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September 30, 2015 02:30 PM UTC

BREAKING: Brauchler Declines U.S. Senate Run

  • 31 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols
Arapahoe County DA George Brauchler.
Arapahoe County DA George Brauchler.

UPDATE #4: 9NEWS’ Allison Sylte:

Brauchler, who prosecuted the Aurora theater shooting case, was on the short list of Republican candidates to challenge Democratic incumbent Michael Bennet for his seat.

Brauchler told 9NEWS it was a tough—and close—decision for him.

“I got pretty far down the field,” Brauchler told 9NEWS. “I just couldn’t do it to my family.”

….Speculation about his political future was rampant during the months-long theater shooting trial, which ended in a conviction for the man who killed 12 people and injured 70 others. Brauchler became the target of criticism, however, after the jury failed to make a unanimous decision about the death penalty, meaning that the killer was sentenced to life in prison instead.

This was something the defense offered in a plea deal before the trial even began. [Pols emphasis]

—–

UPDATE #3: Somebody had better get GeorgeForDa.com back online — Brauchler’s old campaign site has been down since late August — just two days before BrauchlerForSenate.com was registered online.

—–

UPDATE #2: From the National Journal:

“Des­pite the over­whelm­ing sup­port and en­cour­age­ment that I re­ceived over the past few weeks, I have de­cided that now is not the right time for me and my fam­ily for me to make a run for the United States Sen­ate,” Brauchler said in a state­ment provided to Na­tion­al Journ­al. “I have de­cided in­stead to seek re-elec­tion as the Dis­trict At­tor­ney for the Eight­eenth Ju­di­cial Dis­trict.”

Yeah, right. “Overwhelming” support.

—–

UPDATE: Top Republicans are apparently as surprised by this announcement as everyone else. We hear that potential campaign staffers for Brauchler were being vetted this week.

—–

That’s the word moments ago from 9NEWS’ Jeremy Jojola, we’re seeking confirmation:


We’ll update with details as they come in, but the waters appear to be parting for Tim Neville. We reported last week that the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) was actively pushing George Brauchler’s candidacy to top Republican donors and influential politicos, but we also know that Brauchler had been getting a chilly response from some top GOP donors; that lack of universal support, along with Neville’s candidacy, appears to have convinced Brauchler to back away from a Senate bid.

Frankly, this makes a lot more sense for Brauchler than a Senate run with the likelihood of a very difficult GOP Primary opponent in Neville. Brauchler can instead run for re-election as DA and prepare for a 2018 campaign for Governor, which had always been his preferred race.

Comments

31 thoughts on “BREAKING: Brauchler Declines U.S. Senate Run

    1. Yes indeed. You Gun Worshipers need to stick to your guns.  Blaze away one and done.

      "Freedom for me but not for thee because your free will means nothing to me but my free will is sacrosanct and can never be intruded upon.  Government must regulate women to stop the killing of innocents but government can never under any circumstances regulate guns to stop the killing of innocents.  We want to ram government up women's vaginas but we'll kill anyone who tries to put government in our ammo boxes because FREEDOM and that's how we Pro-Life men roll.  Freedom for me but not for thee."

    2. You're going to let Brauchler take the nod from Scott Gessler? Isn't it Honey Badger's turn in '18? (Unless, of course, Both Ways Bob is going to give it another go.)

      1. Brauchler must be aiming to run for Gov. like everyone said he'd prefer in the first place. Don't see anyone giving Scott or Bob much money to run for anything. If Ken Salazar runs for Gov. he'll get it like he got the other state wides he ran for.  After that Brauchler will fade back into the private sector. Sleep tight, Modster.

          1. That would be a pretty easy explanation to swallow. Too bad it's not the reason he gave – at least not in an obvious way. "I couldn't do this to my family" is more of a "I don't want to get wrung through the ringer of a high-profile statewide campaign"; I would have used "I have family obligations that are more important to me than representing Colorado in the US Senate right now."

          2. All I said was he must prefer Guv (if I'm mistaken that's a mistake, not an attack) and don't think he can beat Ken Sakazar if Ken chooses to run.  Don't see what requires canning, besides your empty headed knee jerk responses. 

  1. Ken Buck?

    I wonder if Mr. Buck is reconsidering now that Mr. Brauchler has declined.

    And one other thing, when Speaker Boehner announced his resignation last week Mr. Buck's staff said he wasn't available to comment last Friday because he was preparing for back surgery yet he turned-up in Jefferson County on Saturday to speak before the group against the recall of the three school board members. Hmmm.

  2. I'm surprised that Scott Tipton's name isn't being thrown around? The man is a damn good campaigner, and unlike most GOPers on the Colorado bench, he's actually 'honest.' 

    I doubt that Buck jumps in. Buck has a perfect congressional seat (for his convictions) and is quite fulfilled with what he's doing in DC. 

    As far as the current candidates on the GOP side, Neville means well, but if he's the GOP nominee, there's no need for the DNC to spend money in Colorado. Bennett wins easily. 

    I've got my popcorn ready for the GOP primary that will be happening in 2018 for Governor. I'm personally wondering if Jon Suthers is also targeting the 2018 Governorship. 

    1. Heck, after suggesting raising taxes to keep C Springs from crumbling into gravel sized pieces, Suthers may not get asmany R votes asSalazar. yes… that's an exaggeration but we knew rock ribbed conservative oli men, realtors and small business owner Rs who voted for Salazar for Senate. Loved him. Never heard so many Rs say…. normally I don't vote for Dems but Ken is a great guy. 

    2. I wouldn't call Scott Tipton "honest". He is a master of the smooth talking, say nothing with nice words meme. He doesn't flat-out lie like Carly Fiorina or Donald Trump, and doesn't spread wild rumors about Muslims on the border like Ken Buck.

      He just murmurs about wanting a "careful, step by step process" towards citizenship for undocumented people, while unceasingly voting against any implementation of any immigration plan.

      He smiles pleasantly and discusses an "all of the above energy plan", while voting against alternative energy development, and is a party to keeping the "Defund the EPA" meme going.

      I agree that he's a great campaigner – but most of those skills lie in apparently being able to say nothing of substance, albeit with charm, and schmaltz.  Unlike the more extreme Freedom Caucus members, he is at least partially interested in governance.

      1. I think that's a harsh view of Tipton. On the substance…. you are correct, Tipton isn't a deep thinker, but he mostly surrounds himself with good people, which speaks well of his judgement. 

        BC – not sure about that. Suthers is pretty beloved in the 'R' community. I do think that  Brauchler has the inside track for the 2018 Governorship nomination – however, the dude needs to work on his discipline. If Brauchler wants to run for Governor, he needs to spend more time reading the Colorado budget from cover to cover, and STOP shooting from the hip on 'Twitter.' Walker Stapleton will likely be running for Governor, and Walker does a great job of doing his homework. If Brauchler doesn't match that, and doesn't demonstrate that he knows Colorado's budget, then he'll have trouble in that primary. Brauchler is actually good at connecting with people, but he relies too much on his wit to get by, which is his achilles heal. He needs to show a thoughtful 'intellectual' side…. if he can. 

         

        1. Forgot to add – is Daryl Glenn still running for the GOP nomination for Senate? He's really the best candidate the GOP has, not Neville. Glenn is well spoken and has a solid record as a pol in CSprings – I would even go as far as to say that he's a finer candidate than Tipton. 

          I do wonder if Glenn's skin color is the reason why the GOP isn't spending more time promoting him and paying attention to him. 

          1. I agree that Glenn is an OK, if not awesome candidate. He's a good speaker, campaigner, nd a solid local legislator in his Commissioner role. Obviously, to me and thee at least, his skin color is holding him back from serious consideration by his state party. That, and being a rock-ribbed evangelical true believer.

            They could do a lot worse than Darryl Glenn, and almost certainly will do so.

        2. "you are correct, Tipton isn't a deep thinker"

          I know my experiences aren't unique; if you spend anytime on Capitol Hill you'll find that statement alarming applicable to far too many electeds.  Particularly those who represent rural parts of our nation.  

          1. Such anti-rural bigotry! If you weren't from there, you'd be slagged as another elitist urban liberal looking down their nose at the hicks.

            Plenty of urban legislators aren't too bright either.  The job description requires too much rote recitation of talking points, smiling, and asking for money to attract deep thinkers involved in how things actually work.

              1. Interesting article, but it only proves your point if you assume that being a conservative by definition means you're not a deep thinker.  Paul Ryan may be a jackass, but he's a lot brighter than a few urban Dem reps I could think of.

                1. There are conservative deep thinkers. Even  rural conservative deep thinkers. Being "deep" doesn't necessarily make one's thinking "correct", that is, leading to long term sustainable solutions to complex problems.

                  If given assumptions are that 1) Christian Biblical teachings must guide public policy, 2) that wealth conveys goodness and deserves support, while poverty shows the lack of God's favor, and 3) that guns in the hands of American white males will always be used virtuously (to further assumptions 1 and 2), while guns in the hands of anyone else are suspect, then it doesn't matter how complex or deep the rest of the thinking is.

                  It's these underlying false convictions that lead to war, inequality, waste and more waste of resources, lives, and time  – not "depth".

                  1. You left our assumption #4:  That women are God's gift to men created from Adam's rib (see assumption #1) for procreation and child-rearing purposes.

        3. First substance is what matters. I don't care if the people supporting lousy policy are nice or mean. They're still supporting lousy policy. Second, I said it was an exaggeration but I still think Ken Salazar, if he runs, can kick butt, as usual. He's done it statewide before, he has proven cross over appeal with some very loyal old supporters from the other side of the aisle. He'd get plenty if funding and he'd bring out the Hispanic vote which gets bigger every year.

          He's the kind of right next door to an old style Republican but much better on a host of issues for Dems candidate that Hick is and, regardless of all the grousing on both sides, Hick has been elected twice with about as much difficulty as falling off a log. I'd put my money on Salazar any day. 

        4. Brauchler is a disgusting, self promoting coward who dragged everyone involved through a completely unnecessary, insanely expensive nightmare in hopes of burnishing his chances for future high office. Not surpisingly he failed utterly (9, not 11, out of 12 is utter failure when going after the death penalty that requires unanimity) and then sought to pin his failure on the fiction of one hold out juror, leaving that one (really one of three) vulnerable to possible outing, harrassing or worse and having to live with the accusation of being a lying anti-death penalty plant.  He knew that was completely untrue but it suited his purposes to let the phony narrative stand.

          With every expert, including his own, diagnosing the killer with a mental illness as severe as schizophrenia, he should have known that getting 12 of 12 to go for the death penalty, even while determining the accused didn't meet the narrow legal definition of insanity, was never going to be anything but a long shot. So he's none too bright either. Either that or he's willing to take big gambles with other peoples lives, time and money but unwilling to take the responsibility when the big gamble goes south. But then he's a Republican and that's how they do.

          It would be a tragedy for a person of such low character, integrity and moral courage to ever achieve high office, whether as Governor or Senator. He's a disgrace. As for Tipton, he's a buffoon. I know how fond you are of your Republican buddies. You even have soft spots for Doug Bruce and Tom Tancredo, for God's sake. Love you anyway. But not your wacko pals.

           

      2. I agree with mamajam55 – I live in Tipton's district and regardless of what he might say, he definitely toes the party line.

        (I'm still waiting for a reply to the hand-written note I left at his (closed) office in Alamosa.  I left my real name and contact info, but…crickets.)

        1. Tipton is a genuinely nice guy. He'll say anything to avoid debate or any kind of conflict with whomever is is conversing. He's also dumber than a box of rocks.

          His Washington and flack staffers load him with the rhetoric of the day and send him out. His district staff does the work on things with a ghost of a chance of getting done.

          At least he's not mean. I can't say that about too many congressmen and senators.

  3. Neville for Senate is a vote for turning Colorado blue.

    Smooth talking pretend-moderates like our big butt baby face freshman Senator will always vote for more guns, less reality-based sexuality laws, and tax cuts for the rich. In fact, when they get elected, it's the culture war stuff that's the first thing enacted, competent governance be damned.

    No matter what kind of pretty picture the Republican Party tries to paint of "common-sense solutions" or some other boilerplate designed to fool simpletons in to voting against their own self-interest, Neville will expose the hardcore ideology at the heart of the party's agenda.  

    That can only help the rest of the Democratic ticket.

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