{"id":30844,"date":"2023-11-05T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-05T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wild-west-primary-could-be-ahead-to-fill-ken-bucks-seat\/"},"modified":"2023-11-05T16:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-11-05T16:00:00","slug":"wild-west-primary-could-be-ahead-to-fill-ken-bucks-seat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wild-west-primary-could-be-ahead-to-fill-ken-bucks-seat\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Wild West primary\u2019 could be ahead to fill Ken Buck\u2019s seat"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Republican
Republican state Reps. Mike Lynch, Richard Holtorf and Perry Will, from left, in the House chamber on Wednesday, May 11, 2022, as the legislature wrapped up its final day of the 2022 session. (Hart Van Denburg\/CPR News)<\/span>Hart Van Denburg\/CPR News<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Which all means, CO-04 voters can expect a hotly contested primary race with interest from a plethora of candidates.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be a wild, wild west type of primary,\u201d said GOP political consultant Josh Penry.<\/p>\n

Penry noted this is an increasingly rare opportunity for Colorado Republicans who want to win higher office in a state that appears to just keep getting bluer.<\/p>\n

Colorado\u2019s 4th congressional district is the most conservative in the state. According to congressional redistricting data, it has a 26 point Republican advantage. While geographically, it covers nearly all of the Eastern Plains, the largest population centers are in Front Range communities north and south of Denver.<\/p>\n

Penry said he expects all candidates who run will be conservative with \u201csmall shades of gray differences\u201d between them when it comes to the issues, so the contest will be a \u201cdifference in style, more than substance. Where they\u2019re from, versus where they stand.\u201d<\/p>\n

The primary race could also come down to tactics. Penry said it will be about \u201cwho will be willing to do the work, raise the money and put in the sweat equity\u201d required to meld the three power centers of the district: Weld county, Douglas County and the Eastern Plains.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could see four, even five candidates making the [primary] ballot,\u201d said Dick Wadhams, a Republican consultant and former GOP state party chair. \u201cIt\u2019ll be a hard fought race. An open seat like this, in a safe Republican district doesn\u2019t come along very often.\u201d<\/p>\n

The primary is eight months away and while that might seem like a long time, Wadhams said it\u2019s not. Candidates will have to jump in quickly to create an organization to raise money and actually get out and campaign across the large district.<\/p>\n

Wadhams said of the names being floated, \u201cI don\u2019t see anybody who\u2019d clear the field,\u201d so organization will be key.<\/p>\n

Even before Buck\u2019s announcement that he would not seek reelection, he was already facing a primary challenge. Republican Justin Schreiber, a veteran who described the IRS, ATF & FBI as domestic terrorists, filed paperwork to run, as did Weld County Council member Trent Leisy of Windsor, who tried to capitalize on the latest news to introduce himself to voters.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy RINO primary opponent, Ken Buck, just DROPPED OUT OF THE RACE over President Trump\u2019s ACCURATE rigged election claims,\u201d he wrote on social media.<\/p>\n

State Rep. Richard Holtorf of Akron has also launched an exploratory committee to potentially primary Buck.<\/p>\n

But the fact that it\u2019s no longer a primary race against a five-term incumbent, but a wide-open seat, changes the calculus for many potential candidates.<\/p>\n

One day after Buck\u2019s announcement, conservative radio talk show host Deborah Flora, launched her bid with a produced video.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a business owner and a mom who has been fighting from the school board to the state house for our families and our freedoms. I\u2019m ready to take that fight to Washington,\u201d she said. She previously ran in the GOP primary for U.S. Senate in 2022 but didn\u2019t get enough support to make the ballot.<\/p>\n

She also highlighted issues she plans to tackle if elected, such as energy independence, border security, public safety and parental rights. Flora said she would step down from her show during her congressional campaign.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the first of what\u2019s expected to be many announcements.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am indeed considering a run but haven\u2019t sat down with my family to see if it is workable,\u201d said<\/p>\n

former Republican state lawmaker and current Logan County Commissioner Jerry Sonnenberg.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s from Sterling and a farmer.<\/p>\n

House Minority Leader Rep. Mike Lynch of Wellington also didn\u2019t rule out a bid.<\/p>\n

In a text message he said he knows these are concerning times for the country and said he and his wife are discussing \u201c \u2026 how my background as a West Point graduate, Army veteran, small business owner, and Colorado House Minority Leader could best be used to serve the people of my state and our nation. Stay tuned.\u201d<\/p>\n

A number of other names are also being floated for the seat, including the Republican Party\u2019s most recent gubernatorial candidate, Heidi Gahnal, radio host and former District Attorney George Brauchler, former U.S. Senate candidate Gino Campana, and former state lawmaker Tom Wiens.<\/p>\n

However some possible contenders quickly said no to a run.<\/p>\n

Former GOP state Party Chair Kristi Burton Brown said she seriously considered jumping into the race, \u201cbut with the ages of my kids, this isn\u2019t the right time.\u201d She said she\u2019s highly likely to run for the state Board of Education seat for CO-04 instead.<\/p>\n

Jeff Hunt, who directs Colorado Christian University\u2019s Centennial Institute, also took himself out of the running. \u201cNope not interested,\u201d he texted. \u201cToo many small kids at home.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Republican state Reps. Mike Lynch, Richard Holtorf and Perry Will, from left, in the House chamber on Wednesday, May 11, 2022, as the legislature wrapped up its final day of the 2022 session. (Hart Van Denburg\/CPR News)Hart Van Denburg\/CPR News Which all means, CO-04 voters can expect a hotly contested primary race with interest from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30845,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[120,28,1126],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-30844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado","tag-headlines","tag-politics-general"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30844","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=30844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30844\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30844"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=30844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}