July 16, 2016 08:31 AM UTC

Another Far-Right Reality TV Star Runs for Office

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• by: Colorado Pols

The #Bachelor is now The Candidate. @benhiggi signs papers to get on HD4 ballot after GOP vacancy vote #coleg pic.twitter.com/lyrWtDV4H2

— Ernest Lee Luning (@eluning) July 16, 2016

As FOX 31 reports, it’s not just Donald Trump anymore! Ben Higgins, a conservative Republican who starred in ABC’s The Bachelor reality TV program, is officially running for the Colorado General Assembly in west Denver’s strongly blue House District 4:

Ben Higgins of “The Bachelor” fame is running for the state house in Colorado.

FOX31 Denver political reporter Joe St. George confirmed the information Friday night.

Higgins is a Republican and he will take on incumbent Democrat Dan Pabon in District 4.

Republicans are reportedly very excited about Higgins running, citing his name ID and…well, not much else. The reason is simple: HD-4 is one of the state’s most solidly Democratic districts. In 2014, a Republican “wave year,” Dan Pabon beat his Republican opponent with almost 80% of the vote. As an avowed Christian conservative Republican, Higgins’ agenda is nothing short of antithetical to the interests of the voters he is courting.

Once you realize that, the fool’s errand of Higgins’ run becomes apparent. Although there surely are voters who might be swayed by the superficial appeal of a reality TV candidate they are familiar with, we strongly suspect that the district’s diverse, worldly, and highly educated voters will find what Higgins actually stands for to be repugnant. Past the glitzy appeal of a television star running for office, Higgins simply has nothing to offer HD-4.

Whatever Higgins’ personal (not to mention commercial) aspirations may be in running for office, honest Republicans we’ve talked to consider this race to be more of a “resource sink”–forcing Democrats to spend money defending a seat that otherwise should not be on the table. In addition, Higgins is reportedly set to be filmed by a reality TV crew throughout his run for office, which could raise novel campaign finance issues.

We’d say forcing Democrats to divert resources to hold a “safe” seat is the best case scenario here for Republicans. In the worst case, the voters of HD-4 thrash Higgins so badly that the whole exercise simply does further damage to the Republican brand.

We say “further damage” out of deference to Higgins’ fellow reality TV star at the top of the ticket.