Last night’s vote by 98 Republicans in the remote Eastern Colorado town of Hugo selecting a candidate in the June 25th special election for the Fourth Congressional District, the winner of which will serve out the remaining months of retired Rep. Ken Buck’s term, resulted in the selection of a placeholder who is not on the primary ballot that same day for the nomination for the November general election. The selection of former Parker mayor and minor gubernatorial candidate Greg Lopez is being generally interpreted as good news for carpetbagger Rep. Lauren Boebert, whose principal primary opponent former Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg had hoped to build advantage in the primary as the nominee to serve out the remainder of Buck’s term. This morning, Boebert put out a statement lavishing the most praise on Lopez he’s probably ever received:
Congratulations to Greg Lopez, who will be a strong Congressman finishing out the remainder of Ken BUCKLE’S term! Greg stepped up with a servant heart and a leadership mindset with accountability being his driving force. [Whatever that means–Pols]
THANK YOU to the Vacancy Committee members who have put in countless hours and consideration in order to do what is best for Colorado’s 4th Congressional District. I look forward to serving the remainder of the 118th Congress with my soon to be colleague!
Colorado Public Radio’s Caitlyn Kim confirms that Boebert lobbied the vacancy committee to select a candidate who doesn’t appear on the primary ballot, thus neutralizing the boost their selection may have given:
Boebert wrote to the members of the vacancy committee saying as much and encouraging them to vote for a conservative not running in the primary. She noted that a candidate in both races would be able to “double their fundraising ability” through outside money and other avenues and “that would undoubtedly influence the regular primary election.” Boebert has the most campaign cash on hand, $1.28 million as of the last campaign filing, a million more than her nearest competitor.
Greg Lopez wasn’t the only candidate before the vacancy committee running as a placeholder, but in the final rounds of voting Lopez was the only such candidate left in the race against Sonnenberg and former Sen. Ted “ScamPAC” Harvey of Highlands Ranch–both of whom are also campaigning for the primary ballot. Following Harvey’s elimination in the fifth round of voting, Harvey called on his supporters to back Sonnenberg, but it didn’t work and Lopez came out on top in the next and final round. At least one other alternative placeholder, CO-06 GOP sacrificial lamb candidate John Fabbricatore, says he got in a car accident on the road to Hugo:
The short answer is, the vacancy committee picked Greg Lopez because he was the only choice left whose personal ambitions wouldn’t hurt Lauren Boebert’s chances in the primary. But in every respect except for that, rehabilitating Greg Lopez is an absolute disaster for Republicans that has not even begun to reverberate. And our readers already know why:
Lopez…has faced allegations of impropriety in the past, most notably a 1993 domestic violence complaint, a 2003 DUI, and allegations that former Colorado Director of the Small Business Administration during the Obama Administration misused his influence after leaving office.
After his selection, the former Mayor of Parker refused to answer questions about the misuse of influence allegations, saying “the record speaks for itself.” However, his wife defended him regarding the domestic violence complaint, noting it happened 30 years ago.
“I’m done with it,” she said.
Lopez paid $15,000 to settle the civil case that after he left the SBA he attempted to improperly influence actions of the SBA in violation of federal law.
During both of Greg Lopez’s campaigns for governor in 2018 and 2022, he was dogged by questions about his criminal record, including the 1993 incident in which Lopez allegedly knocked his pregnant wife to the floor and kicked her. In 2018, Lopez released an incredibly cringeworthy video with his wife attempting to “live down” the incident that was condemned as both denial-ridden and exploitative. But considering the influence Lopez is set to wield for a few months in Washington, Lopez’s misuse of influence case could be the more proximal concern.
And of course, when Lopez isn’t running from questions about his checkered past, he’s busy being as offensive as possible:
Greg Lopez is objectively speaking one of the very worst Republican candidates for office at any level in recent Colorado political history, so bad his last outing was to lose to Heidi Ganahl in the 2022 GOP gubernatorial primary. His record makes him one of the few choices available to the CO-04 vacancy committee that could actually put the seat in play for the remainder of Buck’s term if Democrats are able to nominate a special election candidate with minimal qualifications and no equivalent baggage. These are very good reasons to not let Lopez near the levers of power even for a few months, and that could be enough to decouple the choice for voters between the special election and primary ballots.
Yes, he’s that bad. And we strongly suspect Lopez is about to show you better than we can tell you. As for Boebert, whose clique includes the worst (and even expelled) members of Congress, her moral compass stopped working a long time ago. If Greg Lopez does take George Santos’ place with Matt Gaetz’s back-benchers, we imagine the two will be inseparable. Perhaps Lopez can even pick up some of the child care.
On second thought, let’s pass on that. Those kids have been through enough.
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On another note, Ken Buck apparently said that Lauren Boebert makes George Santos look like a saint. Ouch!
That is rich!
Lopez is a clear sign that Sonnenberg is sunk. He may present a slightly greater threat to Boebert than Don Coram did, but if he couldn’t beat these minnows and guppies despite having the support of the local establishment to give him a slight leg up in the primary, he has zero chance against Boebert who has a ton of campaign money, is well-known (infamously but popularly with the MAGA base), and most importantly, has Trump’s endorsement which is really the only thing that matters to Republican primary voters. Boebert is going to end up winning by a pretty big margin and Colorado and America will never be rid of her (until she finds another gig, probably on TV, that pays her even better and makes her even more famous while requiring even less work).
Always engaging in mischieve. Who knows? If Boebert is the CD-4 Republican nominee, the district might go Blue.
Well it happened with Marilyn Musgrave albeit transiently – just enuf time to provide opportunity for Betsy Markey to cast a key vote to pass Affordable Care Act.
Yes, but old Musty lost in 2008 to Markey when CD-4 included Fort Collins and was significantly less Republican than it is today.
Well, I guess we can console ourselves that the CD-4 will get the representation that they vote for. CD-2 gets Neguse. CD-4 gets the Bloviater.
Laughing my ass off watching CPols users cheering for Ted Harvey to win an election lol.
You losers belong to each other.
Ali. Good to see you commenting again. Thanks for the deep thoughts.
Speaking of losers, have you ordered your Trump Bible yet?
The only enthusiasm here at ColoradoPols for ANY of the Republican candidates was an endorsement of the relatively sane and responsible Jerry Sonnenberg.
The level of enthusiasm is captured by the March 8 headline
Only Jerry Sonnenberg Can Save Us From Lauren Boebert Now
In a district, by calculation of the Independent Redistricting Commission, with 26.6% margin in Republican wins, it will be tough for any Democrat to emerge.
But I think Republicans are doing so many things to offend so many people within and without their usual voters, there continues to be a small chance for a Democrat to win the Special Election, and an even smaller chance for a Democrat to win in November. If you had asked in the 6 months after the 2022 election if a Democrat would have a chance, it would have been entirely laughable. Now, with no incumbent, infighting in the state GOP, fractionated and negative campaigning among the multiple candidates to succeed Buck, and numerous parts of a national demonstration of Republican "governance," it seems much more of a question and much less laughable.
You know, Miguel, I used to respect your opinion, but that evaporated when you became a Boebert suck-up. You seem, now, to dwell in a hateful fantasy world where up is down and black is white. A world where lies become a frenetic effort to shape the world as some place where bigotry, racism, exclusion, and greed are accepted societal norms. I am sorry.
Take care of your family, and be well.
Seems to me your party is much better at losing, so curb the name-calling, especially when it better suits you.
LOL. Only in Ali’s upside-down MAGA world could he describe us as Ted Harvey lovers and losers. Just prior to the Hugo event 90 of us participated in a poll with 77 of the 90 registered votes going to Jerry. Five of those 90 went to Mr. Harvey. It’s an open poll; those five could have been Ted and four of his friends.
Resist becoming the Joey Mannarino of ColoradoPols.
When you go MAGAt, you lose your ability to do basic math.
If only Ali and his red hats would transition to Arabic numerals. Ali is a bright guy – and yet a testament to what the MAGA virus can do to human beings. He’s spot on regarding his position on our food supply, FDA, etc. (that position is not uncommon amongst rabid anti-vaxxers) and yet, back to the “math thing”: he made a post some time ago that Operation Warp Speed (thus the creation of the COVID vaccines) was supported by Trump only because it was a way to “infect” liberals and have them die early. In fact, the data shows red states having significantly higher per capita death rates. Now he’s on the “the CIA/Mossad is behind the Baltimore bridge collapse and MTG’s latest “organ harvesting” conspiracy. He is a fascinating grab bag of beliefs.
What is MTG's organ harvesting conspiracy? (This is a new one.)
Start here.
Specifically, I'm guilty of pointing out that Harvey outperformed the Pols poll. But no way in Hades was that meant to be cheering for him. Not a fan. Closest thing to an endorsement I'd give any of the CD4 candidates is I could live with Sonnenberg, and I've sort of hinted at that several times over the past few months.
But, but, but..,, will you affirm that your sacred vote in Alva’s very scientific poll did not go to Ted?!? How can we really know it wasn’t you casting all those votes??!
The world may never know how I voted, but my conscience does, and it wasn't for Ted.
lol
Hey, look, it's "born on third base, thinks he hit a triple" guy! And he's still bereft of reading comprehension!
Ummm, Ali.- nobody here cheered for Ted Harvey. We think he’s a corrupt grifter, which he has shown often.. This makes him only slightly better than Lopez, who is violent and corrupt, or than Boebert,, who is embarrassing and corrupt.
All three are MAGA loyalists and promote the Big Lie, which you do, as well. So there’s that.
Nicely expressed, kwtree…
Kyle Clark allows Greg Lopez to show who he really is in this interview.
So did Miguel Ali disappear after his careless remarks were dissected here? Not only were his comments entirely off the mark, this statement is just weird and mean: "You losers belong to each other." Did someone hijack his account, or, more likely, did the cult hijack his brain?
Sadly, it seems our distant friend, MAH, has become little more than a troll. He comes to the site, drops a turd or two and leaves, unwilling to return and engage. He has slipped into full MAGA madness but knows his bullshit will be rejected and revealed here. So…troll he does.
Yes, who saw that coming.
Maybe in 2025 when Trump instates his "Muslim ban," Ali will see things differently. Or not.
Speaking of brain rot … Twitchy had a random-firing-neuron event today between snorts. The Morans are petrified.