Durango Republican drops out of Senate race

DENVER – A Durango financial adviser has ended his dark-horse bid to be the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate.

Jaime McMillan had temporarily relocated to Denver to round up support to win the GOP nomination and challenge Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo.

McMillan only recently joined the Republican Party. He ran for the state Legislature and U.S. House of Representatives in 2012 as an unaffiliated candidate, and he had been a registered Democrat.

He announced his withdrawal in an email.

“I want to thank everyone for their support and our party especially for giving me the opportunity to discuss the issues I believed were pivotal in this race,” he wrote.

McMillan had positioned himself as a progressive who favors of abortion rights and wants to fix the health care law.