CO-04 (Special Election) See Full Big Line

(R) Greg Lopez

(R) Trisha Calvarese

90%

10%

President (To Win Colorado) See Full Big Line

(D) Joe Biden*

(R) Donald Trump

80%

20%↓

CO-01 (Denver) See Full Big Line

(D) Diana DeGette*

90%

CO-02 (Boulder-ish) See Full Big Line

(D) Joe Neguse*

90%

CO-03 (West & Southern CO) See Full Big Line

(D) Adam Frisch

(R) Jeff Hurd

(R) Ron Hanks

40%

30%

20%

CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado) See Full Big Line

(R) Lauren Boebert

(R) Deborah Flora

(R) J. Sonnenberg

30%↑

15%↑

10%↓

CO-05 (Colorado Springs) See Full Big Line

(R) Dave Williams

(R) Jeff Crank

50%↓

50%↑

CO-06 (Aurora) See Full Big Line

(D) Jason Crow*

90%

CO-07 (Jefferson County) See Full Big Line

(D) Brittany Pettersen

85%↑

 

CO-08 (Northern Colo.) See Full Big Line

(D) Yadira Caraveo

(R) Gabe Evans

(R) Janak Joshi

60%↑

35%↓

30%↑

State Senate Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

80%

20%

State House Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

95%

5%

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
January 09, 2024 04:17 PM UTC

Is a Former Trump Cabinet Member Looking To Replace Boebert?

  • 1 Comments
  • by: Erik Maulbetsch

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

Oil & gas lobbyist David Bernhardt served as Trump’s Sec. of the Interior

As soon as Lauren Boebert announced she was leaving her hometown congressional district in favor of redder pastures on the Eastern Plains, politicos began wondering whether the relatively unknown Jeff Hurd would be able to secure the Republican nomination without a better-known challenger jumping in the race. With the current state of the Colorado GOP favoring the most MAGA candidates, finding someone Trump-y enough for the base, but with enough gravitas and name ID to raise real money is a challenging proposition.

One possibility has emerged: Former Acting Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt, who’s once again working for Denver-based law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber & Shreck as an oil and gas lobbyist.

Like Boebert, Bernhardt grew up in Garfield County, outside of Rifle, though his law firm page lists him as currently working out of a Washington, D.C. office.

Two weeks ago, on Dec. 27, someone registered the following six websites, all at the exact same time:

davidbernhardtforcolorado.com, bernhardtforcolorado.com, davidbernhardtforcongress.com, davidbernhardt4congress.com, bernhardtforcongress.com, bernhardt4congress.com.

Given that the registrations are anonymous, it could be that a Bernhardt supporter or even an enterprising URL squatter could have purchased the domain names, rather than Bernhardt himself.

Unfortunately his role if any in this is unknown as Bernhardt did not respond to voicemail and email requests for comment. The Colorado Times Recorder asked if he was considering a run for Boebert’s district and if he registered the domains or knew who did. This article will be updated with any response received.

Boebert Chief of Staff Jeff Small at Bernhardt’s portrait unveiling.

Accusations of ethical conflicts dogged Bernhardt from the beginning of his tenure in the Trump administration, with the Department of the Interior’s Inspector General opening an investigation into various complaints just four days after his confirmation.

During his time working first as Trump’s deputy director of Interior under Ryan Zinke, and then, after Zinke resigned in disgrace, as secretary of Interior, Bernhardt was notorious for bending the rules for the benefit of both Trump and his former oil and gas clients.

After winning her first election in 2020, Boebert hired two members of then-Deputy Director Bernhardt’s staff to top positions in her congressional office. Her current Chief of Staff Jeff Small was previously a senior advisor to Bernhardt. Her first Communications Director Ben Goldey, who quit after Jan. 6, also came over from his press secretary position at Interior.

Bernhardt has also demonstrated a financial commitment to helping Republicans retain control of the U.S. House. On Sept. 26, just a week before then-Speaker McCarthy was ousted by a group of far-right members that notably did not include Boebert, he donated a total of $50,000 to McCarthy’s campaign committee, joint fundraising committee, leadership PAC, and the National Republican Congressional Committee. His donations to the NRCC and Protect The House 2024 were the two largest contributions he’s ever made, according to FEC records.

 

Today, Hurd received endorsements from Scott Tipton and Scott McInnes, the two previous U.S. representatives from Colorado’s Third Congressional District (CD3) before Boebert. Other declared candidates for CD3 include former state Rep. Ron Hanks, who is an unabashed election fraud conspiracist, and three first-time candidates.

Tweet
Share

Comments

One thought on “Is a Former Trump Cabinet Member Looking To Replace Boebert?”

  1. Well, at least the O&G lobby has stopped pretending to represent constituents. No more Congresspuppets.

    If Bernhardt gets any traction in the CD3 primary, look for endless ads inflating Colorado's oil and gas job counts

    ( 20,500 statewide) by orders of magnitude, and the pretense of advocating for an "All of the above" energy strategy. 

Leave a Comment

Recent Comments


Posts about

Donald Trump
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Lauren Boebert
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Yadira Caraveo
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado House
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado Senate
SEE MORE

90 readers online now

Newsletter

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay in the loop with regular updates!