LCV Victory Fund Adds Joe O’Dea to ‘Dirty Dozen’; Launches $1.3M+ Anti-O’Dea Ad Buy in CO Senate Race | LCV Victory Fund

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LCV Victory Fund Adds Joe O’Dea to ‘Dirty Dozen’; Launches $1.3M+ Anti-O’Dea Ad Buy in CO Senate Race

October 11, 2022
Contact: Emily Samsel, emily_samsel@lcv.org, 828-713-9647

O’Dea questions climate science, said he was open to cutting Social Security, is ‘out for himself’

 

Denver, CO – With less than one month until Election Day, LCV Victory Fund today announced that Colorado Senate candidate Joe O’Dea is the latest addition to their 2022 House and Senate Dirty Dozen list of the worst anti-environmental candidates and launched new anti-O’Dea ads on TV and digital totaling over $1.3 million. 

WATCH: “Earned”

WATCH: “51st”

One TV ad, “Earned,” began running over the holiday weekend and highlights Margaret from Denver’s frustration with O’Dea saying he was open to cutting Medicare and Social Security while supporting tax breaks for Big Oil. The other new spot, “51st,” will also run on TV, as well as digital, and highlights O’Dea – and former President Trump – questioning the human impact on the climate crisis that has fueled deadly Colorado wildfires.

“Joe O’Dea is a wolf in sheep’s clothing –  we put him on the Dirty Dozen list because he’s as extreme as they come. O’Dea’s dangerous positions on climate change, Social Security, and oil and gas drilling on public lands would hurt the people of Colorado and take our country backward,” said Eva Estrada, LCV Victory Fund Regional Campaigns Director. “Coloradans have a proven champion for their health, the environment, and their pocketbooks in Sen. Michael Bennet.” 

More information on Joe O’Dea’s record on climate and the environment:

Colorado Senate – Joe O’Dea

O’Dea is a first time Dirty Dozen member, as he has never run for office before. O’Dea is a classic Colorado greenwasher in the vein of one-term former Senator Cory Gardner – O’Dea questioned the human impact on the climate crisis in an interview with Denver7 saying, “There’s no doubt that the climate is changing, everybody can agree that it is getting warmer. How much of it’s caused by man-made? How much of it’s natural? I think there’s a debate there still to be had.” O’Dea opposes the popular CORE Act that would protect 400,000 acres of Colorado’s public lands by withdrawing 200,000 acres from future oil and gas development and generally wants to expand oil and gas drilling on public lands. O’Dea opposed the Inflation Reduction Act that will tackle climate change, calling it “a tax,” opposes government incentives to support the transition to renewable energy, and opposes the Big Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act, which was cosponsored by Sen. Michael Bennet and would protect consumers from unfair price-gouging by big oil companies. 

For more than 25 years, LCV Victory Fund’s Dirty Dozen program has targeted candidates — regardless of party affiliation — who consistently side against the environment and are running in races in which LCV Victory Fund has a serious chance to affect the outcome. Joe O’Dea is the eighth addition to LCV Victory Fund’s 2022 House and Senate Dirty Dozen. He joins Arizona Senate candidate Blake Masters, Nevada Senate candidate Adam Laxalt, Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson, Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker, Pennsylvania Senate candidate Mehmet Oz, North Carolina Senate candidate Rep. Ted Budd (NC-13), and New Mexico Rep. Yvette Herrell (NM-02) on this year’s list of the worst of the worst federal candidates for our environment and democracy. LCV Victory Fund will announce the final four additions to the 2022 House and Senate Dirty Dozen later this week.

Scripts for the two new ads are below.

“Earned”
I worked 42 years
And I paid into Social Security every single paycheck
So when Republican Joe O’Dea said he’s open to cutting Social Security and Medicare
No way
I’m tired of these extreme politicians who give huge tax breaks to the big oil companies
While gutting our Social Security and Medicare
That’s my money
I earned it
Joe O’Dea is out for himself

“51st”
News anchor: The worst drought in 1200 years
News anchor 2: Devastating wildfires in Colorado
Donald Trump: A lot of it’s a hoax, it’s a hoax
News anchor 3: The destruction is catastrophic
Joe O’Dea: How much of it is caused by man made?
I think there’s a debate there still to be had
VO: No there’s not
Man-made climate change is real
But Joe O’Dea would be the 51st vote Republicans need
To repeal the landmark Climate Law
That puts Coloradans to work
Creating clean energy
Saving households $1,800 a year
O’Dea’s one of them, not one of us

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Paid for by LCV Victory Fund, www.lcvvictoryfund.org, and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.