October 03, 2013 12:55 PM UTC

Mike Kopp Pushes GOP Gubernatorial Primary Field Rightward

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• by: Colorado Pols

It isn't breaking news, but lost in the busy cycle this week was the story that former Colorado Senate Minority Leader Mike Kopp has filed to run for Governor–further crowding a GOP primary field already including Secretary of State Scott Gessler, former Rep. Tom Tancredo, and state Sen. Greg Brophy. As FOX 31's Eli Stokols reported late Tuesday:

FOX31 Denver reported last week that Kopp was all but certain to run in a story also reporting Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler, tasked with prosecuting a death penalty case against Aurora theater gunman James Holmes next year, is unlikely to be able to run.

Kopp, who resigned his seat in 2011 after his wife and mother of the couple’s four children died from cancer, is now an executive with Intermountain Rural Electric Association.

The group was one of the most outspoken opponents to the state’s new renewable energy mandate for REAs passed by Democrats and signed by Hickenlooper earlier this year.

Notwithstanding the focus Kopp would logically have on energy issues, it's not going to be easy differentiating himself from the pack in this already-crowded field. For the purposes of winning a Republican primary, we expect Kopp to run hard to the right–no small feat running against contenders like Tancredo and Brophy. But as this blast-from-the-past mailer from 2006 should make clear, he's not one to shy away from the crazy:

This primary is going to rock, folks.