Illegal immigration foe Tom Tancredo declared his bid Thursday to challenge Gov. John Hickenlooper next year
Tancredo, a Republican who served in Congress for 10 years, criticized Hickenlooper’s decision to delay the execution of convicted murderer Nathan Dunlap, who killed four people in 1993, and the governor’s push for new gun-control laws.
“Game on,” Tancredo posted on his Facebook page, after declaring his candidacy on a conservative radio program.
Tancredo briefly ran for the GOP presidential nomination in 2008, making his opposition to illegal immigration the centerpiece of his candidacy. He was a third-party candidate for Colorado governor in 2010 – a race eventually won by Hickenlooper, a Democrat.
The presidential run drew attention for blistering attacks on people in the country illegally.
He continued his attacks on the Republican Party on Thursday, saying it would rather run a middle-of-the-road candidate with the hope the person wouldn’t offend enough people to lose the race.
“I think it’s absolutely the wrong position to take. You should be looking for people who are committed to principle,” Tancredo said.
State GOP chairman Ryan Call defended the party, saying it has a number of good candidates, each bringing his or her own strengths.
“It will be up to the Republican voters to decide who represents our party,” Call said.
Dunlap is on death row for killing three teenagers and a 50-year-old woman at a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant in Aurora in 1993. Hickenlooper granted an indefinite reprieve to Dunlap on Wednesday, meaning the convicted murderer will stay alive until at least January 2015, when the governor’s term ends.
The reprieve also practically ensures that Dunlap and the death penalty will be a 2014 campaign issue. Colorado has had the death penalty since 1977, but the state has executed only one person since then.
Hickenlooper told the Associated Press in December that he “wrestles” with the death penalty almost daily.
“If Gov. Hickenlooper believes that the death penalty has no place in our society, he should have the guts to stand up, say it and make the case to repeal it,” Tancredo wrote on Facebook. The Republican said he wants to fight for jobs, small business and “Constitutional freedoms that we hold dear.”
Steve Laffey, a onetime Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Rhode Island, announced Tuesday he is running for governor of Colorado also.
Republican Secretary of State Scott Gessler filed paperwork Thursday to run for governor in 2014. His advisers described the filing as a formality that does not mean he is officially in the race. Gessler has said he will make a final decision next week.
The filing came after he told Republicans in Fort Collins last week that he was thinking of challenging Hickenlooper.
Neither Tancredo’s nor Gessler’s announcement was a surprise, Hickenlooper said in an interview in Durango on Thursday. “The more the merrier,” he said.
In March, Hickenlooper told Denver’s 9NEWS he didn’t think his gun-control efforts would jeopardize his re-election bid.
Herald Staff Writer Emery Cowan and The Associated Press contributed to this report ©2013 USA TODAY. All rights reserved.
