Democratic senatorial candidate Stephany Rose Spaulding said national Democrats have questioned why she as a black woman would run for Senate in Colorado.
MSNBC reporter Chris Jansing interviewed Spaulding and asked how people talked to her after she declared she would run.
"What do people say to you?" Jansing asked.
"'You know where you're running?' And I'm like, yes. 'Do you know that you're black?' every day," Spaulding said.
Jansing appeared to be surprised by Spaulding's response.
"The national Democrats have questioned you running as a black woman?" Jansing asked.
"Yes," Spaulding said. "Especially in Colorado."
Spaulding, 40, is a professor of women's and ethnic studies at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. She joins the crowded field of Democrats challenging incumbent Sen. Cory Gardner (R.) in 2020. She faces off against former Obama diplomat Daniel Baer, former state senator Mike Johnston, former state House Democratic leader Alice Madden, former speaker of the state house Andrew Romanoff, and Colorado's former U.S. attorney John Walsh. All those candidates are white.
In 2018, Spaulding ran for Colorado's fifth congressional district and lost by 18 points.