{"id":22613,"date":"2025-04-18T16:32:43","date_gmt":"2025-04-18T22:32:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/republican-greg-lopez-is-running-for-a-third-time-to-be-colorados-governor\/"},"modified":"2025-04-18T22:32:43","modified_gmt":"2025-04-18T22:32:43","slug":"republican-greg-lopez-is-running-for-a-third-time-to-be-colorados-governor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/republican-greg-lopez-is-running-for-a-third-time-to-be-colorados-governor\/","title":{"rendered":"Republican Greg Lopez is running for a third time to be Colorado\u2019s governor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Greg
Greg Lopez speaks during the GOP assembly at the Broadmoor World Arena on April 9, 2022, in Colorado Springs. (Hugh Carey\/The Colorado Sun)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Republican Greg Lopez is hoping the third time\u2019s the charm.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s joining an increasingly crowded field of candidates and launching another bid for governor.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels like we\u2019re losing the Colorado we love, but we don\u2019t have to accept this,\u201d Lopez said in a video-taped announcement<\/a> Monday morning. He highlighted affordability issues, public safety and government regulations. \u201cThe future of Colorado is on the line. We can\u2019t afford to sit back.\u201d<\/p>\n

His message also stressed political unity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been told we must pick sides, we\u2019re too different to work together. But I don\u2019t believe that for a second. We don\u2019t need more political games, we need real leadership,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Lopez touted, \u201cpeople over politics,\u201d in his gubernatorial launch, saying it was a movement \u201cabout listening, not dividing.\u201d It\u2019s a phrase that\u2019s been used by congressional Democrats in the last few years.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Lopez finished a short term-stint<\/a> as a member of Congress. He was elected in a 2024 special election to finish the rest of GOP Rep. Ken Buck\u2019s term in the Republican-stronghold 4th Congressional District.<\/p>\n

He touted himself as a place holder candidate during the vacancy committee meeting<\/a>, vowing to serve only six months and not run for a full term in the seat, which is now held by U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert.<\/p>\n

Lopez ran for the Republican nomination for governor in 2022, losing out to Heidi Ganahl in the primary<\/a>. In 2018, he came in third in the Republican primary.<\/p>\n

He was also the lead plaintiff in a case last year to try to overturn Colorado\u2019s limits on campaign contributions<\/a>, which was seen as a sign that Lopez planned to try again to be the state\u2019s chief executive.<\/p>\n

Lopez was elected the mayor of Parker in the 1990s. He also served as the Colorado Director of the Small Business Administration from 2008-2014. In 2020, the Trump Department of Justice and Lopez settled claims that he violated conflict of interest rules.<\/p>\n

Current governor, Democrat Jared Polis, is term-limited.<\/p>\n

The last time a Republican was elected governor of Colorado was in 2002, when Bill Owens won his second term.<\/p>\n

A number of Republicans have already entered the race, including state Sen. Mark Baisley, state Rep. Scott Bottoms<\/a> and Teller Country Sheriff Jason Mikesell<\/a>. Two Democrats have also entered the race: U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet<\/a> and Attorney General Phil Weiser<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The primary is more than 14 months away.<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, journalist-owned news outlet exploring issues of statewide interest. Sign up for a newsletter and read more at coloradosun.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier this year, Lopez finished a short term-stint as a member of Congress<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22614,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[94,2336,28,1304],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-22613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado-state-government","tag-colorado-state-officials","tag-headlines","tag-republican-party"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22613"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=22613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}