What you should know about Greg Lopez

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Former Parker Mayor Greg Lopez, who was selected Thursday night to be the Republican nominee for the June 25 special election in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District, is a known quantity in the state’s political circles.

In addition to his two terms as the mayor of Parker in the 1990s, the former Democrat was the Colorado director of the Small Business Administration between 2008 and 2014. Lopez has also had a handful of high-profile run-ins with law enforcement, most recently in 2020, when he settled a lawsuit filed by federal prosecutors alleging that after he left the SBA, he violated federal law by attempting to improperly influence actions of the agency.

Here are a few other things about Lopez, who has vowed to leave Congress after finishing out former U.S. Rep. Ken Buck’s term should he be elected, you should know:

• Democrats wanted him to be the Republican gubernatorial nominee in 2022. The Democratic Governors Association funneled roughly $1.5 million to a group that ran ads boosting Lopez’s profile and touting his conservative credentials ahead of the GOP primary that year. Lopez was facing then-University of Colorado Regent Heidi Ganahl in the contest and lost by about 8 percentage points. The DGA never explained its strategy, but it appeared the group believed Lopez would have been easier for Democratic Gov. Jared Polis to beat than Ganahl. (Polis beat Ganahl by roughly 20 percentage points.)
• Lopez lost the 2018 gubernatorial primary, too. He secured just 13% of the vote in that contest, coming in third place to then-Colorado Treasurer Walker Stapleton, who went on to lose to Polis in the general election. Lopez made the ballot at the statewide GOP assembly that year in a surprise victory over better-known candidates like then-Attorney General Cynthia Coffman and businessman Barry Farah. The assembly win was chalked up to Lopez’s assembly speech, in which he voiced support for Donald Trump and opposition to so-called sanctuary cities.
• He also ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in 2016, dropping out of the race before the Republican primary election.
• Lopez, who turns 60 in June and lives in Elizabeth, is an Air Force veteran. He served in the military from 1983 to 1987. He told The Denver Post in 2018 that he worked as a weapons specialist at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico and that he left the Air Force with a permanent disability — hearing loss in his right ear. His resume also includes a stint as a restaurateur and head of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metro Denver.
• Lopez has staked out a host of hard-line conservative —and sometimes highly controversial —positions. In the past, Lopez has said he thinks abortion should be outlawed without exception and that climate change isn’t caused by human behavior. He has also said Donald Trump was the true winner of the 2020 election, which is false. As part of his 2022 gubernatorial bid, Lopez suggested Colorado should adopt an electoral college system that would give more power to rural parts of the state, in turn making it more likely that a Republican could win statewide office. “I think it’s time we had a real first lady, don’t you?” Lopez said at an event as part of his campaign that year, which many took as a homophobic dig at Polis, who is gay and married to a man.

  MORE:   As part of his stump speech Thursday night, Lopez vowed to make the 111-member Republican 4th District vacancy committee “an accountability committee” if he is elected to Congress.

“I will reach out to you anytime I need to make a vote,” he said. “I will bring you in. I will have a Zoom call meetings with you. I will make sure that we are working together.”

Lopez also vowed to be a strategic partner to the Republican who wins the separate June 25 primary in the 4th District.

He declined Thursday to endorse a candidate in the primary.

“I haven’t really decided,” he said. “We have a lot of great candidates.”

  ADDENDUM:   There have been doubts about whether Lopez will stick to his pledge and not enter the June 25 primary in addition to being the Republican nominee for the special election. (He could theoretically jump into the race at the district assembly on Friday in Pueblo.)

But he reiterated his commitment Saturday when speaking at the Elbert County GOP assembly, according to a person who was there.

YOU HEARD IT HERE

Money doesn’t mean everything.

McCorkle and fellow 4th Congressional District Democratic primary candidate John Padora are making big fundraising hauls as part of their effort to replace Buck. They’ve used Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert’s candidacy as a way to secure donations from across the country.

But both lost their bid for the special election nomination in the district Monday night — and not by a small margin — to first-time candidate Trisha Calvarese, a former congressional and campaign staffer.

McCorkle and Padora told delegates to the 4th District vacancy committee Monday night that they were best positioned to win in November. Others clearly don’t see it the same way.

McCorkle came in third place. Padora came in second. Calvarese won in the final round of voting over Padora by about 30 percentage points.

Both men, however, remain bullish about their campaigns and are trying to position themselves as the front-runners in the district’s Democratic primary.

“I plan to show the great people of Congressional District 4 I am the right person to represent them in office,” Padora said in a written statement following his defeat.

WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEK

• The state Senate is expected to debate Colorado’s 2024-25 state budget proposal this week. The House approved the long bill 46-18 on Monday, with one lawmaker absent.
• The state Title Board meets at 9 a.m. Wednesday to hold hearings on as many as 27 measures proposed for the November ballot.
• Republican nominating assemblies in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 7th congressional districts will be held Friday in Pueblo, followed Saturday by the Colorado GOP statewide assembly.

DO THE MATH

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The $16 million in budget amendments approved by the House over 11 hours of debate Thursday represent a tiny share of the state’s $40.6 billion spending plan.

THE POLITICAL TICKER

  U.S. HOUSE:   The Cook Political Report cited Colorado’s 1986 3rd Congressional District contest as one of 10 defining U.S. House races from 1984 to 2002. That year, Democrat Ben Nighthorse Campbell, a motorcycle-riding Native American, defeated U.S. Rep. Mike Strang, a Republican, 52% to 48% in the southwestern Colorado district. Nighthorse Campbell served six years in the House, then was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1992. He switched his party affiliation to become a Republican in 1995, and left Congress at the end of his second term in 2005 when he decided not to run for reelection.

  ELECTION 2024:   State Rep. Gabe Evans, R-Fort Lupton, won the 8th Congressional District Republican nominating assembly Saturday, with 62% of the delegate vote. Former state Rep. Janak Joshi also made the ballot with 30% of the vote, the threshold needed to advance. Health care consultant Joseph Andujo failed to get 10% of the delegate vote, meaning that he was eliminated from the contest despite submitting petition signatures to try to make the ballot. Andujo endorsed Evans as he exited the race. The winner of the June 25 Republican primary in the 8th District will face U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo, D-Thornton, in a contest that’s considered a tossup.

  MORE  : At the Republican nominating assembly Monday night for the 6th Congressional District, former Immigration and Customs Enforcement field director John Fabbricatore unanimously won the nomination to face U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, D-Centennial. He is running unopposed in the Republican primary.

The Republican nominating assembly in the 1st Congressional District GOP will be held tonight.

  STORY:   Colorado lawmakers reject proposed ban on new oil and gas drilling after 2030

  STORY:   Colorado started creative districts 13 years ago. Are they working?

  STORY:   400 people with mental illness are sitting in Colorado jails. Some state lawmakers want to divert them to treatment instead.

  THE SUMMIT DAILY:   Julie McCluskie has guided Colorado Democrats to policy wins, but it’s always an uphill challenge

  CHALKBEAT COLORADO:   Colorado has new rules to improve universal preschool quality. Here are some big takeaways.

  9NEWS:   Denver warns new migrants to leave, says lack of resources means they will “suffer”

  COLORADO PUBLIC RADIO:   As trains through Boulder and Steamboat Springs get new attention, southern Coloradans worry they’re the caboose of Front Range rail plan

  COLORADO NEWSLINE:   A Front Range rail ballot measure in 2024? District board will decide this month.

  SUMMIT DAILY NEWS:   Julie McCluskie has guided Colorado Democrats to policy wins, but it’s always an uphill challenge

COURTS

Colorado Secretary of State’s Office notches wins in three major court cases. Appeals may follow.

The Colorado Court of Appeals ruled last week that the conservative political nonprofit Unite for Colorado should pay a $40,000 fine and disclose the donors behind the $4 million it spent supporting and opposing ballot measures during the 2020 election cycle.

The ruling, first reported by Colorado Politics, overturned a district court ruling and upheld a decision from the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office.

It’s unclear if Unite for Colorado, which now goes by Advance Colorado Action, another conservative political nonprofit, will appeal the decision to the Colorado Supreme Court.

Background: The Colorado Secretary of State’s Office ruled that Unite for Colorado had to file as an issue committee and disclose its donors because the nonprofit’s ballot measure work constituted its “major purpose.” The group spent a total of $17.2 million supporting conservative causes in 2020.

The closely watched case, in part, prompted the legislature in 2022 to clarify state law around when political nonprofits, which we refer to as dark-money groups because they don’t have to disclose their donors, have to file as an issue committee.

Scott Wasserman, who leads the Bell Policy Center, a liberal think tank, filed the original complaint and another against Unite in 2021. He said he expects the group to appeal.

“When wealthy individuals spend so much money to put questions on the ballot that clearly enrich the wealthiest people in our state, we should know who they are,” he wrote in an email. “I’m hopeful that the Supreme Court will affirm this ruling and we’ll finally get to see who was behind Unite for Colorado.”

Keep in mind: The Bell Policy Center, as a political nonprofit, doesn’t have to disclose its donors. The organization has provided a donor list to The Colorado Sun, however, and we’ve reported on it in previous editions of this newsletter. Unite for Colorado and Advance Colorado and its affiliates have not.

Unite for Colorado faces two other still-pending campaign finance complaints — one from 2021, which is on hold pending the outcome of the 2020 lawsuit, and another from 2023, which is still in the administrative process.

The Unite for Colorado 2020 donor decision is one of three recent court wins for the Secretary of State’s Office.

• The Court of Appeals last month dismissed an appeal from Vet Voice Foundation in its attempt to get rid of the requirement that voters’ ballot signatures match those in their state voter file. The nonprofit group claimed that signature matching disenfranchises voters. But a Denver district court judge ruled that the group’s desire to get rid of signature matching, which voters may resolve within eight days after an election, could not be separated from the entire mail-in ballot system. The appellate court upheld that decision. It’s unclear whether the Vet Voice attorneys will appeal.
• The Court of Appeals also upheld an $850 fine against Suzanne Taheri, who filed a tax return instead of a personal financial disclosure when running for state Senate in 2020, Colorado Politics first reported. Taheri, a former deputy secretary of state and attorney who represents Unite for Colorado and other conservative groups, claimed that the complaint wasn’t filed within the time allotted under state law. Taheri said she expects to appeal the decision after a recent administrative hearing officer decision recommending a different complaint against another candidate be dismissed because it didn’t meet the filing timelines.

THE BIGGER PICTURE

• From pizzagate to the 2020 election: Forcing liars to pay or apologize
  — The New York Times
• Georgia lawmakers approve new election rules that could impact 2024 presidential contest
  — WABE
• Republicans’ budding interest in Texas’ housing crisis could create strange political bedfellows
  — The Texas Tribune
• Vets fret as private equity snaps up clinics, pet care companies
  — Stateline
• In the past 20 years, 17 percent of the Georgia Legislature’s actions have happened on the final day of session
  — The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Corrections & Clarifications

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