September 30, 2015 02:30 PM UTC

BREAKING: Brauchler Declines U.S. Senate Run

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE #4: 9NEWS’ Allison Sylte:

Brauchler, who prosecuted the Aurora theater shooting case, was on the short list of Republican candidates to challenge Democratic incumbent Michael Bennet for his seat.

Brauchler told 9NEWS it was a tough—and close—decision for him.

“I got pretty far down the field,” Brauchler told 9NEWS. “I just couldn’t do it to my family.”

….Speculation about his political future was rampant during the months-long theater shooting trial, which ended in a conviction for the man who killed 12 people and injured 70 others. Brauchler became the target of criticism, however, after the jury failed to make a unanimous decision about the death penalty, meaning that the killer was sentenced to life in prison instead.

This was something the defense offered in a plea deal before the trial even began. [Pols emphasis]

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UPDATE #3: Somebody had better get GeorgeForDa.com back online — Brauchler’s old campaign site has been down since late August — just two days before BrauchlerForSenate.com was registered online.

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UPDATE #2: From the National Journal:

“Des­pite the over­whelm­ing sup­port and en­cour­age­ment that I re­ceived over the past few weeks, I have de­cided that now is not the right time for me and my fam­ily for me to make a run for the United States Sen­ate,” Brauchler said in a state­ment provided to Na­tion­al Journ­al. “I have de­cided in­stead to seek re-elec­tion as the Dis­trict At­tor­ney for the Eight­eenth Ju­di­cial Dis­trict.”

Yeah, right. “Overwhelming” support.

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UPDATE: Top Republicans are apparently as surprised by this announcement as everyone else. We hear that potential campaign staffers for Brauchler were being vetted this week.

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That’s the word moments ago from 9NEWS’ Jeremy Jojola, we’re seeking confirmation:

JUST IN: @GeorgeBrauchler not to run for U.S. Senate. Will seek re-election as DA in the 18th Judicial Dist. #9NEWS

— jeremyjojola (@jeremyjojola) September 30, 2015

We’ll update with details as they come in, but the waters appear to be parting for Tim Neville. We reported last week that the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) was actively pushing George Brauchler’s candidacy to top Republican donors and influential politicos, but we also know that Brauchler had been getting a chilly response from some top GOP donors; that lack of universal support, along with Neville’s candidacy, appears to have convinced Brauchler to back away from a Senate bid.

Frankly, this makes a lot more sense for Brauchler than a Senate run with the likelihood of a very difficult GOP Primary opponent in Neville. Brauchler can instead run for re-election as DA and prepare for a 2018 campaign for Governor, which had always been his preferred race.