Both Gubernatorial Parties’ Primaries Start – Interview With KOA, April Zesbaugh and Steffan Tubbs

George Brauchler, the district attorney for the south metro area, is the first Republican candidate for governor in the field. The open seat caused by John Hickenlooper being term-limited has launched an early start by candidates in both parties. The race will likely be competitive and expensive.

DA George Brauchler at press conference
following announcement of the sentence
 in the James Holmes Aurora theater shooting
Photo: Dustin Bradford/Getty Images

Brauchler, who doesn’t have personal wealth, does have a high statewide identity and a good reputation in the party from the 2012 Aurora shooting and subsequent legal proceedings. He was considered a viable candidate for governor in 2014 and for U.S. Senate in 2016. He passed both times, recognizing he probably wasn’t ready due to his DA duties and given the field. But, he will be a frontrunner in 2018.

Republicans have been losing the metro Denver area with big margins in statewide races. One of Brauchler’s advantages is he is well-known in the metro media market and represents two key counties – Arapahoe and Douglas – that could provide a strong base for his run.

He intends on being the conservative candidate and use the caucus, not petition onto the ballot. He is pro-gun, pro-death penalty, has come out against the transportation tax, and importantly, will resist Washington trying to intervene in Colorado’s legal issues, such as marijuana enforcement.

As I said to the Denver Post on Brauchler’s announcement story (April 5, 2017):

Colorado pollster Floyd Ciruli said the governor’s race is a major test for the Republican Party. The GOP has claimed state’s top job only twice since the 1974 election and watched Democrat Hillary Clinton take the state in 2016.

The potential for an equally messy Democratic primary, he said, is “a real opportunity for them … which makes the Republicans’ selection very important.”

“If they can manage to have this primary and come out of it unitable. And if the ultimate winner is a person who can both lead the party and hold it together, that will … give them a very good chance of mounting a very strong race,” Ciruli said.

Listen to KOA Brauchler story here