October 31, 2017 09:06 AM UTC

Tom Tancredo Will Run for Governor

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: Here’s a telling quote in a story from Mark Matthews for the Denver Post:

“I think people really are ready for somebody who is not a part of the establishment, and that is certainly yours truly,” said Tancredo in a phone call confirming his bid.

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Ernest Luning has the scoop for the publication formerly known as the Colorado Statesman:

Tom Tancredo is set to kick off a campaign for governor of Colorado, joining a crowded Republican primary field in what will be his third run for the office, Colorado Politics has learned.

Tancredo enters the race — after more than two months spent exploring a run — on the heels of a private poll showing him with a wide lead over other GOP candidates. The poll also shows Tancredo in a statistical dead heat with leading Democratic candidate U.S. Rep. Jared Polis…

…Tancredo plans to hold Front Range events Wednesday to officially launch his candidacy — including a noon stop at the Denver headquarters of the Independence Institute, the self-described free-market think tank Tancredo headed in the 1990s before winning the first of his five terms in Congress. He’s scheduled to start the day at Whistling Pines Gun Club in Colorado Springs and finish with an afternoon appearance at Grimm Brothers Brewhouse in Loveland.

We’ve said many times in this space that a Tancredo gubernatorial bid actually makes more strategic sense in 2018 than it did when he sought the state’s top job in 2010 and 2014. Tancredo appears to be in position to consolidate support from Steve Bannon, and potentially, from President Trump himself (Tancredo spent last weekend hunting pheasant with Donald Trump, Jr.). Polling data shows that Tancredo is an early favorite in a very crowded Republican field. Weak fundraising efforts from other top Republican candidates means the Tanc doesn’t have far to go to catch up with campaigns that have been underway for months.

It’s too early to gauge Tancredo’s potential in a theoretical General Election matchup, but his candidacy certainly shakes things up in a Republican Primary. The most immediate impact is with Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler, for whom a Tancredo candidacy represents the worst-case scenario for his bid to win the GOP nomination. If Brauchler fell off a cliff with an awful Q3 fundraising effort, Tancredo just dropped a piano on his corpse.