While hardly as colorful as the national presidential race, Colorado Republicans have had a remarkable time picking a candidate for the U.S. Senate. Going into the state’s primary election, which concludes June 28, GOP voters have six names to choose from, including a write-in candidate.
Based on his experience, priorities and temperament, they should pick Ryan L. Frazier.
Frazier is a Navy veteran who led a National Security Agency intelligence analysis unit. He served two terms as a city councilor in Aurora, Colorado’s third largest city. He is a father of three and co-founded a public charter school. He has also started and run a business his website says, “provides strategy development and professional services across the aviation, tourism, energy, education and health care sectors.”
In 2010, Frazier ran unsuccessfully against Democratic incumbent Rep. Ed Perlmutter in Colorado’s 7th Congressional District. But he is perhaps most widely known for his work on Denver television’s 9NEWS, where he squared off first against former speaker of the Colorado House, Democrat Andrew Romanoff, and then versus Democrat James Mejia.
Frazier boasts the traditional values of hard work, faith in God and perseverance, values he says were imbued by his single mother. But he prefers to call himself a “pro-economic growth Republican” rather than focus on social issues, and while on the Aurora City Council, he supported benefits for same-sex couples on the city’s workforce.
The GOP came to this field after a series of the state’s top Republicans opted not to challenge Bennet. Besides Frazier, the ballot now includes El Paso County Commissioner Darryl Glenn, former state Rep. Jon Keyser, former Colorado State Athletic Director Jack Graham and Colorado Springs businessman Robert Blaha.
Of the remainder, Graham is the most qualified. In addition to his time at CSU, he started and grew a successful insurance company, which he sold in 2010. He is pro-choice and the father of three.
It is downhill from there.
By all accounts, Jon Keyser is a level-headed guy, but he has a marked penchant for saying crazy things. His campaign was caught turning in bogus signatures on petitions and someone involved may have committed fraud. When asked about it, Keyser said he has a big dog. He claimed that Bennet and President Obama actually want to give Iran nuclear weapons.
When asked in a debate how he would work to find compromise, Darryl Glenn said, “You don’t get it. It’s not about reaching across the aisle.” As the Denver Post put it, if Glenn does not see the value in compromise, “he is not fit to be senator.”
Robert Blaha told a Denver TV station that his role model as senator is Ted Cruz – and specifically rejected acting like Colorado’s affable and effective Republican Sen. Cory Gardner. He said of Donald Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims, “I want to go beyond just Muslims.”
Jerry Eller is the write-in candidate. A disabled veteran with a variety of work experience, he would impeach a particular federal judge, declare there is no such thing as climate change and amend the Constitution to ban gay marriage.
All six candidates embrace Republican values of small government, personal responsibility and national security. But four have also said things that should be disqualifying.
Vote for Ryan L. Frazier in the Republican primary for United States senator.
