Gubernatorial candidate Heidi Ganahl cried quietly through her concession speech, paused to collect herself and showed a softness \u2013 a vulnerability \u2013 noticeably absent on the campaign trail.<\/p>\n
Ganahl\u2019s preteen daughter joined her mother on stage and sobbed hard, heaving and burying her face into Ganahl, who talked about being a \u201cmom on a mission.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ganahl\u2019s words were emotional. And perplexing. Beyond running on common conservative phrasing \u2013 school choice, no taxes, crackdown on crime and drugs, freedom and lassoing inflation \u2013 we could never get a solid plan out of her. Like others coming behind Donald Trump, she ran a campaign as a populist without credible, detailed content. She floated ideas without connecting the dots. That Trump-like attitude \u2013 pick me, pick the Republican Party \u2013 with no real roadmap to results cost her.<\/p>\n
Her words didn\u2019t jibe with the moms on missions we know, who sit at kitchen tables, pencils pinning up hair, as they line out exactly what needs to happen. Ganahl\u2019s mission breakdown didn\u2019t go beyond sitting behind the governor\u2019s desk. So many questions. One being, how could Ganahl eliminate income tax and<\/em> fund the state? No spreadsheet presented.<\/p>\n From the start, Ganahl dodged questions about whether the 2020 presidential election was legitimate. Then Danny Moore, an election denier, became her running mate. Things became perverse in late September on Jimmy Sengenberger\u2019s KNUS show, where Ganahl said Colorado students were self-identifying as cats.<\/p>\n Ganahl said, \u201cIt\u2019s happening all over Colorado and schools are tolerating it.\u201d<\/p>\n In early October, Lauren Boebert repeated the well-refuted lie in Mesa County, adding that Durango schools provided litter boxes for students. Educators scrambled to set the record straight.<\/p>\n After winning 40.8% of the votes next to Gov. Jared Polis\u2019 57%, Ganahl wore her disappointment and exhaustion. Her concession speech seemed heartfelt. But what was it really about? Being teary after losing an election is understandable. Even more heart-wrenching would be to lose after delivering a bulletproof plan to re-right Colorado that would not see the light of day. A plan that never materialized.<\/p>\n In talking about forces against her, Ganahl mentioned the media \u201cfrom Day One.\u201d Tough words. We tried to get at the truth. But she wouldn\u2019t fully engage.<\/p>\n After stepping off the stage, candidates commonly give closing remarks. But Ganahl refused. Her team yelled over reporters\u2019 questions, shooing them away, according to a media partner. It\u2019s sad to go out on this note. We never knew the real Heidi Ganahl behind that steely facade. Her concession was our closest glimpse.<\/p>\n It was a different story with Polis, who appeared confident and seasoned, and ran on his record. During debates, he was chill, yet projected a \u201cbring it\u201d challenge to Ganahl.<\/p>\n Polis earned this next term. He\u2019s done good work, including capping the cost of insulin, offering property tax relief and more. A favorite accomplishment is free, full-day kindergarten and preschool. This levels the playing field for all young schoolchildren and provides economic purpose as parents \u2013 especially moms \u2013 can more easily work.<\/p>\n Another Polis achievement. Colorado was the ninth lowest in the U.S. for COVID-19 deaths. During the pandemic, his actions were swift, rational and data-driven.<\/p>\n With green partners, Polis is committed to 80% of renewable energy in Colorado by 2030 and 100% by 2040. He has a plan with benchmarks. We like that.<\/p>\n Polis shored up women\u2019s reproductive rights, positioning the state as a bulwark against the feds, if need be.<\/p>\n In his acceptance speech, Polis talked about \u201ca Colorado for all, where there\u2019s room and a place for everybody to be themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n We share his sentiment.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Gubernatorial candidate Heidi Ganahl cried quietly through her concession speech, paused to collect herself and showed a softness \u2013 a vulnerability \u2013 noticeably absent on the campaign trail. Ganahl\u2019s preteen daughter joined her mother on stage and sobbed hard, heaving and burying her face into Ganahl, who talked about being a \u201cmom on a mission.\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[125],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-37373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-newsletter-opinion"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37373","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=37373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37373\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37373"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=37373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}