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May 02, 2022 11:01 AM UTC

Danielle Neuschwanger Scrambles GOP Race for Governor

  • 9 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols
Clockwise from top left: Dan Maes, Heidi Ganahl, Danielle Neuschwanger, Tom Tancredo

There was some VERY big news over the weekend regarding the 2022 race for Governor in Colorado. As first noted by the Colorado Times Recorder and subsequently confirmed on Saturday, Danielle Neuschwanger will continue her campaign for Governor — but as the candidate of the American Constitution Party.

When last we saw Neuschwanger, she was threatening to sue (and, somehow, incarcerate) State Republican Party Chairwoman Kristi Burton Brown after Neuschwanger failed to make the 30% threshold required for ballot access at the Republican state assembly on April 9. Neuschwanger has been adamant that she was robbed in the “Great ClickerGate Conspiracy,” but she isn’t waiting any longer for that ball of red string to be unraveled. Instead, Neuschwanger is doing the only thing that would have been worse for Colorado Republicans than a bitter Primary fight: A vote-sucking General Election challenge.

Buoyed by polling data suggesting that she outperforms Republican Hiedi Heidi Ganahl in a hypothetical November matchup against incumbent Democrat Jared Polis, Neuschwanger refuses to go away despite finishing in third place at the GOP assembly behind Ganahl and top-line candidate Greg Lopez. This is nothing short of disastrous for Colorado Republicans.

The last time something like this happened was in 2010, when Tom Tancredo ran for Governor under the banner of the American Constitution Party (ACN) because establishment Republicans were horrified that some guy named Dan Maes was able to become the official GOP nominee for Governor. What makes this situation different is that Tancredo ran on the ACN ballot with the unofficial blessing of GOP bigwigs. Presumably, Republicans are much less enthusiastic about Neuschwanger’s ACN candidacy, but that doesn’t make it any less impactful.

Tom Tancredo, Dan Maes, and John Hickenlooper at a 2010 gubernatorial candidate forum.

 

It’s unlikely that Neuschwanger’s candidacy will have the same effect that Tancredo had in 2010, when his presence reduced Maes to just 11% of the General Election vote and damn near cost Republicans their “major party status” on future ballots in Colorado. The Tancredo/Maes dynamic allowed Democrat John Hickenlooper to cruise to victory in what was otherwise remembered as the Tea Party wave election (the final vote percentage in the 2010 race for Governor: 51% for Hickenlooper, 36% for Tancredo, and 11% for Maes).

Neuschwanger’s name on the November ballot may not cripple the Colorado Republican Party as it almost did in 2010, but she undoubtedly will take votes away from Ganahl or Lopez (whomever becomes the GOP nominee after the June Primary) in a race in which Republicans already faced an uphill battle in trying to oust a popular incumbent in Polis. And that might be enough to essentially end this race before it even gets started.

The 2022 Governor’s race had been dropping in priority for Republicans amid Ganahl’s silly campaign and the hopeless follies of Lopez (who won first place at the GOP assembly mostly for promising to pardon Tina Peters). When you add Neuschwanger’s ACN candidacy, it’s hard to argue that beating Polis is not a lost cause for Republicans.

We swear, we didn’t know this was going to happen when we recently concluded our “Worst Campaigns in Colorado (This Century)” bracket challenge. The worst, it seems, is yet to come.

Comments

9 thoughts on “Danielle Neuschwanger Scrambles GOP Race for Governor

  1. She is a false flag operation run by the deep state to increase Polis' percentage numbers in the general.

    Or course with a name like Neuschwanger, she could just be a figment of Mel Brooks' imagination.

    1. Name-wise, we're definitely in Lily von Shtupp territory, although even a suggestion of comparing The Neusch with the late, great Madeline Kahn is ghastly.

  2. When Republicans aren't quite inexperienced enough or sufficiently tuned into the conspiracies of the day, enter the ACN.

    Does the ACN already have candidates for other state offices? 

    1. Here is what I found at the SoS's website: 

      Gov: Neuschwanger

      AG: Robert Barbrady

      SoS: Amanda Campbell

      State Bd of Ed (CD8): James Treibert

      State House (HD16): David Rawe

      Notably the party's website has been "under construction" since 2018 and they have no new posts on Facebook or Twitter is almost that long.

      1. What’s wrong with this picture?

        You notice for which office they are not running a candidate? US Senator. They are either confident that Hanks wins the nomination, or that O’Dea is just as much of a nut case as Hanks.

        I’m surprised they are running someone for Sec. of State. Are they concerned that Pam Anderson might block Tina Peters? If so, they should simply check out the other thread posted today about Anderson’s anemic fundraising.

    2. Ken Buck has an ACP opponent for CD4, Ryan McGonigal, and also an Independent candidate, Donna Windholz. So if the conservatives split between “beast disruptor” Bob Lewis  of Elbert County in the primary, and McGonigal, conservative gadfly Donna Windholz, and   felon scammer Joshua Rodriguez, (who is apparently running for CD4 on the Libertarian ticket) in the general, then Democrat Ike McCorkle has a real chance. 

       

       

  3. This is great news for all FREEDOM loving voters.  Republicans not so much.  Danielle is going to give them hell all the way to November.  Talk about discouraging the Republicans already low expectations of winning the governorship.  They should have let her on the primary ballot.

    1. Yes. It would have been like lancing a pustule on the backside of the state GOP in June instead of letting it fester until November.

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