The latest flash point in the nation's gun debate sent millions of Americans marching into the streets over the weekend in cities like Denver to call for stricter gun laws.
"I've never, until this year I haven't contributed a dime in my entire life to anybody's campaign. This year? I've given more money than I ever thought I would do," said David Frieder, a retiree who attended Saturday's gun march in downtown Denver.
Frieder is holding a protest sign that attacks Colorado politicians who have taken contributions from the National Rifle Association. Among them is his congressman, Republican Mike Coffman. "He continues to support the NRA and take money from the NRA, and doesn't return it, and I'm tired of it," he said.
Frieder is exactly the kind of voter — white, suburban, and angry — that Democrats see as critical to picking off enough congressional districts this November to take control of the U.S. House.
Districts like Coffman's are at the front lines of a rising "blue wave." He is one of about two dozen Republicans representing a district Hillary Clinton carried in the 2016 presidential election. Barack Obama likewise won the suburban Denver district in both the 2008 and 2012 elections.
Despite that Democratic tilt to the district, Coffman has won re-election four times.
President Trump's unpopularity, and an unusually mobilized Democratic base for a midterm election year, once again put Coffman at the top of Democrats' target list for 2018.
The gun debate has particular resonance here. A few miles away is where the Columbine School shooting occurred in 1999. Coffman's district includes the Aurora movie theater where 12 were killed in a 2012 mass shooting.
just in time