On the day after the Iowa caucuses, candidates from both parties in Colorado’s top-ticket races say they’ll back their party’s presidential nominee, whoever that may be.

A few campaigns got in digs at their opponents, while one took the chance to reiterate an endorsement he’s already made, but none of the leading candidates running for the U.S. Senate and the 6th Congressional District seat veered from the party line.

For weeks, state Democrats have been challenging the state’s Republican Senate candidates to say whether they’ll support GOP frontrunners Texas Sen. Ted Cruz or Donald Trump and stepped up the pressure Tuesday after the two finished first and second among Iowa Republicans.

Republicans, for their part, have slammed Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’s campaign promises to raise taxes to fund a single-payer health care system, a proposal some national Democrats have rejected. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton edged Sanders by the slimmest of margins in the Iowa Democratic caucuses Monday night.

One after another, Republican Senate candidates told The Colorado Statesman that they’ll support the GOP nominee. The Democrat they’re hoping to run against, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, has endorsed Clinton but likewise said he’d support the Democrat nominee.

U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman — he’s endorsed Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who finished third in the Iowa Republican caucuses — and his challenger, state Sen. Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora, sounded similar notes.

“Michael is focused on his own campaign,” a Bennet campaign official said. “While he doesn’t agree with either candidate on every issue, he plans to support the Democratic nominee.”

A spokesman for Senate candidate Jon Keyser, a former state representative, took some swings at Bennet and the Obama administration before saying basically the same thing, though from across the aisle.

“Jon is focused on defeating Sen. Michael Bennet and the failed Obama-Bennet foreign policy that has endangered Colorado families,” said Keyser campaign communications director Matt Connelly. “Colorado can’t afford another six years of Sen. Bennet, and Jon believes any of the Republican candidates would be better than the Obama-Bennet national security failures that would continue with Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders in the White House.”

The campaign manager for state Sen. Tim Neville, R-Littleton, noted that there’s a long way to go before a GOP nominee is chosen but said the candidate would support the Republican.

“He doesn’t want to weigh in early in the process, but, at the end of the day, he’s excited about the field,” said Joe Neville, who is also the candidate’s son. “When the nominee comes forward, whoever that nominee is, we hope to join with them on the campaign trail and bring forward big Republican victories in 2016. “

“Jack Graham will support whoever wins the Republican nomination for president over Clinton or Sanders,” said Dick Wadhams, campaign manager for the former CSU athletic director.

Colorado Springs business consultant Robert Blaha responded similarly. “Absolutely,” Blaha told The Statesman. “We will support whoever the Republican candidate is, and it will be a significant step-change from anybody on the other side of the ledger.”

Candidate Ryan Frazier voiced the same conclusion.

“I intend to support whoever the Republican nominee is for president,” Frazier told The Statesman. “Whether it’s Ted Cruz, Donald Trump or Marco Rubio, we’ll see who comes out of it all. I think it’s too early with the up and down and volatility of this election to know who’s going to come out on top.”

El Paso County Commissioner Peg Littleton pulled no punches in her response to The Statesman.

I will support the Republican nominee,” Littleton said. “Clearly, any Republican presidential candidate is a better choice than Hillary the liar or Sanders the socialist. It is also clear voters want someone who is not a paid-for pawn of the GOP establishment. Americans want leaders who speak the truth and do the right thing.”

El Paso County Commissioner Darryl Glenn and activist Charlie Ehler gave identical answers when asked the question at a Republican meeting last week. “I will support the Republican nominee,” Ehler said, as Glenn nodded and then repeated the phrase.

As far as the congressional race, there were no surprises there, either.

“Will Mike Coffman support the Republican nominee over Bernie or Hillary?” said campaign spokeswoman Kristin Strohm. “The answer is obviously yes. And he believes strongly it is going to be Marco Rubio.”

Carroll, who hasn’t made an endorsement in the Democratic presidential primary, told The Statesman, “I am excited to see how the process will play out, and I look forward to working hard to elect whomever the Democratic Party nominates.”

— ernest@coloradostatesman.com