August 26, 2025 10:53 AM UTC

A Few Words On The MAGA-fication Of Jeff Crank

•  
• by: Colorado Pols

A story from several days ago in the Colorado Springs Gazette’s political blog formerly known as the Colorado Statesman by veteran reporter Ernest Luning covers what is on the surface not major news, President Donald Trump’s endorsement of GOP freshman Rep. Jeff Crank for re-election to his relatively safe Republican seat in CO-05:

President Donald Trump formally endorsed U.S. Rep. Jeff Crank’s bid for reelection on Tuesday, calling the Colorado Springs Republican a “Fierce Advocate for our America First Agenda.”

Crank, a staunch Trump ally, [Pols emphasis] is seeking a second term in the reliably Republican 5th Congressional District, whose border roughly coincides with that of El Paso County. The former podcaster and veteran political operative won election last year by a wide margin following nine-term Republican Doug Lamborn’s announcement that he wouldn’t seek another term.

“Congressman Jeff Crank is doing a truly fantastic job representing the Great People of Colorado’s 5th Congressional District!” Trump said in a post to Truth Social, the social media site he controls. “Jeff is a Fierce Advocate for our America First Agenda.”

If you’re like many readers and stopped after this lede, and also don’t know the history of how Rep. Crank came to be what Luning describes as a “staunch Trump ally,” nothing might seem out of place here. But there is a lot more to Jeff Crank’s evolution to his present state of ultra-MAGA, and to Luning’s credit he does mention some of it well below the fold:

In last year’s GOP primary, Trump initially endorsed Crank rival Dave Williams, a former state lawmaker who was then chairing the Colorado Republican Party. At the same time, Trump took a swipe at Crank for “(working) closely with Americans for Chinese Prosperity, a Charles Koch Disaster,” referring to Crank’s longtime employer Americans for Prosperity, whose political arm supported Crank.

Crank went on to defeat Williams by a nearly two-to-one margin in the primary and then carried the district in November, leading the Democratic nominee by just under 14 percentage points.

As the former state director of Americans for Prosperity, who supported the last standing Republican primary opponent to Trump in 2024 Nikki Haley, Jeff Crank represented one of the last vestiges of the “Never Trump” resistance to Trump’s takeover of the Republican Party in Colorado–a resistance with a storied history going back to 2016 when the party faithful backed Ted Cruz in the caucuses and celebrated with a “Never Trump” Tweet from the party’s official account. Crank’s apostasy was central to CO-05 primary opponent and GOP chairman Dave Williams’ bellicose attacks on Crank, which Williams controversially carried out using the state party’s brand and resources.

But after Crank handily defeated Williams in the 2024 CO-05 primary, by which time Trump’s hold on the party was once again absolute, Crank abandoned his prior disdain for Trump and kissed the ring leading to Trump’s gratuitous endorsement to win this safe red seat. As readers know, both Crank and Williams in the end were rewarded for their allegiance to Trump, with Crank receiving Trump’s endorsement just months after being bashed by him and Williams receiving a plum patronage appointment to the Commerce Department where he can continue to get rich on the importation of cheap Chinese trinkets.

If you stayed with us this long hoping for a moral to the story, we’re sorry to report there isn’t one. The principles that led Jeff Crank to swear off Trump when Nikki Haley was still an option evaporated once Crank realized there would be no room for dissent in the second Trump administration. Policywise, it’s not surprising that Crank was thrilled to pass legislation that slashes funding for social safety nets and renewable energy to pay for tax breaks for corporate interests–while boosting funding for the military contractors Crank answers to in his district. The destructive instincts behind the “We’re All Going To Die Act,” after all, were AFP’s stock-in-trade long before Trump descended the golden escalator.

Jeff Crank certainly isn’t the only Republican to eat his “Never Trump” words, but he’s Colorado’s best example of how seamlessly–and shamelessly–it can happen. With Trump’s approval stuck well underwater and Republicans eyeing major midterm losses, Crank will have opportunities ahead to wistfully recall how he used to feel.