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September 14, 2021 10:36 AM UTC

Ganahl Faceplants on First Serious Questions

  • 20 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: Via “The Unaffiliated” newsletter from The Colorado Sun:

“I’ll try and win no matter what the path forward is,” she said. “Whatever my party decides is the path forward.”

Ganahl has a difficult path ahead of her. “We’ve got a long road ahead,” she said Tuesday, acknowledging her challenges.

Well, we’re certainly inspired.

—–
Newly-announced Republican gubernatorial candidate Heidi Ganahl met the media for the first time as a candidate this morning. It did not go particularly well.

Ganahl was primed and ready to talk about her own life story and to barf out platitudes about “freedom” and “the Colorado spirit” and all the other specious crap that newly-minted statewide Republican candidates recite like mantras.

But when it was time to answer some real questions, Ganahl took a header into the floor:

D’oh!

Look, we get that answering a question about the legitimacy of 2020 election is a delicate task for a Republican candidate in 2022. However…if you aren’t prepared to answer this question, then you shouldn’t be running for statewide office. Period.

In a normal world, this simple question would be met with a straightforward answer: “Yes, the 2020 election was legitimate.” Ganahl either doesn’t believe this to be true or is too afraid to reveal to her Republican base that she is not an election fraud truther.

As Chris Cillizza explains for CNN, supporting “The Big Lie” is now part of the Republican DNA:

There’s an interesting nugget buried in the new CNN national poll that shows just how much election denialism has fused with what most people think it means to be a Republican.

Almost 6 in 10 (59%) of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said that “believing that Donald Trump won the 2020 election” was very or somewhat important to what being a Republican meant to them…[Pols emphasis]

…The idea, then, that the election was stolen is a wild conspiracy theory. But it’s also a wild conspiracy theory that Trump very much continues to push. And that much of the base of the party continues to believe because, well, Trump told them to believe it.

What the poll makes clear, then, is that for a majority of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, believing the Big Lie is an important part of calling oneself a “Republican.”

(For more on this idea, check out Greg Sargent’s take last week for The Washington Post.)

Heidi Ganahl and Mesa County Clerk and Recorder (and fugitive) Tina Peters

Ganahl faces a similar problem when it comes to commenting on efforts by the GOP base to remove itself from Colorado’s open primary system. The right-wing base in Colorado wants to have the ability to choose its nominee for a General Election without having to worry about the input of, well, anyone else. Moderate Republicans recognize this potential problem for what it is, but the GOP Central Committee will still try to make it official on Saturday, Sept. 18. Ganahl doesn’t want to take a position on this subject because she could risk alienating the very people who might end up deciding who gets the GOP nomination for Governor in 2022 — a group that could decide that former 2018 candidate Greg Lopez is the more acceptable candidate to challenge Democratic incumbent Jared Polis in 2022.

Here’s more from Alex Burness of The Denver Post on Ganahl’s kickoff this morning:

On Saturday, state party officials will vote on a controversial proposal to end open primaries on the GOP side, which would exclude millions of voters from the process of selecting its nominees for major offices. Ganahl declined to take a side in that debate, and also declined to say whether she believed the 2020 presidential election was conducted legitimately. [Pols emphasis]

“I’m not going to get into that right now,” she said. Many state lawmakers say election integrity is a problem, and a smaller faction question whether the election was outright stolen.

Ganahl’s refusal to answer these two questions is a serious red flag about who she is as a candidate. It should also scare the crap out of Republicans hoping to make a serious run at Polis next year. Any dope could have predicted that these questions would be first out of the media chute; it’s inexcusable that Ganahl didn’t have a prepared answer for either one of them. Inexcusable, perhaps, but not surprising giving how bad Ganahl bungled the simple process of just announcing her candidacy.

Statewide Republican candidates have been crushed in Colorado in the last two election cycles, losing to Democrats by an average of 10 points. Somehow, Heidi Ganahl managed to find a way to limbo underneath what was already a very low bar.

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20 thoughts on “Ganahl Faceplants on First Serious Questions”

      1. Maybe vacuous and quiet is the way to go.

        They see where Q-bert, MTG, Louie Gohmert, and Matt Gaetz have gotten the party so far.

        The less said, the less there is to explain.

  2. I wonder which Heidi is eventually going to come out and play…

    " Hi I'm Heidi Ganahl, I'm a batshit crazy Qanon Trumper, and I truly believe the election was stolen and Trump is still our President "

    " Hi I'm Heidi Ganahl, the moderate suburban mom and business owner, and  we all know this stolen election nonsense is bullshit – get over it " 

    Definitely both.

    1. Isn't the correct line: "Hi, I'm Heidi Ganahl and I don't think gubmint officials should tell you what to believe. Do ur own resurch."

      Still, who on her campaign failed Ops Research 101 and didn't anticipate these questions? "Their fired."

  3. Hopefully the questioning will get even tougher. I'm not normally a fan of disqualifying a candidate for a picture like the one of Ganahl and Peters, even if it shows her hob-nobbing with a fugitive county clerk, but it calls into question whether Empty-G's soulmate Heidi-G should be trusted to sign, veto, or issue executive orders involving elections bills or procedures. At the bare minimum, I'd hate to see that picture become part of TV ads.

  4. Heidi Heidi Heidi

    Look directly into the camera and say that you heard it directly from Sydney Powell that Trump is still the president.  That should dispense with these annoying questions.

  6. Has Heidi announced that there are shenanigans taking place in the Colorado 2022 gubernatorial race, that she is lawyering up, and that she is ready to go to court now?

    Maybe she can avoid the pitfalls of Larry Elder in procrastinating and waiting until only days before the recall election to question the legitimacy of its outcome.

    1. She’s committed to spending $20 million of her doggie daycare fortune on this fool’s errand of a race?

      I seem to recall that in 2016 a certain alleged billionaire seeking the GOP presidential nomination made statements about being so rich he could self-finance his campaign only to need to have the GOP bail him out as election day drew near.

  9. Heidi Ganahl is cosplaying. She's a performative "republican" "politician".

    Ever since Ronald Reagan, Republican candidates have been pretending, from Reagan himself, acting as a President, to GWB from Maine putting on a hick-Texas accent, to Sarah Pailin performing as a working class every-woman.

  10. Regent Ganahl –

    If elected, would you support ..

    – a law in Colorado similar to Texas's SB8?
    – if so, would you accept that format of vigilante law enforcement for other laws?

    – preemptively barring any convicted felon from the Jan 6, 2021 protest from owning guns or being issued a private carry permit in Colorado?

     

  11. If Ganahl is the best candidate our party can dig up, we'll be lucky to break 40%.

    Heidi can take notes from Alf Landon's run for president in 1936 as she prepares to be landslided out.

    1. On the other hand . . .

      . . . she’s inarguably well-qualified for the position of regent . . .

      . . . at John Andrews little CCU madrasa.  

      (And, she’d probably also do a heckuva’ job as a Constitutional Law Professor there, too.)

    2. I really think that history will show that Both Ways Bob was the high water mark for Republican gubernatorial candidates since Bill Owens in 2002.

      Incredible……and sad.

      At least Heidi should avoid the humiliation of sinking into Dan Maes territory.
       

       

  12. Sentinel editor Dave Perry has an interesting take on Ganahl's candidacy:

    Heidi Ganahl must learn that admitting her Trumpism habit is the first step to recovery

    Neither can Ganahl. Donald Trump is political meth for Republican faithful and hopefuls alike, save for ex-communicated Congressperson Lynn Cheney. They love-hate the high they get by smoking a bowl of Trumpism at his or their own rallies. Then they hide and lie to all the straight voters about having done the deed, in public.

    Ganahl’s clear tactic to navigate her firing up some fun while rallying around with Jan. 6 terrorists and their supporters? “I didn’t inhale.”

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