FOX31 Denver

GOP’s Supreme Court push may box in Cory Gardner

FILE - In this Oct. 9, 2020, file photo Republican U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, right, and Democratic former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper participate in a debate in Denver. Gardner is poised to be one of the votes that places President Donald Trump's nominee Amy Coney Barrett on the Supreme Court just before the election. (Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post via AP, Pool, File)

DENVER (AP) — Colorado’s endangered Republican senator Cory Gardner may be a casualty of the party’s push to seat a new Supreme Court justice before the election.

Gardner already had a steep uphill path to reelection in increasingly Democratic Colorado. He faces John Hickenlooper, a popular former governor and mayor of Denver who has been trying to portray himself as an independent-minded bipartisan politician.

Republicans acknowledge that Gardner’s vow to confirm President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee ties him to the president and GOP at the worst possible time.