March 04, 2021 01:04 PM UTC

Lora Thomas Plotting Run Against Jason Crow in CO-06

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• by: Colorado Pols

Douglas County Republican Lora Thomas apparently has her sights set on a new job in 2022. From what we hear, Thomas is committed to running for Congress in CO-06, where Democrat Jason Crow was just re-elected by a 17 point margin.

Thomas is a former dispatcher for the Colorado State Patrol who was elected Douglas County Coroner in 2010 despite having no medical background whatsoever (in Colorado, pretty much anyone with a pulse can run for coroner). Thomas’ time as DougCo Coroner included a weird internal battle with then-Douglas County Sheriff Dave Weaver that resulted in someone filing an ethics complaint against her office.

Thomas ran for Douglas County Sheriff in 2014 but failed to make the Primary ballot at the GOP county assembly in a race eventually won by Republican Tony Spurlock. Two years later, Thomas narrowly got her name on the ballot for Douglas County Commissioner and went on to win the GOP Primary, which was enough to get her elected in November in a solid-red county. Democrats had hoped to beat Thomas in 2020, but early favorable poll numbers never materialized and Thomas easily won re-election to a second and final term.

Thomas is the epitome of the modern far-right Republican in Colorado. She is a supporter of the asinine crusade to detach Douglas County from the Tri County Board of Health. In 2019, she joined with her fellow Republican Commissioners in approving a pre-emptive declaration that DougCo would refuse to enforce new “Red Flag” gun safety laws passed by the state legislature (a move that drew the ire of her old foe Spurlock).

Unless redistricting makes significant changes to the boundaries of CO-06, there is little chance that Thomas can pose much of a threat to Crow in 2022 (Crow even carried Thomas’ home area of Highland Ranch en route to his blowout victory over Republican Steve House last November). But Thomas is term-limited in 2024, so there’s no great political risk for her personally.