. It’s crazy. Over 4,000 cars stolen here in Colorado every month. That’s a phenomenal amount of auto thefts.

CLAY: Joe, what is the number? Crime, obviously, is registering all over the country. So is inflation. How many people understand that in Colorado, if they’re unhappy with Joe Biden, the number-one thing they can do is vote for you so that his power will be checked? Is that a compelling pitch? Are you hearing that as being a really resonant aspect of your campaign?

O’DEA: Oh, totally. You know, I’ve been across all 64 counties here in Colorado, some of them two and three times, and the one thing I’m hearing about is inflation. They’re really worried about cost of gas, cost of groceries. Rents are up. Our heating bills here in Colorado are projected to be up 50, 60%, and we spend a lot on heat every month here because it’s a cold state. 401(k)s have dropped by over 25% since January.

And they all understand that these are Democratic policies that have been put in place for the last year and a half by the Democrats and caused it, and so we built a huge tent across the state here. We’ve got a lot of good GOP Trump supporters. We’ve got unaffiliateds. We got some disgruntled Democrats that have stepped in behind this campaign. They’re excited about it. We got a great group on the ticket down ticket as well. A lot of good Republicans have stepped up to take control of our state and let’s get it back headed in the right direction.

BUCK: We’re speaking to Joe O’Dea. He is running for senate in Colorado, and it is a winnable seat. I mean, in your final weeks here to close this gap, we got Coloradoans, as you know, listening –independents and swing voters in the mix for sure — what’s your elevator pitch? Why they should give you a guy without a political background, a shot in the U.S. Senate?

O’DEA: Well, look, all they got to ask yourselves is, “Am I better off now than I was two years ago?” And I think the resounding answer is, “No way. We’ve got to make a change.” Let’s put a guy in there that’s not afraid of hard work. I didn’t have a silver spoon in my mouth when I was born. My wife and I started a company from nowhere. Nothing. We’ve lived the American dream here, and I want to make sure that that American dream is there for all of Colorado.

We need to make sure that people that want to go into a small business can. I was just down on the Colorado National Speedway here a week ago, talked to a guy that runs a Snap-On Tool truck and he hasn’t made a sale in three and a half, four weeks. He’s worried about the direction of this country. Joe Biden says we don’t have a recession? He’s lost his mind. It’s here. It’s affecting good working Americans. We need to make sure that we do something different here in November than to put these guys back in place.

CLAY: We’re talking to Colorado Republican Senate candidate Joe O’Day. Also want to say hi and make sure we give a shout out to our affiliate in Denver and the Boulder area, KDFD-AM — we’re number one there — KGLN in Grand Junction, KNFO in Aspen, KCSJ in Pueblo in KCOL in Loveland. Those are all fantastic places where people are listening to us right now as we talk about this Senate campaign. Joe, they tried to knock you out in the Republican primary.

This was something that the Democrats did all over the country. They claim to be concerned about the sanctity of our democracy, but they jumped into a bunch of different Republican primaries and tried to knock out candidates that they perceived to be the best candidate for Republicans. You were able to still win that campaign and I would imagine now, it kind of has solidified your standing. This has backfired on them.

O’DEA: Well, yeah. When I get to the U.S. Senate here in January, I’m going to reach across the aisle and shake Schumer’s hand and tell him, “Thank you for shoving me to the middle here of a purple state.” Colorado likes a moderate Republican. That’s what I am. I’ve run on that. We’re going to be sensible when we get to the Senate. We’re going to get good things done for Colorado, and I’m just appreciative that they threw that $10 million into the race that, you know, shoved me to the middle here in Colorado.

BUCK: Joe, where should folks go if they want to help out, want to get involved?

O’DEA: Yeah. I need your listeners to support us. It’s JoeODea.com. That’s J-O-E-O-D-E-A.com, and just a big shout out to all of Colorado. Let’s don’t leave anything, any stone unturned. Let’s get this vote in this year. Every vote counts. We need them to show up.

BUCK: Joe, good luck to you, man. Joe O’Dea for Colorado.