Jerry Natividad, right, stands with Republican leaders Ryan Call and Bob Beauprez in support of the Romney campaign in 2012. (Photo by John Ingold, The Denver Post)
The Republican contest for the U.S. Senate in Colorado is becoming more crowded by the day.
Jerry Natividad, a leading Hispanic businessman in the Denver area, is preparing to announce a bid later this month for the GOP nomination. “I’m at the stage where I’m probably going to do this thing,” the 65-year-old told The Denver Post.
Natividad joins an increasingly crowded field with the entry of state Rep. and Colorado Springs businessman in the past week. If he files candidacy papers, Natividad would be the ninth declared candidate and others (including ) are still exploring the possibility of a run.
Natividad is the president of American Facility Services Group and owner of the Jeffco Regional Sports Facility in Lakewood. For decades, he worked the sidelines of the political field, serving as a board member of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Colorado Chair of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly and a member of Mitt Romney’s Hispanic leadership team in 2012, according to from the Koch-funded Leadership Institute, where he was a guest speaker.
Still, he suggests he’s an outsider. “I’m not a political insider,” he said, “I’ve never held political office.”
What is pushing him into the race are a number of major issues, including the rising national debt and Iran deal. Natividad, who casts himself as a “moderate,” said Republicans and Democrats in Washington are “making bad decisions together.”
“When I take a look at (the GOP Senate primary),” he said, the candidates are “just more of the same.”
