April 22, 2021 03:12 PM UTC

More Insurrectionist Man Of Mystery: From Loren To Ron Hanks

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: As usual, our intrepid readers were already on the case. We’ll pay closer attention next time!

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One of the wackier new additions to the Colorado Republican House Minority, as our readers have been getting acquainted with for some months now, is Rep. Ron Hanks representing Park, Chaffee, Fremont, and Custer Counties in Colorado House District 60. Hanks earned his nickname “Insurrectionist Man of Mystery” after he appeared at the Colorado Capitol to be sworn in in January, then disappeared complaining of “laryngitis” as the General Assembly adjourned to stay safe from the COVID-19 pandemic. Hanks had just returned from Washington, D.C., where he had participated in the January 6th protests–though not, he claims, the riot-y bits.

Back in Colorado, Hanks was telling his followers right up until Joe Biden’s inauguration that some kind of zany force majeure might still intervene to expose the horrible truth that would among other things make Donald Trump President again. That of course did not happen, and when the legislature got back to work Hanks complained bitterly about being labeled a “conspiracy theorist” during debate over stillborn GOP vote suppression bills.

And then, of course, Hanks proceeded to whitesplain history from the slave era during a debate over civics education, and a new star was born! Following in the footsteps of illustrious “House Crazy” predecessors like Reps. Lori Saine and Gordon “Dr. Chaps” Klingenschmitt, he’s just the latest Colorado Republican legislator to make national news for all the wrong reasons.

But as Marianne Goodland at the Colorado Springs Gazette informs us, there is indeed more to the “insurrectionist man of mystery” than meets the eye. Starting with the fact that “Ron” is not Rep. Hanks’ real name:

When Penrose Republican Rep. Ron Hanks ran for Congress in California in 2010, his answers to a survey on abortion, guns, gays and unions might be a surprise to his constituents and maybe even to some of his fellow members in the House caucus…

Hanks (who ran under his birth name, Loren) ran for Congress in District 1, located in Northern California. He lost to a six-term Democratic incumbent, Mike Thompson, in a four-way race, garnering 31% of the vote to Thompson’s 63% of the vote.

That’s right, folks! Ten years ago, a more youthful gentleman (it was ten years ago, after all) named Loren Hanks ran for Congress to represent the northwest corner of California and lost convincingly. What’s more, Loren Hanks, running in a liberal Democratic district, seems to have been a substantially less rock-ribbed conservative–even offering support to marriage equality, gays serving in the military, and allowing non-government workers to organize unions. Sometime between 2010 and 2020, Loren Hanks transplanted himself to Colorado and became Ron Hanks. And due to an apparent lack of homegrown Republicans in Colorado House District 60, where you’d think they would send a “California carpetbagger” packing, Ron Hanks now has the title he tried to win in 2010–just on a smaller scale.

It may seem unusual for a washed-up Republican candidate to surface in Colorado in search of a second start, but there is precedent for it in the form of former GOP Sen. Dave Balmer of Centennial. Balmer had previously run for Congress in North Carolina after serving in that state’s legislature, withdrawing from that race under dubious circumstances before moving to Colorado and winning a seat in our state house. In due course, as longtime readers know, Balmer’s checkered past came back to haunt him.

Well, since nobody in the Colorado Republican Party vets their candidates, it’s time to crowdsource what Ron Loren Hanks has been doing for the past decade! It’s not always the case, but sometimes when people move to another state and go by a different name there’s a fascinating story behind the makeover.

Rep. Hanks is one of those people who just, as the kids say, radiates a creepy vibe. And the more scrutiny he gets, the more that creepy vibe looks justified.