In an interview published Tuesday, Colorado Rep. Mike Coffman told BuzzFeed News he tries to “tune out the president” whenever he can.
Coffman said “I try and tune out the president whenever I can, in terms of his tone and saying things that I think are inappropriate,” Coffman said in the interview. “Unfortunately,” he added, “it takes a lot of oxygen.”
The congressman has historically opposed Trump just as adamantly as he has Clinton—but whether he genuine or merely opportunistic remains unclear. His district currently represents a prime opportunity for the fabled “blue wave” of Democratic elections in November.
While Coffman’s 2016 campaign add proclaimed that he would “stand up to” Trump, his Democratic opponent believes he “hasn’t lived up to that promise.” Democrat challenger Jason Crow continued, saying “he’s had two years to fulfill that promise, and he’s broken it.”
Despite the evidence, Coffman contests a FiveThirtyEight finding that he has voted with the President about 96% of the time. “That is just so ridiculous; it’s off some blog. I mean, the only time the president reached out for me personally and asked for something, I said no. That was on the health care bill,” he said.
While the nonpartisan Cook Political Report sees his race as a “toss up,” FiveThirtyEight gives him a less than 20% chance of holding onto his seat beyond 2018.