Sen.-Elect Cory Gardner, the Republican who defeated Democrat Mark Udall for Colorado’s Senate seat, said he hopes President Obama changes his mind and does not move forward with plans to take executive action to provide relief for millions of illegal immigrants.
If Republicans in Congress do not commit to taking up the comprehensive immigration reform bill that passed the Senate by the end of the year, Obama has repeatedly pledged to use his executive power to declare amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants already living in the country.
“I hope this president between now and then will change his mind,” Gardner told Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday.” “We have to encourage him to do the right thing.”
“We need immigration reform in this country because the system isn’t working right now,” he continued. “Let’s do the right thing. Let’s work together and find solutions.”
Colorado has a large and growing Latino population, making it a closely watched bellwether state when it comes to the issue of immigration and its impact on elections.
Gardner won the race handily by selling himself as an advocate of the immigration reform movement even though Latino activists spent months of activity in Colorado organizing voters on behalf of Udall, who strongly supported the bipartisan Senate immigration bill and a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.
Exit votes showed Gardner tying Udall among Latino voters even though he voted to defund Obama’s program providing legal relief to children of illegal immigrants, known as “Dreamers,” and opposed the Senate’s bipartisan immigration reform measure.
Asked what Republicans can do to avoid alienating Latino voters in 2016, Gardner said Congress should immediately pass measures that both Republicans and Democrats can agree on to strengthen border security, provide guest workers and ensure a national e-verify system for businesses to know who is and isn’t legal to work in the country.
“Let’s take those steps that we have broad agreement on,” he said.
He attributed his win in Colorado to voter disenchantment with broad dysfunction in Washington.
“What I saw in Colorado on election night wasn’t so much about the Republicans or the Democrats,” he said. “But it was the failed ways of Washington and Democrats happen to control the Senate and the White House.”
“The mandate was this: People don’t like dysfunction and gridlock. And if two years from now, if Republicans don’t prove that we can govern in a mature way, it will be a wave going the opposite way, to Democrats.”
