Lamborn retirement announcement is latest shakeup in Colorado GOP landscape
The surprise announcement Friday from Congressman Doug Lamborn is the latest shakeup in a series of changes within the Colorado Republican Party.
Lamborn, first elected to the District 5 seat in 2007, said he will not seek another term at the end of 2024 after all, despite already registering to run again and raising a significant amount of money to fund his campaign.
District 5, which shrank in size slightly during the most recent round of redistricting, currently includes the western half of El Paso County, including Colorado Springs and several surrounding communities.
The statement released by Lamborn’s office Friday morning didn’t give a reason for his retirement.
It only included listed several of his accomplishments over his terms and a quote from him saying, “I thank the good people of El Paso County for the amazing and wonderful opportunity to serve in the nation's capital as representative."
The presidential primary is March 5, but the primary for all other races is June 25, leaving plenty of time for potential successors to enter the race.
However, Colorado Republican Party Chairman Dave Williams believes any potential candidates will have to get their act together very quickly if they plan to declare their candidacy by the March 23 deadline.
“It’s fairly difficult. If anyone wants to petition on, they certainly have to look at hiring petition gatherers, and that’s not a cheap endeavor. They’re going to want to spend tens of thousands of dollars to ensure they have enough signatures to get onto the ballot. If they want to run through the assembly process, they really got to start their campaign now and start talking to their base of support.”
In order to earn a spot on the June primary ballot, a candidate will need to either gather the required 15,000 signatures or receive enough support to be nominated at the statewide assembly in March.
Williams predicts quite a few prominent Republicans will join the race to replace Lamborn.
“I think it’s going to be very similar to what you are seeing in Congressional District 3 or Congressional District 4. You’re going to have anywhere between 6 to 10 candidates, somewhere in that ballpark, jump into this race that is not common. It’s something that only opens up once in a while, so I expect a lot of political leaders and influential folks within our town to throw their hat in the race and make their best case to the voters.”
KRDO13 reached out to several of those 'influential folks' Friday, and several confirmed they are considering a run, with the first formal announcement coming as early as Monday.
Lamborn's withdrawal comes just 9 days after Congressional District 3 representative Lauren Boebert announced she will run in District 4, which encompasses the eastern part of the state.
Several months ago, Republican Ken Buck announced he would not seek re-election in District 5, saying he was unhappy with the political direction that many in his own party have taken.
Lamborn’s announcement means all three congressional districts currently held by Republicans in Colorado are guaranteed to have new representation at the end of the 2024 election cycle.
