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Gardner Defeats Shaffer In 4th District Congressional Race

Nathan Heffel
/
KUNC

Republican Congressman Cory Gardner fended off his Democratic challenger Brandon Shaffer to retain his seat in the fourth congressional district. Gardner easily won the district Tuesday night maintaining a commanding lead over Shaffer. 

Thanks to congressional redistricting, Gardner has a lot of new voters to meet as he starts his 2nd term in office, something the congressman was quick to point out shortly after his win.

“48% of the district will be brand new, when we were elected two years ago the first thing we did  was  embarked on a listening tour around the district, I anticipate that during the next couple of months we’ll be doing a similar kind of thing. Although we’ll still be in session, so we’ll be dealing with sequestration issues while we’re also making sure we meet new people in the district.”

Gardner was one of only a few candidates speaking publicly at the Republican watch party at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. Shortly after his acceptance speech, Gardner supporter Richard Dunlap reached out to the congressman with a very personal plea.

“When you go back in to congress please let the president know that he needs to have a dose of humility, and work with you guys.”

While Gardner has a clear mandate in the 4th District, he admits the country remains very divided.

"It’s [also] a very divided Colorado public about what to do going forward. Obviously the President will be facing a divided government once again... There’s no clear mandate. The mandate that I believe the nation is sending to Washington is we’re going to try everything we can to send people to Washington DC, to send people to the Colorado legislature to find answers to our nation’s greatest challenges.”

With the election over, Cory Gardner says he plans to return to his hometown of Yuma to spend some time with his family before heading back to Washington to face several high profile issues – including the impending fiscal cliff.

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