Former state Sen. Josh Penry will serve as Marco Rubio’s campaign chairman in Colorado.
Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio is starting to form his team in Colorado.
The campaign announced that Josh Penry, a former state Senate GOP leader, will serve as Rubio’s state chairman. The volunteer role will put him in charge of building an organization to support Rubio’s 2016 ahead of the Colorado caucuses in March.
In a statement released by the campaign, Penry called Rubio a “generational leader who has a bold vision for the 21st century.”
The move to name a state team — which his rivals are doing as well — also demonstrates a focus past the primary, Penry said in an interview.
“There are a lot of states before Colorado in the primary orbit but they are positioning their campaign to go the distance,” he said. “They are not just thinking primaries — they are thinking how do you win a general election.”
Penry said Rubio made an unannounced visit to the state a month ago to meet with activists, donors and business executives. He has also established ties with the state’s Republicans in prior campaigns, for Jane Norton in 2010, attending campaign events and U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman in the 2014 election.
“He does not start from zero here in Colorado,” Penry said. “He’s a well-known commodity.”
Penry is a former state lawmaker who served in the House and Senate and made a bid for governor in 2009. He was Norton’s in the 2010 U.S. Senate race and previously worked as a staffer on Capitol Hill.
