Washington – Jeff Crank, who finished second to Rep. Doug Lamborn in the 5th Congressional District’s bruising Republican primary last year, announced Wednesday that he will seek the seat again.
Rumored to be considering another bid and lobbied by some Republican activists to jump in, Crank made it official by filing federal paperwork. Crank is launching an exploratory committee, the first step before raising money for a race.
“It was time to make a decision,” Crank said. “I have gone every day now for I don’t know how many months with people saying, ‘Are you going to run? Are you going to run?”‘
Lamborn’s re-election campaign called Crank’s filing “unremarkable news.”
“It certainly isn’t going to change the congressman’s priorities, which are serving his constituents and building his congressional office,” said Jon Hotaling, spokesman for Lamborn’s campaign.
Lamborn was traveling in the Middle East and was not available for comment. In an interview last week, he said he was ready to take on a challenger.
Political observers and activists characterized the competitive primary as a political grudge match between Lamborn and Crank.
A former aide to retired Rep. Joel Hefley, who represented the district for 20 years, Crank lost the 2006 primary to Lamborn by 892 votes. That race had six contenders. Lamborn won with about 27 percent of the vote.
There were accusations that Lamborn used Christian Coalition ads to smear Crank. Lam born denied that the ads were tied to his campaign.
“Some people are never satisfied unless there is a clear majority (winner),” said Leland Gilbert, former chairman of the El Paso County Republican Party and a Lamborn supporter.
Crank rejected the charge that the election is about the past. He said he won’t criticize Lamborn and wants to talk about issues.
Crank needs to keep other contestants out to have any chance to win the primary, analysts said. The third-place finisher in 2006, retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Bentley Rayburn, said in an interview last week that he was “thinking seriously” about running again. He could not be reached Wednesday.
“If a third or fourth candidate emerges, (those people) would be just crushing the anti- Lamborn forces’ chances of defeating the incumbent here,” said David Wasserman, who analyzes House races for The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan publication.
Lamborn will have an advantage as an incumbent, Wasserman said, though he will need to raise money more aggressively. In the second quarter of this year, Lamborn raised just $36,862 and had $50,274 cash.
The race is likely to cost each candidate about $500,000, Wasserman said. Crank will need to raise about $200,000 by year’s end to make a strong showing, he said.
If Lamborn wins the primary, he will probably not be challenged again within his own party, said Bob Loevy, political science professor at Colorado College.
Rep. Michael Merrifield, one of the two Democrats from El Paso County in the state House of Representatives, welcomed the news of a Republican primary in the 5th District.
“This will be a good opportunity for people to see the weaknesses of all the Republican candidates as they battle it out,” Merrifield said. “Then we will put forward a really strong Democratic candidate to take on whoever is left.”
State Republican Party chairman Dick Wadhams said the seat would remain Republican regardless of what happens in a primary.
In 2006, Lamborn won the general election with 59 percent of the vote.
