CO is our 2nd best chance to pickup a Senate seat and we lack a first-tier candidate but have a wide field of lesser known choices who could have a decent chance against the unpopular rat Senator.
Tim Neville, being a State Senator, appearances to be the most the prominent candidate. He was appointed to a vacant GOP seat in 2011 and in 2014 was elected to a full term in a redrawn district, beating a rat incumbent. Very competitive looking district so he’s proven the ability to win a tough race.
Former State Rep and Vet Jon Keyser, and 2 Black Republicans, former Congressional Candidate Ryan Frazier, and El Paso County Commissioner Darryl Glenn are 3 other candidates.
I don’t know if Neville is the best choice or not but if he’s not I doubt it has anything to with this editorial. “Close ties with activist Dudley Brown”? Who cares?
I don’t know which one to support among the numerous Republicans running, but I know that it won’t be Ryan Frazier, whom I recall from his congressional race a few years ago was fairly liberal on social issues (he either was pro-abortion or pro-gay-marriage (back when practically no Republican supported it), or maybe both). I’m not going to demand that we run a 100% conservative for a U.S. Senate race in Colorado, but it’s not too much to ask that our nominee be pro-life and pro-traditional marriage. Besides, it’s not like Frazier has a proven conservative record on other issues or a good track record of winning difficult races.
I’ve looked at Daryl Glenn and he sounds promising, but he hasn’t raised any money. Maybe Neville is the way to go. Frankly, I would have preferred Congressman Doug Lamborn of CO-05 (Colorado Springs) to run for the Senate and have Glen run for the House seat. Heck, I’d be happy with Congressman Mike Coffman of CO-06 (who is far from the most conservative Republican in the state delegation, but is conservative enough and would be a very strong statewide candidate) running for the Senate, even though it likely would mean that the Democrats pick up his Dem-leaning House seat. I can’t believe that we’re on the verge of letting a liberal Democrat like Michael Bennet stay in the Senate for six more years (after having blown the 2010 election).
This one has had me baffled as to whom to support. The CO GOP once again acts like they’re not ready for prime time with this race.
Anyone who is on Neville's emailing list will have already formed an opinion of him—one way or the other. The article just echoes stuff I already know from reading his campaign emails and from my past experiences with Dudley Brown; but it's probably news to a lot of people who haven't been following the race.
Until it hit the House "kill committee", Neville had been using his doomed Constitutional Carry bill (SB16-017) as the centerpiece of his torrent of fundraising emails. At the time, I suspected that this bill was nothing more than a political theatre stage prop. But he seemed OK (and still does) on most issues, so I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
But this M.O.—sensationalistic but ultimately meaningless Second Amendment-related rhetoric as the basis for fundraising—looks to be straight out of Dudley's playbook; so when Neville's email (March 24) touting Dudley's endorsement arrived, it was dismaying but no big surprise.
Nothing against Senator Neville, but I think that Jon Keyser has the star quality and fundraising potential to win this.