President (To Win Colorado) See Full Big Line

(D) Kamala Harris

(R) Donald Trump

80%↑

20%

CO-01 (Denver) See Full Big Line

(D) Diana DeGette*

(R) V. Archuleta

98%

2%

CO-02 (Boulder-ish) See Full Big Line

(D) Joe Neguse*

(R) Marshall Dawson

95%

5%

CO-03 (West & Southern CO) See Full Big Line

(R) Jeff Hurd

(D) Adam Frisch

50%

50%

CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado) See Full Big Line

(R) Lauren Boebert

(D) Trisha Calvarese

90%

10%

CO-05 (Colorado Springs) See Full Big Line

(R) Jeff Crank

(D) River Gassen

80%

20%

CO-06 (Aurora) See Full Big Line

(D) Jason Crow*

(R) John Fabbricatore

90%

10%

CO-07 (Jefferson County) See Full Big Line

(D) B. Pettersen

(R) Sergei Matveyuk

90%

10%

CO-08 (Northern Colo.) See Full Big Line

(D) Yadira Caraveo

(R) Gabe Evans

52%↑

48%↓

State Senate Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

80%

20%

State House Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

95%

5%

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
September 30, 2021 11:32 AM UTC

Don't Do It, Lang!

  • 25 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols
Lang Sias (right) with GOP gubernatorial candidate Walker Stapleton in July 2018.

Colorado Republicans are having a difficult time finding candidates willing to run for statewide office in 2022. Since the GOP can’t manage to find anyone new who is willing to embrace the base and turn off everyone else, they are now looking at ways to recycle.

We’re just 14 months away from the 2022 election, and Republicans still need candidates for Attorney General, State Treasurer, and Secretary of State. As we’ve said many times in this space, the Republican bench in Colorado is a phone booth after two massive Democratic wave years that saw topline candidates pummeled by an average of 10 points. The candidates that Republicans DO have are a disaster, which certainly doesn’t help recruitment efforts; we wouldn’t want to share a ticket with Heidi Ganahl and Eli Bremer, either.

There haven’t been many rumors of potential candidates for Attorney General, where incumbent Democrat Phil Weiser has already raised more than $1.7 million for his re-election campaign. Republicans thought they had a candidate for Secretary of State (SOS) in former Mesa County Commissioner Rose Pugliese, but she decided against a run in part because of the Tina Peters disaster. Term-limited Larimer County Clerk and Recorder Angela Meyers is now rumored to be looking at challenging incumbent Democrat Jena Griswold, assuming Peters doesn’t run herself.

That leaves us with the office of State Treasurer, where the GOP is apparently going back to a well that has already turned up dry multiple times. That’s right, friends: Lang Sias still isn’t done getting kicked in the face by Colorado voters.

If you’re not familiar with Sias, that’s probably because he hasn’t had much success in Colorado politics. The 2020 election marked the first time in a decade that Sias was not a candidate for public office.

Sias has sought elected office in Colorado five times for four different seats. His only November victory came in 2016, when he was an “incumbent” State Representative by virtue of having been selected by a Republican vacancy committee a year earlier. Since 2010, Sias has lost races for State Senate (twice), Congress, and Lieutenant Governor; he didn’t even make it past the Primary Election in half of those contests.

The beatings will continue until Lang Sias improves.

 

So why would Sias return to the political stage in 2022? Because he…can? Honestly, we have no idea.

There are certainly some Republican political consultants who are telling Sias that he can totally beat Democratic incumbent Dave Young, which might be music to Lang’s ambitious ears. Of course, some of those consultants are probably the same people who told Sias that he could be a State Senator or a Congressman (they are also the same people who will read this and tell Sias that “Democrats are afraid of you,” as though anyone would be scared of a candidate with his track record of failure).

By most accounts, Sias seems to be a likable guy with big dreams but limited charisma who is more interesting to Republican power brokers than he is to Colorado voters. If Sias runs for Treasurer and can avoid a Republican Primary, maybe he can change his political fortunes. History would suggest otherwise.

We’re all guilty, from time to time, of listening to what we WANT to hear at the expense of what we NEED to hear. In Sias’ case, what he needs to hear is this: Maybe you should try something else.

Tweet
Share

Comments

25 thoughts on “Don’t Do It, Lang!”

  2. Dave Young has been working hard and effectively as Treasurer.  The office has sometimes been a launching pad for higher office: Romer, Owens, Schoettler, shorter Coffman.

  3. "Term-limited Larimer County Clerk and Recorder Angela Meyers is now rumored to be looking at being forced into challenging incumbent Democrat Jena Griswold, assuming Peters doesn’t run herself."

    Fixed it for you.

     

  4. “the candidates that Republicans DO have are a disaster…….”

    The key word here is “candidate.” Republican have good potential candidates in the Legislature. I’ve identified several of them them before now.

    The difference for the legislators is that they are pragmatic, common sense, conservatives. Any of them would be stupid to run on a ticket with TrumpWorld candidates. 

    1. How many “good candidates” can the GOPchuck chuck if the GOPchuck could chuck good candidates?

      I’ve heard of a wish-sandwiches, I guess now you’ve added wish-candidates?

      By that “good”-but-unelectable analysis and rationale CHB, it seems you might now consider George McGovern a “good candidate” (although utterly unelectable)?

      . . . Yeah, I didn’t think you would . . . 

  5. This reads like an echo chamber piece.  

    Look, there is no way I’d vote for Heidi over Jared.  Jared is a family friend who I trust on stuff well beyond politics and who has done a good job leading the state through a historic crisis.  But that doesn’t make Heidi a disaster; she is just going up against the 1985 Chicago Bears and nobody wants to be associated with the blowout that is coming her way. 

    As for Eli, your “disaster” argument rests on a single ad that you didn’t like that wasn’t aimed at you.  That doesn’t mean Eli is going to beat Bennet,  but on the basis you grade him any GOP candidate in any race would be a “disaster”.

    When you have a standard like that the problem isn’t the examinee, it is the exam drafter

    1. I, as with many others here, am anxious for the day the Colorado GOP ever begins nominating candidates who aren’t a disaster . . .

      (. . . can’t be certain that I’m in the intended audience for your post, however . . .)

      I guess it would help if maybe we distinguished among the many various categories of current GOP disasters? Say, for example, between EDs (electoral disasters), PDs (philosophical disasters), and those common, everday IDs (intellectual disasters)?

      1. Sydney Powell and Eastman are in a unique category of Colorado GOP disasters by themselves.  They are whackos sliming honorable Republicans in ways that Boebert would be envious of.  So much crazy.  So little substance.  Where's Cory when you are looking for steady, realistic leadership?

    2. No, Elliot, it isn’t the governors’ brightly shining star that makes Ms. Ganahl a disaster. It is her apparent lack of…confidence.. ?

      I recall other Republican women who, while of questionable competence and experience, were convinced to run for office by their party. I see another Laura Bradford Syndrome victim about to happen…except Ms Ganahl will almost certainly lose..

      ps…I am only slightly offended by the echo chamber remark. Echo chambers don’t make their own noise. 😉

       

    1. Tailhook was a Navy scandal, KW.  A tailhook catches the arresting wire and brings the plane to a stop.  If Sias really was an Air Force officer, as you wrote, his presence at Tailhook would have been peripheral.

      Btw, the Pat Schroeder article identified him as a lieutenant in the Navy.

    2. kwtree:  Colorado Sun covered Navy Lieutenant Lang Sias at Tailhook 1991.  Article is here.  Essence of Sias' explanation:

      “I was never accused of doing anything wrong ever by anybody at any time,” he told The Sun and its television partner, CBS4. “You’ve seen my records, and there’s no way that I would have the fitness reports that I have … if there were any blemishes on my record.” …

      “I didn’t do anything improper or illegal, nor did I witness that sort of activity from my fellow aviators,” he told The Sun, echoing what he told Complete Colorado, a conservative blog, in 2010.

       

      1. I’ve seen Sias’ denials. They aren’t credible, considering who he was with and how he spent his time that night at Tailhook. And yes, he was a Navy officer, V. I’ll write more later when I have time.

  7. Lang – great man. I hope he runs. Really don't care that he's lost in the past – he's carried the GOP flag in difficult races, and that actually counts more for me, than just going for an easy-win. He's the kind of Republican (moderate, nuanced) that can help turn the tide in place like Colorado, that's increasingly blue. I hope he does it – he's got my support. 

    I agree that Dave Young has done a fine job. However – I am always going to favor someone who is fiscally conservative. Hope you're all well!

    1. I'm curious … what did Lang Sias study to earn a MSc from London School of Economics? Management? Economic Development? International Affairs?

      a background as a Navy aviator / Air National Guard / FedEx pilot, some sort of law practice, and a term and a half in the legislature don't immediately translate to experience with government finance.  And I'm not certain what "fiscally conservative" means in the context of a state treasurer, so perhaps you could explain that, too.

    2. By "fiscally conservative" GOP treasurer candidate, do you mean like conserving business money into his own pocket, like Brian Watson, past treasurer candidate? Or having conflicts of interest that could benefit his own business outcomes while treasurer? Or not paying taxes or liens? I suppose that those are all good "Republican fiscally conservative" practices, modeled by the Former Guy. 

      Perhaps in your book, "fiscally conservative" means showing contempt for public servants, as Watson also did. 

      Dave Young is doing fine as treasurer, and seems a fit custodian of the state's money. 

  8. Damn, I was looking forward to the rematch between Lang and Ryan in the 8th with Faye coming in late in the game having only lost one election her 57.5 years in elected office.

Leave a Comment

Recent Comments


Posts about

Donald Trump
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Lauren Boebert
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Yadira Caraveo
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado House
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado Senate
SEE MORE

130 readers online now

Newsletter

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay in the loop with regular updates!