U.S. Senate See Full Big Line

(D) J. Hickenlooper*

(R) Somebody

80%

20%

Governor See Full Big Line

(D) Joe Neguse

(D) Phil Weiser

(D) Jena Griswold

60%

60%

40%↓

Att. General See Full Big Line

(D) M. Dougherty

(D) Alexis King

(D) Brian Mason

40%

40%

30%

Sec. of State See Full Big Line

(D) George Stern

(D) A. Gonzalez

(R) Sheri Davis

40%

40%

30%

State Treasurer See Full Big Line

(D) Brianna Titone

(R) Kevin Grantham

(D) Jerry DiTullio

60%

30%

20%

CO-01 (Denver) See Full Big Line

(D) Diana DeGette*

(R) Somebody

90%

2%

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

(D) Joe Neguse*

(R) Somebody

90%

2%

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

(R) Jeff Hurd*

(D) Somebody

80%

40%

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

(R) Lauren Boebert*

(D) Somebody

90%

10%

CO-05 (Colorado Springs) See Full Big Line

(R) Jeff Crank*

(D) Somebody

80%

20%

CO-06 (Aurora) See Full Big Line

(D) Jason Crow*

(R) Somebody

90%

10%

CO-07 (Jefferson County) See Full Big Line

(D) B. Pettersen*

(R) Somebody

90%

10%

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

(R) Gabe Evans*

(D) Yadira Caraveo

(D) Joe Salazar

50%

40%

40%

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
October 25, 2005 08:00 AM UTC

Joan Fitz-Gerald Won't Run for Governor

  • 19 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: In the Denver Post story on Fitz-Gerald’s exit, she takes a clear swipe at Ritter (by the way, the Post headline “Fitz-Gerald Bows Out of Race” isn’t very accurate since she was never in the race):

As for Ritter, Fitz-Gerald said she’s talking with other Democrats about getting into the race. She declined to name them. Some Democrats don’t like Ritter’s stance against abortion rights. When asked whether she supported his nomination, Fitz-Gerald replied, “Not exactly.”

This is one of the reasons why Fitz-Gerald would have had some trouble against Ritter; she has a history of infighting with Democrats and makes off-the-cuff comments that she doesn’t need to make. There’s no reason she couldn’t have just said something to the effect of, “Bill and I have our differences on some issues, but I will support whoever the Democrat nominee is.”

The Post story also delves into Fitz-Gerald’s statement that she won’t run for governor because of the state budget problems:

The Jefferson County Democrat said she decided not to run for governor because she’s concerned about overseeing the state senate as it copes with the aftermath of the Nov. 1 election on Referendums C and D – the two ballot measures that would loosen spending controls on the state for five years.

“This is going to be a very big year whether or not C passes,” she said. “I just couldn’t shake the feeling that I didn’t finish something at a critical time in the state’s history.”

Fitz-Gerald was not considered a likely candidate for governor if Referenda C&D fail, and if she had any inclinations that it was indeed going to lose it would probably have played a role in her decision.

And now, back to our original post…

According to The Rocky Mountain News, Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald has decided not to run for governor.

Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald announced today she wont run for governor, ending months of speculation she would get in the race after the Nov. 1 election on Referendum C. The Jefferson County Democrat said she wanted to concentrate on serving as Senate president, legislative issues and making sure her party keeps its majority control after the 2006 election.

“The combination of these responsibilities make the governors campaign in 2006 the wrong race for me,” Fitz-Gerald said in a news release. “I want to thank all the people who have encouraged me to enter the race for Governor. I recognize the importance of this race to the future of Colorado.”

So far, former Denver District Attorney Bill Ritter is the lone Democrat in the race.

Fitz-Gerald’s announcement is somewhat of a surprise, with the general speculation over the past couple of weeks being that she was leaning towards entering the race. Fitz-Gerald needed to make a decision on this race relatively soon after learning that she might not be allowed to run for re-election to the state senate in 2006, because any legal challenge to find out if she could indeed run again was likely to take months to decide. Fitz-Gerald can now focus on those efforts, as well as continuing her role in helping the Democrats maintain control of the state senate.

On the gubernatorial side of things, the list of known Democrats who might join Bill Ritter in a primary is down to Speaker of the House Andrew Romanoff, who is not considered a likely candidate. Ritter, meanwhile, quickly issued a statement praising Fitz-Gerald…

Bill Ritter Praises Joan Fitz-Geralds Leadership

Bill Ritter, Democratic candidate for governor, issued the following statement today in response to Joan Fitz-Geralds decision not to run for governor:

I have great fondness and admiration for Joan Fitz-Gerald, Ritter said. Shes been a trailblazer as the first female president of the Colorado Senate and I appreciate the kind of leadership she brings to the state. She has a lot of public service left to give and Im glad shell continue giving it. I look forward to working with her in the future.

Ritter, 49, served as Denvers district attorney from 1993 through January 2005. He was born and raised in Colorado, earning his undergraduate degree from Colorado State University and his law degree from the University of Colorado Law School.

Ritter and his wife of 21 years, Jeannie, have three sons and a daughter. 

Tweet
Share

Comments

19 thoughts on “Joan Fitz-Gerald Won’t Run for Governor”

  2. Methinks RunJoanRun and a few others like him haven’t yet negotiated the new registration procedure, judging by the sparseness of the response to this news.

  3. Give it up.
    Joan is a class act, third or lower. Joan chose not to run because her polls showed that she would get her ass kicked by Ritter. Andrew wants to walk his dog and talk to a half dozen Kiwanians in Gunnison. C & D are going down and Ritter is going to be the nominee and Beauprez the Governor.

  4. Obviously, Ritter will be the nominee.  But Holtzman’s kamikazi attacks on Beauprez will probably leave him so weakened that Ritter will be elected.  C and D will pass, by the way, about 52-48 for C and 51-49 for D.  If the court says Joan can run for a third term, she’ll do that, then probably go for the 2nd CD in 08 when Udall runs for U.S. Senate.  Incidentally, if C does fail, the bloody budget cuts next year will totally discredit the right-wing twits who claimed that will never happen.  In that case, the Democrat, any Democrat, will win in a walk.

  5. I am not ready to accept Ritter as the nominee yet.

    Many of the “in-the-know” party folks are saying there will be another candidate in the race very soon. They are just not saying who.

    By the way, Romanoff tonight told me he has not ruled out running himself. But I think he likes teasing me so I never know whether to take him seriously or not.

    As I have been saying for quite some time, I expect a number of announcements in the days/weeks following the 1 Nov. election. I would expect between Election Day and Thanksgiving we will probably know which Dems are running for which statewide offices.

  6. The addition of John Salazar to the out of the Governor’s race on the big line would be a useful addition.  Presumably Udall is also out as he has said he is committed to facing Allard (one of the least popular men in the U.S. Senate) in 2008 according to Survey USA (see Colorado Luis or Wash Park Prophet for a link).

    This doesn’t leave a very deep bench to oppose Ritter, which is bad for the progressive wing of the party, but also bad for Republicans who may have a moderate opponent to face in 2006.

  7. Dan:

    I think Romanoff may have been teasing you.  I know that Romanoff has told a couple of people, privately, that he does not intend to run for Governor this year.  His quote was, “I like my job and I intend to stay there.”

    I like you have heard rumblings over the last few weeks about another ‘progressive’ dem being recruited to run.

  8. We’ve left John Salazar off of the Governor Line because he was never a serious candidate. To our understanding, he never moved beyond being asked to run by a few people and turning them down.

  9. You mean if I announced today that I “had no plans to run for governor at this time”, I couldn’t get on the list?  Drat!  And here I was looking to get some free press; time to set up a comprehensive website with way too many platform points so I can drum up some name recognition for a future run.

  10. good to see Joan show her true colors in today’s Post.

    that is of course why she has no hope of ever winning state wide office. She’s mean-spirited, vindictive, and rude.

    good riddance jfg, don’t let door hit you in the a** on the way out.

  11. Joan is a fine legislator, smart and decent.  Yes, she took a shot at Ritter.  But if he wins the nomination, she’ll fight like a lioness for him and the rest of the Democratic ticket.  Don’t sell her short, thou trio of visually challenged members of the rodent community.

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

173 readers online now

Newsletter

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