GOP Senate candidate won't back Trump in 2024: 'I hope he doesn't run'
(The Hill) – The Republican nominee for Senate in Colorado said on Friday that he hopes neither President Biden nor former President Trump runs for president in 2024.
“As far as Trump’s concerned, I hope he doesn’t run,” Joe O’Dea said on "The Ross Kaminsky Show" radio program. “I don’t want to see him as president.”
O'Dea continued: “I think a lot of people are ready to move our country forward. So I wouldn't support him running again.”
The construction company executive sharply criticized Biden as well, calling him “the worst president we’ve ever had.”
“Look, I don’t think Biden should run for president, and he’s senile,” said O’Dea. “We’re done with that.”
O’Dea, who will run against incumbent Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) in November, advanced from his primary election on June 28 with a victory against Trump-aligned Ron Hanks.
Hanks was present near the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, leading up to the deadly attack on the building in protest of Biden’s 2020 election win, though he reportedly did not participate in the insurrection.
O'Dea disagreed with him on the integrity of the 2020 election, saying that Biden had won fairly.
O'Dea voiced support for potential 2024 GOP presidential candidates including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley.
“There’s a lot of great talent out there, we need to move this country forward,” said O’Dea of the Republican figures. "I think that seeing a Biden-Trump rematch again in 2024 would rip the country apart.”
The nominee had previously indicated that he would vote for Trump if he was opposing Biden, saying that “if Donald Trump happens to be the Republican nominee, then I definitely won’t vote for Biden.”