CD3 poll finds Tipton vulnerable on health care

Dems seeking CD3 nomination holding candidate forum May 9 in Eagle

The national Health Care Voter organization on Friday released a poll showing a statistical dead heat between the Democrat who lands Colorado’s 3^rd Congressional District nomination and incumbent Republican Scott Tipton of Cortez.

U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez

Conducted by “Democratic-aligned but trustworthy Public Policy Polling,” the poll (pdf) surveyed 632 CD3 voters between April 30 and May 1 and found that the Democrat who lands the nomination during the Democratic primary on June 26 is supported by 42 percent of CD3 voters compared to 44 percent for Tipton – a

Former state Rep. Diane Mitsch Bush, D-Steamboat Springs.

statistical dead heat.

The poll also found that “32 percent of voters approve of Tipton’s job performance, while 44 percent disapprove.” Tipton has held the seat since riding in on an anti-Obama, Tea Party wave in 2010 and has easily held off challenges from three different Democrats the

Karl Hanlon

last three elections.

Three Democrats are currently vying for his seat – former Routt County Commissioner and state Rep. Diane Mitsch Bush, Carbondale rancher, water and Glenwood Springs municipal attorney Karl Hanlon and former Eagle County Commissioner and Green Party Senate candidate Arn Menconi.

Mitsch Bush, who earned the top line on the primary ballot at last month’s CD3 assembly, was quick to jump on the poll results by firing off a campaign email on Friday seeking funding to defeat Tipton for his vote last year to repeal the Affordable Care Act. A Colorado progressive group has already started running TV ads targeting Tipton for his health-care votes.

Arn Menconi

Mitsch Bush campaign manager Sonja Macys said Tipton’s ACA votes were the tipping point for Mitsch Bush giving up her state House seat and jumping into the race against Tipton.

“On May 4, 2017, Scott Tipton, once again, voted against his constituents’ interests, aligned himself with Donald Trump and voted in favor of Trump’s ‘heath care’ bill,” Macys said in the email blast. “Most ironic of all was Tipton’s claim that the bill would lower our insurance premiums.”

The poll found that two-thirds of CD3 voters are concerned that ACA repeal would have weakened their health care and that the law should be strengthened instead of repealed.

But Tipton campaign spokesman Michael Fortney on Saturday brushed aside any suggestion that the Cortez businessman is vulnerable in the sprawling but largely conservative Western Slope and southern Colorado district.

“Nancy Pelosi spent almost $3 million trying to beat Congressman Tipton last cycle. He won by 15 points,” Fortney said, referring to PAC money from House Minority Leader Pelosi in support of Democrat Gail Schwartz in 2016.

Schwartz, a former state senator from Crested Butte, appeared to be giving Tipton a run for his money but wound up losing by 14 points. The last time a Democrat held the CD3 seat was moderate Blue Dog Democrat rancher John Salazar in 2010.

To meet the three Dems seeking the nomination to run against Tipton, attend a candidate roundtable from 6 to 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, May 9, at the Brush Creek Park Pavilion in Eagle.

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David O. Williams

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David O. Williams is the editor and co-founder of RealVail.com and has had his awarding-winning work (see About Us) published in more than 75 newspapers and magazines around the world, including 5280 Magazine, American Way Magazine (American Airlines), the Anchorage Daily News (Alaska), the Anchorage Daily Press (Alaska), Aspen Daily News, Aspen Journalism, the Aspen Times, Beaver Creek Magazine, the Boulder Daily Camera, the Casper Star Tribune (Wyoming), the Chicago Tribune, Colorado Central Magazine, the Colorado Independent (formerly Colorado Confidential), Colorado Newsline, Colorado Politics (formerly the Colorado Statesman), Colorado Public News, the Colorado Springs Gazette, the Colorado Springs Independent, the Colorado Statesman (now Colorado Politics), the Colorado Times Recorder, the Cortez Journal, the Craig Daily Press, the Curry Coastal Pilot (Oregon), the Daily Trail (Vail), the Del Norte Triplicate (California), the Denver Daily News, the Denver Gazette, the Denver Post, the Durango Herald, the Eagle Valley Enterprise, the Eastside Journal (Bellevue, Washington), ESPN.com, Explore Big Sky (Mont.), the Fort Morgan Times (Colorado), the Glenwood Springs Post-Independent, the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, the Greeley Tribune, the Huffington Post, the King County Journal (Seattle, Washington), the Kingman Daily Miner (Arizona), KUNC.org (northern Colorado), LA Weekly, the Las Vegas Sun, the Leadville Herald-Democrat, the London Daily Mirror, the Moab Times Independent (Utah), the Montgomery Journal (Maryland), the Montrose Daily Press, The New York Times, the Parent’s Handbook, Peaks Magazine (now Epic Life), People Magazine, Powder Magazine, the Pueblo Chieftain, PT Magazine, the Rio Blanco Herald Times (Colorado), Rocky Mountain Golf Magazine, the Rocky Mountain News, RouteFifty.com (formerly Government Executive State and Local), the Salt Lake Tribune, SKI Magazine, Ski Area Management, SKIING Magazine, the Sky-Hi News, the Steamboat Pilot & Today, the Sterling Journal Advocate (Colorado), the Summit Daily News, United Hemispheres (United Airlines), Vail/Beaver Creek Magazine, Vail en Español, Vail Health Magazine, Vail Valley Magazine, the Vail Daily, the Vail Trail, Westword (Denver), Writers on the Range and the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. Williams is also the founder, publisher and editor of RealVail.com and RockyMountainPost.com.

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