Blaha back on GOP Senate ballot, calls for Williams to resign

A Denver judge has ruled that Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Robert Blaha can appear in the party’s Colorado primary.

Secretary of State Wayne Williams’ office made it official on Thursday.

Blaha is a Colorado Springs businessman who is seeking to challenge Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet in November.

Blaha argued that Secretary of State Wayne Williams, a Republican, erroneously rejected voter signatures that Blaha needed to make the primary.

District Court Judge Elizabeth Starrs agreed on Wednesday.

Blaha released the following statement after the ruling was announced:

Williams, who previously served as the El Paso County Clerk and Recorder, quickly responded by releasing the following statement:

“Mr. Blaha seeks to blame others for his own campaign’s incompetence. He needs to read the entire ruling from the judge, not just the conclusion. She wrote ‘the SOS appropriately reviewed the petitions submitted by Mr. Blaha, followed the applicable guidelines and then timely notified Mr. Blaha of the number of valid signatures and that the petition appeared insufficient.’ She also wrote, ‘In contesting the ‘Statement of Insufficiency’ from the SOS, Mr. Blaha makes no claim, and indeed there was no evidence presented, that the SOS failed to follow the Election Rules in any way.”