Eastern Colorado is very right wing, much more like border states Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska than like Denver, Fort Collins, Pueblo or Boulder. The two congressional districts, Ken Buck's 4th and Doug Lamborn's 5th are the two reddest in the state-- with representatives to match the voters. In the new redistricting, CO-04 went from R+22 to R+26 and CO-05 went from R+21 to R+18. Although Biden beat Trump comfortably statewide-- 1,804,352 (55.4%) to 1,364,607 (41.9%), both CO-04 and CO-05 were firmly Trump country-- with Señor Trumpanzee at 56.6% in the 4th and 54.7% in the 5th. And Buck and Lamborn are both made for the districts.
Nevertheless, both are being challenged from the right, Buck by some guy named Bob Lewis who describes himself as a "MAGA activist," isn't a serious candidate, hasn't raised any money and has probably dropped out already or soon will.
Lamborn, on the other hand, has 5 primary challengers, fortunately for him, all basically vanity candidates. Rebecca Keltie has raised the most money, $12,316, of which $7,000 came right from her own bank account. Andrew Heaton has raised $8,175 and the 3 other mental cases haven't raised anything. One of them, a state Rep no less, just got a big burst of earned media.
State Rep. Dave Williams isn't going to be elected to Congress, but the Denver Post covered his lawsuit against Secretary of State Jena Griswold today. He wants to be known as Dave "Let's Go Brandon" Williams on the the primary ballot. Griswold says that slogans aren't allowed on the ballot and this one is a fringe right slogan for "Fuck Biden."
“Let’s Go Brandon” is a stand-in rhyme for an epithet about President Biden that’s taken off among some corners of right-wing politics. The phrase is sold on hats, T-shirts and flags. Attendees at the Colorado Republican Assembly broke out into the chant earlier this month. Williams himself said it during introductory remarks at the event, and he brands his social media accounts with the slogan-- tucked in quotes between his first and last name, just like a nickname. He even signed the lawsuit as David “LGB” Williams.
Williams is challenging U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn for the Republican nomination for El Paso County district, and he’s running to the incumbent’s right in the heavily conservative district. In seeking the nomination at a district assembly, he pledged to be “a right-wing conservative, America-first, grassroots fighter with a spine who won’t back down from the corrupt politicians and the deep state,” according to Colorado Politics.
“My ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ nickname represents who I am and what the voters can count on knowing me by,” Williams said in a text message about the suit. “Jena Griswold is breaking state law, and being inconsistent with her past interpretation of it, because she wants to put her thumb on the scale against my candidacy, and it’s come time she learn she can’t push her radical agenda on the rest of us without a fight.”
The state allows nicknames if the candidate regularly uses it, and it doesn’t include any part of a political party name. According to his lawsuit, Griswold rejected Williams’ request to include the phrase and called it a slogan, not a nickname. Williams contends such a standard doesn’t exist and is inconsistent with precedent set just last November when a school board candidate in Larimer County ran as Blake “No Mandates” Law.
“While Colorado statute does permit the use of nicknames on the ballot, our office does not believe this is a good faith use of that statute and will cause confusion for voters,” a spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s office said in a statement. “The Secretary of State’s Office looks forward to defending our practice of ensuring the ballot remains clear and accessible for all Colorado voters.”
Lamborn is widely considered an asshole and generally unfit for public office-- but not necessarily for the reasons the fascist wing of the party has attacked him for. For instance, Lamborn is being sued by a former congressional staffer who says the he refused to allow employees follow pandemic protocols, such as mask wearing and social distancing. Lamborn was one of the first member of Congress to contract COVID, as did several of his staffers.
On the other hand, would you like to contemplate what kind of congressmember Williams would make? Just watch this video and you'll get a good idea. These are his kind of Republicans: