Tancredo Endorses Campana, Who Will Regret It

 

Seriously wealthy property developer turned Colorado GOP U.S. Senate candidate Gino Campana is running, as wrote about recently with the hire by Campana of former high-profile Donald Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway, with a single-minded strategy to appeal to the pro-Trump majority within the Republican Party faithful expected to participate in the caucus process.

Today, Campana tossed another big juicy hunk of MAGA-hat red meat into the fray with the endorsement of Colorado’s most infamous anti-immigrant firebrand Tom Tancredo, who like many other once-pariah fringe Colorado Republicans has seen the party’s mainstream tilt back their way in recent years:

🚨🚨ENDORSEMENT ALERT🚨🚨

I am proud to have former Congressman Tom Tancredo on our team. Congressman Tancredo knows Colorado and fought for our state in D.C. for a decade. Join us in our race to turn Colorado red and fight for the American dream! #Gino2022 #COPolitics #COSen pic.twitter.com/8S6D7eQgez

— Gino Campana (@gino_campana) February 15, 2022

Once considered such a toxic figure in Republican politics that he was banned from the Bush White House, Tancredo’s endorsement has reliably been a kiss of death for candidates interested in winning a general election in Colorado–proving the rule with Tancredo’s high-profile support Republican gubernatorial loser Walker Stapleton. Despite the fact that a Tancredo endorsement is a well-established predictor of defeat in a general election, candidates still seek it out for the short-term advantage it can provide in a Republican primary.

In 2022, besides Campana Tancredo has endorsed hard-charging “America First” CD-8 GOP candidate Lori Saine, and in CD-7 at least as of this writing the sideshow campaign of amateur activist Laurel Imer. Tancredo had endorsed Erik Aadland in the U.S. Senate primary, but since Aadland stepped down to the CD-7 race there’s an unresolved conflict there that Imer seems unlikely to win.

Again, Campana appears to have no strategy beyond appealing to Republican caucusgoers loyal to Donald Trump, and if that strategy manages to propel Campana through the primary it instantly becomes an albatross around his neck for the general election.

Looks like the new Team Tancredo will cross that bridge when they come to it.