The disarray in the Republican continued as the newcomer in the race anointed himself as a the front-runner and a top contender’s campaign suffered a major jolt.
, the former congressman and two-time losing candidate for governor, said his nomination as is “a done deal, almost” even as he warned of a nasty race ahead.
“I will tell you right now, this will be the ugliest campaign you’ll see,” he said in Denver, “because the other side has only one chance of beating me. … And that is to turn me into the biggest devil who ever lived, a racist, a white supremacist, all that junk.”
Tancredo made his remarks Wednesday on a three-stop tour to launch his campaign, a day after . He after being outraged that Republicans didn’t speak out against the cancellation of a conference hosted by a white nationalist organization, the VDARE Foundation, where he was scheduled to speak.
Tancredo, an immigration hardliner, sat on the VDARE board of directors until recently, when he started to look at a bid for governor, he told The Denver Post in an interview.
The Southern Poverty Law Center is anti-immigration and promotes white nationalism — but Tancredo and the Colorado Republican Party suggest the center is a left-wing activist organization.
Later in the day, the campaign manager for Republican rival announced he departed after six months. The move will leave Brauchler, the 18th Judicial District attorney, without a campaign leader for the foreseeable future and comes after spurred questions about whether he can mount a successful campaign.
Ryan Lynch left the campaign Monday as anticipation mounted about Tancredo’s entry into the race. Both candidates are trying to court conservative activists, but Tancredo’s prominence in the party gives him the edge against Brauchler, the prosecutor of the Aurora theater shooting case who is making his first statewide bid.
Lynch issued a statement that celebrated the campaign’s work to date. He declined to comment further because he signed a nondisclosure agreement with the Brauchler campaign. Brauchler did not return a message seeking comment.
Brauchler is mentioned as a possible candidate for attorney general, too, but he repeatedly has said he wants to run only for governor. Attorney General Cynthia Coffman , too, and may make a decision about whether to enter the race soon.
If she , it could complicate the GOP picture further, as and his wife, state Rep. Perry Buck, and other candidates may look at a run for his 4th Congressional District seat.
The Republican nomination for governor in Colorado is drawing national attention. State Treasurer Walker Stapleton, a Bush family relative, and investment banker Doug Robinson, a nephew of Mitt Romney, are elevating the status with their bids.
Anti-establishment forces are taking an interest, too. Donald Trump adviser at a three-hour meeting earlier in the weeks before he announced the campaign, but itap unclear how involved he will be in the race.
