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DENVER (AP) -- A House Republican leader from Tennessee is headed to Denver to stump for a state lawmaker hoping to unseat a freshman Democrat.

Rep. Marsha Blackburn headlines a luncheon with donors at the Brown Palace Hotel Friday for state Rep. Cory Gardner of Yuma.

Gardner is seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic Rep. Betsy Markey in a sprawling eastern Colorado district.

Tickets to the luncheon started at $219, and the Gardner campaign said the event would raise at least $25,000.

Blackburn is a vocal critic of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. Markey was among the majority Democrats who backed the final version of the new health care law.

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