The national Democratic Party is wading into Southwest Colorado’s politics in an effort to flip a Republican-held seat in the Colorado State Senate.
Vivian Smotherman, the Durango Democrat challenging an incumbent Republican for the Senate District 6 seat, has received the backing of an arm of the national Democratic Party that targets state legislative races.
The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee will announce Wednesday morning that Smotherman will be the sole “Spotlight” candidate in Colorado, and one of 180 such candidates nationwide.
Smotherman is facing off with Sen. Cleave Simpson of Alamosa in the district, which comprises 14 counties and stretches from Costilla County west to the Utah state line, north up to Saguache and Montrose counties, excluding Hinsdale and Gunnison counties.
“We work directly with the caucus to assess which races will be most competitive, and we landed on this one as the top, most competitive race (in the state) and representing the best flip opportunity,” DLCC Interim Communications Director Samantha Paisley said.
Smotherman’s spotlight status means she will receive a national-facing fundraising inlet, as well as access to the DLCC’s experts who can help with campaign communications, building field staff and other strategic needs. It could also come with direct financial help from the party.
“With the additional resources, we’re hoping we can get into more digital advertising, more print advertising and more radio advertising, to really reach more of the people around this broad district,” Smotherman said.
Smotherman is a Navy veteran, worked in offshore oil and gas extraction and is a farmer. Although she said she has always voted with Democrats, she was unaffiliated with any political party until recently. She has positioned herself as relative moderate, saying she supports “reasonable gun control,” but said she would not support legislation that takes anyone’s guns.
Earlier this month, she said, “We cannot turn off all of the gas wells or oil wells tomorrow and just go with wind and solar – it’s not going to work.”
Of the 35 seats in the state Senate, 23 are held by Democrats and 12 are held by Republicans. Of those seats, 18 are up for grabs in November. Democrats, who are projected to hold their majority, are trying flip an additional seat so that they can obtain a powerful supermajority in the chamber.
Simpson was elected to represent District 35 in 2020, but began representing La Plata and other Southwest counties in District 6 following redistricting in 2022. His new district is estimated to lean slightly less than one percentage point in Democrats’ favor.
In his first term, Simpson, who is also the general manager of the Rio Grande Water Conservation District, built himself a reputation as a measured and moderate bipartisan collaborator. During a virtual debate earlier this month, Simpson said he and Smotherman were “pretty closely aligned” with respect to their views on climate change – both candidates have a background in farming. On Tuesday, former Colorado Democratic congressman and Colorado Commissioner of Agriculture John Salazar crossed party lines to endorse Simpson.
Although Smotherman’s opponent is not the kind of far-right candidate that has risen to increasing prominence in the modern GOP, Paisley said the DLCC is targeting the SD6 seat because of its vulnerability – not because of the relative risk of the incumbent.
“(Smotherman’s) resume as a teacher and as a veteran, we think that she kind of represents her community quite well and would be a real asset to the district,” Paisley said. “So that’s kind of the two pieces we look for: A) how competitive is this district and B) how does the profile of the candidate fit the community that they’re hoping to serve?”
As of July 1, Smotherman had raised a total of $19,000, lent her campaign $12,600 and had $15,225 on hand.
Simpson had raised $63,000 and had $27,600 on hand.
“I was not expecting it (the Spotlight status) at all, very excited to have it, very thrilled to have that kind of support from the national party,” she said. “Obviously, this came with a lot of recommendations from our state party, so we’re again happy to see that we’re obviously getting the right message out and people are responding to what we’re saying.”
rschafir@durangoherald.com
