Jon Keyser is a Republican U.S. Senate candidate.
All the top Republicans for U.S. Senate made a big push to win votes at the state GOP convention Saturday except one candidate.
Jon Keyser skipped the state convention to compete Saturday in the so-called “Sheldon Adelson primary” at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s meeting in Las Vegas, where he rubbed shoulder with big-time donors.
The former state lawmaker from Morrison attended the state party’s Centennial Dinner on Friday evening in Colorado Springs and then boarded a 7:55 a.m. Southwest flight Saturday from Denver to Las Vegas.
The Denver Post received photos of Keyser on the plane, wearing a dark suit and light blue shirt and sporting silver headphones, and his campaign confirmed the trip Saturday.
“Jon is meeting with members of the Jewish-American community who believe Michael Bennet needs to be held accountable for his vote to put Iran on the path to a nuclear weapon and give them $150 billion to finance their terrorist operations around the globe,” said Matt Connelly, the campaign’s spokesman.
The optics of the trip are not ideal for Keyser. He is facing flak in the race for being considered the establishment candidate in a non-establishment election year, and skipping an event dominated by party activists will only further those concerns. His campaign did have a table at the convention and distributed literature about the candidate.
What Keyser missed at the convention was the upset win by outsider Darryl Glenn, who becomes the first candidate on the June primary ballot. Keyser and three other candidates submitted petitions to make the ballot, which are not yet certified.
The RJC’s event took place at The Venetian, which is owned by Adelson, the billionaire casino magnate and big-dollar Republican donor. Ted Cruz spoke at the meeting Saturday night, after addressing the state GOP convention in Colorado Springs.
The Keyser campaign said it did not host any fundraising events as part of the trip. Politico reported Monday that Keyser “was the subject of much interest among those at the Venetian.”
