{"id":59769,"date":"2014-01-14T00:00:38","date_gmt":"2014-01-14T07:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/once-a-democrat-durango-candidate-looks-to-gop\/"},"modified":"2014-01-14T07:00:38","modified_gmt":"2014-01-14T07:00:38","slug":"once-a-democrat-durango-candidate-looks-to-gop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/once-a-democrat-durango-candidate-looks-to-gop\/","title":{"rendered":"Once a Democrat, Durango candidate looks to GOP"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And then there\u2019s Jaime McMillan.<\/p>\n

The Durango businessman recently was a registered Democrat and ran as an unaffiliated candidate against U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, in 2012. His platform put him to the left of the Democratic candidate, Sal Pace.<\/p>\n

Now he\u2019s aiming for U.S. Senate.<\/p>\n

As a Republican.<\/p>\n

But McMillan didn\u2019t undergo a conversion to conservative politics. Instead, he\u2019s hoping a libertarian message will help him attract Republican voters who want the party to steer away from its powerful right wing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI look at the party now as undergoing a change. I really think it\u2019s trying to get back to its roots as the party of Lincoln, the party of opportunity,\u201d McMillan said.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s a minor candidate in a crowded field that includes two state senators \u2013 Owen Hill and Randy Baumgardner \u2013 state Rep. Amy Stephens, and the party\u2019s 2010 Senate nominee, Ken Buck.<\/p>\n

In 2012, McMillan tried running for the state House seat from Durango, but he pulled out of that race to run for U.S. Congress.<\/p>\n

He ran on a 10-point \u201cAmerica First\u201d platform that included several un-Republican points, including a government-funded health care choice for everyone, similar to Medicare; legal recognition of same-sex relationships; a Constitutional ban on corporate political donations; repeal of national marijuana prohibition laws; deferment of all student loan payments; and a new $1 trillion stimulus package.<\/p>\n

His 2014 platform has some of the same elements, although he has dropped his emphasis on Medicare for all, a new stimulus bill and student loan deferment.<\/p>\n

But he\u2019s still pushing for immigration reform, which the Republican-controlled House refused to take up after it passed the Senate, and a repeal of the federal anti-gay marriage law.<\/p>\n

And he makes no secret of his support for abortion rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough I respect those who do not agree with me, I will not support federal law that seeks to deny a woman the right to choose,\u201d McMillan wrote on his website, www.mcmillanforcolorado.com.<\/p>\n

Despite holding positions well to the left of most Republicans, he hopes a shared respect for civil liberties will help him appeal to his new party. Like a few national Republican candidates, he wants fewer U.S. military confrontations abroad.<\/p>\n

\u201cModeration is really an act of courage. It\u2019s easier to be polarized than to work with someone on the other side,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll need courage to execute his campaign strategy.<\/p>\n

Candidates can get onto the ballot for the June 24 primary in two ways. They can either get petition signatures from registered Republicans, or they can face the party\u2019s hard-core activists in the precinct caucuses and county and state assemblies.<\/p>\n

McMillan isn\u2019t taking the easy way. He said he intends to convert grassroots activists at the precinct caucuses, which are on March 4.<\/p>\n

He will concentrate on winning votes from women and minority Republicans. Buck, the 2010 candidate, lost because U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet won many more votes from suburban women, McMillan said.<\/p>\n

McMillan has moved to Denver temporarily to give him better access to the state\u2019s largest concentration of voters.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, Durango\u2019s my real home,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

McMillan served in the Marines and worked for Charles Schwab for more than 20 years before he started his own business as a financial adviser. He is divorced and the father of two boys.<\/p>\n

joeh@cortezjournal.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

du1-i-syn And then there\u2019s Jaime McMillan. The Durango businessman recently was a registered Democrat and ran as an unaffiliated candidate against U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, in 2012. His platform put him to the left of the Democratic candidate, Sal Pace. Now he\u2019s aiming for U.S. Senate. As a Republican. But McMillan didn\u2019t undergo a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":59770,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[13],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-59769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-frontpage-lead"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59769","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=59769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59769"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=59769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}