Colorado Politics and the Colorado Springs and Denver Gazettes will cohost a debate Oct. 28 between U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat, and Republican challenger Joe O’Dea in a race that could very well decide the balance of the U.S. Senate.

The debate will be held live at Colorado State University’s Lory Student Center Ballrooms from 7 p.m.-8 p.m. and will be livestreamed on coloradopolitics.com, denvergazette.com, and gazette.com.

2022 COLORADO GENERAL ELECTION GUIDE | U.S. Senate

The debate will also be televised across the state, airing on four broadcast stations: KRDO (ABC), KUSA (NBC) in Denver, KKCO (NBC) Grand Junction and KOBF (NBC) in the Four Corners area (Farmington, N.M.). It's also airing on the 9NEWS + digital video platform.

The forum will be moderated by Luigi del Puerto, editor of the Denver Gazette and Colorado Politics; Kyle Clark and Marshall Zellinger of 9News; and Heather Skold of KRDO in Colorado Springs.

All tickets to attend the event in-person have been distributed.

With the Senate locked in at 50-50, Republicans need to gain just one seat to tip the chamber’s balance in their favor and both parties are making Colorado a priority.

Senate Republicans’ top super PAC recently moved $1.25 million into the state. Outside Democratic groups have injected more than $9 million into the Colorado race.

Polls have consistently shown Bennet leading O’Dea in his bid to win a third full Senate term. A Data for Progress poll put Bennet up by 9 points, Marist College gave the Democrat a 7-point edge, Global Strategies Group found Bennet leading by 10 points, and Civiqs reported that it's a 13-point race.

But late in September, a poll sponsored by the Republican Attorney Generals Association showed O’Dea narrowing the gap to just 1 percentage point.

A recent story in D.C.-based Politico on the Colorado race bore the headline: The sleeper state Republicans are targeting to win the Senate.

Politico reported Steven Law, president of the GOP’s Senate Leadership Fund super PAC, placed Colorado in the category of tough-but-possible pickup opportunities this year.

“There’s some potential in places like New Hampshire, Colorado, maybe Arizona,” Law said on an Oct. 4 episode of the conservative political podcast “Ruthless.”

Top Republican operatives say there's a chance O'Dea could pull it out if enough state voters decide to register their disapproval with the party that occupies the White House, holds the majorities in Congress and runs both elected branches of government in Colorado by voting against Bennet. That's the gist of O'Dea's campaign and the message delivered in a flood of attack ads that lay blame for the country's woes at Bennet's feet and argue that it's time to send him home.

2022 COLORADO GENERAL ELECTION GUIDE | Governor and other statewide races

A planned gubernatorial debate in Fort Collins hosted by the same raft of sponsors in the same venue was canceled after Republican Heidi Ganahl declined the invitation. Incumbent Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, had accepted the invitation.

“The Heidi Ganahl for Governor campaign is declining a debate proposed by Denver’s 9NEWS because of biased reporting by one of the network’s 'non-negotiable moderators,'" according to a news release from the campaign.

The cancellation marks the first time since 1994 that 9NEWS will not host a gubernatorial debate.