2016 United States Senate election in Colorado


The 2016 United States Senate election in Colorado was held on November 8, 2016, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the state of Colorado, concurrently with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states, elections to the United States House of Representatives, and various state and local elections.
Major party candidates can qualify for the ballot through party assemblies or by petition. To qualify by assembly, a candidate must receive at least 30 percent of the vote from the party's state assembly. To qualify by petition, the candidate must have filed at least 1,500 signatures from each congressional district by April 4, 2016.
Incumbent Democratic Senator Michael Bennet won re-election to a second full term in office. Bennet's main challenger was Republican nominee Darryl Glenn, an El Paso County commissioner. Glenn won a crowded, five-way Republican primary in June. Three other candidates were on the ballot: former Eagle County Commissioner Arn Menconi was the Green Party nominee; Lily Tang Williams was the Libertarian Party nominee; and Unity Party of America chairman Bill Hammons was the Unity Party nominee.

Background

Democratic U.S. Senator Ken Salazar resigned in January 2009 to become United States Secretary of the Interior, and Governor Bill Ritter appointed Bennet, the Superintendent of Denver Public Schools, to replace him. Bennet was elected to a full term in 2010, defeating Republican Ken Buck by 48.1% to 46.4%.

Democratic primary

Incumbent senator Michael Bennet was unopposed for renomination.

Candidates

Nominee

Republican primary

The Colorado Republican Party State Assembly was held on April 9, 2016. Darryl Glenn won the convention with 70% of the vote. Robert Blaha, Jack Graham, Jon Keyser, and Ryan Frazier sought to qualify for the ballot by petition instead of through the State Assembly.
Glenn won the June primary with about 37.5% of the vote in the crowded, five-candidate Republican primary field.

Candidate controversies

In early May, the Denver ABC affiliate uncovered over 10 forged voter signatures on the petition which placed Republican candidate Jon Keyser on the June Republican primary ballot. The circulator who forged the signatures was arrested for 34 felonies. A late May lawsuit claiming at least 60 forged signatures based on the analysis of a handwriting expert and challenging Keyser's placement on the primary ballot was dismissed because it did not fall within the five-day window to challenge a ballot placement.
When asked on-camera about the forgeries, Keyser did not address the issue, and proceeded to inform the interviewer that Keyser's dog was larger than the interviewer.
In early June, when asked by a fellow Republican candidate and a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel whether Keyser received his Bronze Star for work on a software program or for "kicking in doors" in combat as "represented to the community", Keyser refused to answer the question, and claimed he had "no idea" what software program his rival was talking about. Yet, according to the article announcing Keyser's citation, Keyser "developed and implemented a unique and effective technique to provide critical force protection and situational-awareness data to ground counter-terrorism operations."
In August 2014, Republican candidate Jack Graham was fired as Colorado State University athletic director for unspecified reasons, though he would continue to be paid through the November 2016 election.

Candidates

Nominee

Eliminated in primary

Withdrew

Rejected at convention

Declined

Results

Darryl Glenn won the general primary on June 28 and went on to face the other candidates in the November election.

Third party and independent candidates

Declared

General election

Polling

Graphical summary

Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin of
error		Michael
Bennet 		Darryl
Glenn 		OtherUndecided
SurveyMonkeyNovember 1–7, 20162,777± 4.6%52%45%—3%
SurveyMonkeyOctober 31–November 6, 20162,412± 4.6%51%45%—4%
Public Policy PollingNovember 3–4, 2016704± 3.7%50%40%5%6%
Keating ResearchNovember 2–3, 2016605± 4.0%49%38%5%5%
SurveyMonkeyOctober 28–November 3, 20161,927± 4.6%51%45%—4%
Breitbart/Gravis MarketingNovember 1–2, 20161,125± 2.9%47%44%—9%
SurveyMonkeyOctober 27–November 2, 20161,631± 4.6%50%46%—4%
The Times-Picayune/LucidOctober 28–November 1, 2016972± 3.0%49%41%—10%
SurveyMonkeyOctober 26–November 1, 20161,402± 4.6%49%47%—4%
University of DenverOctober 29–31, 2016550± 4.2%48%40%3%9%
Emerson CollegeOctober 28–31, 2016750± 3.5%47%42%6%5%
SurveyMonkeyOctober 25–31, 20161,532± 4.6%48%46%—6%
CBS News/YouGovOctober 26–28, 2016997± 4.1%46%41%3%10%
University of Colorado BoulderOctober 17–24, 20161,037± 3.6%54%40%6%0%
Quinnipiac UniversityOctober 10–16, 2016685± 3.7%56%38%—6%
Magellan Strategies (R)October 12–13, 2016500± 4.4%47%32%9%12%
Washington Post/SurveyMonkeyOctober 8–16, 2016956± 0.5%52%42%—6%
Breitbart/Gravis MarketingOctober 12–13, 20161,226± 2.8%48%38%—13%
Breitbart/Gravis MarketingOctober 3–4, 20161,246± 2.8%47%39%—15%
Monmouth UniversitySeptember 29–October 2, 2016400± 4.9%53%35%7%5%
Public Policy PollingSeptember 27–28, 2016694± 3.7%44%34%7%15%
Public Policy PollingSeptember 27–28, 2016694± 3.7%50%40%—10%
CNN/ORCSeptember 20–25, 2016784 LV± 3.5%53%43%1%2%
CNN/ORCSeptember 20–25, 2016896 RV± 3.5%53%41%1%2%
Breitbart/Gravis MarketingSeptember 22–23, 2016799± 3.5%43%45%—12%
Quinnipiac UniversitySeptember 13–21, 2016644± 3.9%52%43%1%4%
Colorado Mesa University/Rocky Mountain PBSSeptember 14–18, 2016350 LV± 6.3%42%31%4%22%
Colorado Mesa University/Rocky Mountain PBSSeptember 14–18, 2016350 LV± 6.3%45%32%2%20%
Colorado Mesa University/Rocky Mountain PBSSeptember 14–18, 2016540 RV± 5.1%38%26%5%31%
Colorado Mesa University/Rocky Mountain PBSSeptember 14–18, 2016540 RV± 5.1%44%28%3%26%
Emerson CollegeSeptember 9–13, 2016600± 3.6%46%39%7%8%
Magellan Strategies (R)August 29–31, 2016500± 4.4%48%38%7%7%
Quinnipiac UniversityAugust 9–16, 2016830± 3.4%54%38%—8%
NBC/WSJ/MaristAugust 4–10, 2016899± 3.3%53%38%2%7%
FOX NewsJuly 9–12, 2016600± 4.0%51%36%1%9%
Monmouth UniversityJuly 9–12, 2016404± 4.9%48%35%5%12%
Harper PollingJuly 7–9, 2016500± 4.4%46%40%—14%
NBC/WSJ/MaristJuly 5–11, 2016794± 3.5%53%38%2%7%
Senate Conservatives FundJuly 1–6, 2016500–47%42%—11%

with Scott Tipton

Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin of
error		Michael
Bennet 		Scott
Tipton 		OtherUndecided
Greenberg Quinlan Rosner - Democracy CorpsOctober 24–28, 20151,600± 3.2%50%44%—16%

with Mike Coffman

Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin of
error		Michael
Bennet 		Mike
Coffman 		OtherUndecided
Quinnipiac UniversityMarch 29–April 7, 2015894± 3.3%40%43%4%14%

with Cynthia Coffman

Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin of
error		Michael
Bennet 		Cynthia
Coffman 		OtherUndecided
Quinnipiac UniversityMarch 29–April 7, 2015894± 3.3%44%36%5%15%

Results

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

By congressional district

Bennet won four of seven congressional districts, including one that elected a Republican.
DistrictBennetGlennRepresentative
69%26%Diana DeGette
56%37%Jared Polis
44%50%Scott Tipton
38%57%Ken Buck
36%58%Doug Lamborn
51%44%Mike Coffman
54%40%Ed Perlmutter