Fort Collins Republicans struggle financially

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by: twas brillig

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)

The “one semi-bright” spot for Fort Collins Republicans in the legislative races is the campaign where the Democratic incumbent still has a 2:1 cash-on-hand advantage.

The Republican challengers for the three Fort Collins-area legislative seats on the November ballot continue to lag in fundraising. In fact, with less than three months to go until Election Day, two of the challengers are essentially broke, according to campaign finance reports filed with the secretary of state this week. Here’s a summary of the individual races.

Senate District 14

Incumbent Democrat Bob Bacon raised more than $66,000 by the end of July and has more than $56,000 banked to spend over the last 90 days of the campaign.

Republican Matt Fries has raised just over $21,000 and has $1,500 in the bank. The only reason he even has money in his account is because he’s lent his own campaign about $4,700, so his spending so far has outpaced his fundraising by about $3,700.

House District 52

This is the one semi-bright spot for Republicans. Former Rep. Bob McCluskey has raised almost $38,000 and has about $23,000 banked. Still, he’s well behind incumbent John Kefalas, who’s raised more than $60,000 and has $46,000 in his bank account.

House District 53

Republican Donna Gallup has been able to raise only $8,400 so far and has less than $700 in the bank. She also still owes herself $450 on a $1,000 loan she made earlier in the campaign. Incumbent Democrat Randy Fischer has raised $44,000 and has $29,000 still at his disposal.

Ouch.

12 thoughts on “Fort Collins Republicans struggle financially”

Middle of the Road says:

August 18, 2008 at 6:31 pm

but I think we’re going to be welcoming Bob Bacon back to the Senate. That Fries guy obviously learned zip from his campaign for City Council. He’s like the Bob Beauprez of Fort Collins.

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Republican 36 says:

August 18, 2008 at 6:34 pm

Republican Party have forfeited their former hold on these voters. Larimer County used to represent the best the Republican party had to offer including such great leaders as Rep. Ron Strahle (former Speaker and Majority Leader), Sen. Fred Anderson (President of the State Senate), Attorney General and State Senator Duane Woodard, former State Rep. Bill Kaufman (Chairman of Judiciary and Speaker pro tem), former U.S. Rep. Jim Johnson and former U.S. Rep. and U.S. Senator Hank Brown but today there is only one left, State Senator Steve Johnson (R-Ft. Collins). Fifteen to thirty years ago it was not an exaggeration to say the most powerful Republicans were from that county and it was in fact one of the political power centers within the state but not any more. People like Rep. Lundberg are emblematic of the Larimer County Republican Party organization now and people like that simply don’t fit with the beliefs of most voters in that county.

The former great leaders from that county actually exercised their authority to govern the state in a prudent and fiscally responsible manner. The present crop of politicians from that county with the exception of Senator Johnson are more inclined to destroy our public institutions. The Larimer County Republican Party no longer reflects theajority views of the voters.

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1. redstateblues says:
  
  August 18, 2008 at 6:38 pm
  
  That the fact that they lost a normal, rational Republican like yourself, is not surprising. Maybe one day they will get their heads back on their shoulders, but until then I’ll be a Democrat.
  
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2. Republican 36 says:
  
  August 18, 2008 at 7:18 pm
  
  “Republican” between ‘of’ and ‘politicians.’
  
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3. DUDem says:
  
  August 19, 2008 at 1:57 am
  
  I generally agree but I disagree with people that think that Fort Collins and Larimer County are interchangeable. I have been reading a lot even in national and statewide papers that say that it was such a republican area and trending democratic but SD 14 has been held by a democrat for a while, HD53 has been held by a democrat for a really long time (I think since the 60s or something), and HD52 switched parties recently but the Republican representative was very moderate (McCluskey).
  
  Bottom line for me is I don’t really see too much changing in Larimer County. Areas outside of Ft. Collins are pretty solidly Republican (Steve Johnson does not actually represent the city of Ft. Collins, pretty much all of Larimer County except Fort Collins). Ft Collins in my opinion is competitive but tends Demcoratic, maybe a little more so recently than it used to. The Republican elected officials are certainly trending right, but I don’t think necessarily that is the reason Ft Collins is represented by Democrats. McCluskey’s (moderate) loss to Kefalas (one of the more liberal Democratic house reps) is an example of my reasoning.
  
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  1. Republican 36 says:
    
    August 19, 2008 at 2:19 am
    
    Your correct that Ft. Collins is more moderate and Democrats have won there but thirty years ago Republicans carried Ft. Collins and people like Hank Brown carried it overwhelmingly. In 2006, Larimer County like the state had an all-time registration lead in favor of the Republicans yet Bill Ritter carried the county with 57% of the vote. My point is simply that the Republican Party could be successful in areas like Ft. collins but it has moved so far over to the ideological right that the party no longer nominates candidates who reflect the majority viewpoint and therefore they loose.
    
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  2. Jambalaya says:
    
    August 20, 2008 at 6:06 am
    
    …the Dem. leader?
    
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    1. redstateblues says:
      
      August 20, 2008 at 8:19 am
      
      but I believe Stan was from Weld.
      
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      1. Jambalaya says:
        
        August 21, 2008 at 4:48 am
        
        ….for some reason I thought he was from Loveland. We’ll have to consult the dusty ol’history books, I reckon.
        
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        redstateblues says:
        
        August 21, 2008 at 4:51 am
        
        Which is an entirely different thread, but his page there says that he grew up in Weld, but later moved to Loveland, and he served as State Senator there.
        
        We were both right!
        
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        Jambalaya says:
        
        August 21, 2008 at 4:57 am
        
        …even if Weld County was part of the menu.
        
        🙂
        
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      2. DUDem says:
        
        August 21, 2008 at 11:41 pm
        
        he represented loveland in larimer county
        
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