Beauprez Gets GOP Nod, Will Face Hickenlooper In Governors Race

By Bente Birkeland
·

Originally published on June 24, 2014 9:45 pm

The race to be Colorado’s next Governor is officially underway. Former Congressman Bob Beauprez will challenge Governor John Hickenlooper in November after winning a four way GOP primary race. Beauprez captured a four-point lead over his closest challenger, Tom Tancredo.

“Colorado can do better, and we’re about to get better,” said Beauprez.

Many in the GOP were relieved at the Beauprez victory, as Tancredo is a staunch anti-illegal immigrant firebrand who some worried would pose problems for other Republicans on the ticket, such as U.S. Senate challenger Cory Gardner.

In a speech to supporters Beauprez pledged that one of his first orders of business if elected would be to cut government regulations.

“When I ask people what’s holding them back it’s government, government getting in the way,” said Beauprez. “Freedom from government is what we need in Colorado.”

In addition to Tancredo, Beauprez beat Secretary of State Scott Gessler, and former state senate minority leader Mike Kopp for the nomination.

This is not his first gubernatorial campaign. Beauprez lost the governor’s race in 2006 to Democrat Bill Ritter. Hickenloooper’s campaign said the Governor had a good working relationship with Beauprez when Hickenlooper was mayor of Denver and Beauprez was a member of Congress. Hickenlooper hopes to have a civil campaign.

“Over the past four years we’ve seen Colorado go from 40th to fourth in job creation, and we’ve seen unemployment drop from 9 percent to 5.8 percent," said Hickenlooper. "We’re committed to keeping that positive momentum going until Colorado is number one in the country for job creation."

Copyright 2014 KUNC-FM. To see more, visit http://kunc.org.

Latest Stories