By BRIAN PORTER | The Rocky Mountain Voice
BURLINGTON — A handful of candidates vying to become Eastern Colorado’s next representative to Congress didn’t make one of the state’s bright, bright red counties a destination here Friday for the Kit Carson County Republican Party’s Lincoln Dinner.
The county situated on the Kansas border has delivered decisive, state-leading vote-count margins for Republican candidates for President, most recently giving Donald Trump 80% of the vote in both 2016 and 2020, supporting Mitt Romney with 75% support and John McCain with 66% respectively in 2012 and 2008, and George W. Bush with 72% support in his first run and 77% in his bid for re-election. In his final election, Rep. Ken Buck earned 85% of all votes from the county.
In Burlington on Friday, it appeared as if only frontrunners remained in the race, understandable considering recent delegate votes in both the primary and special election races. What had at one point been a double-digit field of candidates in the 4th District featured three candidates and one candidate’s designee in Kit Carson County, perhaps what ranchers in Eastern Colorado might view as a cull of the herd.
Or, perhaps, it was just too far, a four-hour, one-way drive for some candidates coming from the furthest western reaches of the district.
It may, though, have provided Jerry Sonnenberg with an opening to further his campaign talking points of being an Eastern Colorado cattle raiser on a fourth-generation Centennial farm, just a couple of hours northeast of Kit Carson County. He routinely points to his family’s years residing in the district.
“Allow me to bring my experience and proven leadership to Washington,” Sonnenberg said. “I am someone you can trust, someone you have known for years.”
While Lauren Boebert, currently serving as Colorado’s 3rd District representative in Congress, was unable to reach Kit Carson in time for the dinner, her campaign manager, Drew Sexton, delivered a few remarks on her behalf.
“You’ve seen the congresswoman in action. You know how she is going to vote,” he said. “You’ve seen Lauren stand up for you. She’s not going to tell you one thing here and then get to Washington, D.C., and do somethiong else.”
In an area of the district which gave Trump 80% support in consecutive elections, Sexton noted the endorsement Boebert holds from Trump. She also had the leading delegate vote count by a 2-to-1 margin at the Colorado Republican Party’s assembly.
Deborah Flora, the one candidate from the western area of the district to make the trip to Kit Carson County, reminded those in attendance of the crippling national debt.
“It is $34 trillion,” she said. “That’s immoral to put on the backs of future generations.”
She also touted her “Roadmap to Restoring America” plan. Flora has boasted being the only candidate in the race with a written plan, but it appears she could now have company.
Richard Holtorf, who resides in nearby Washington County, attended with new campaign material titled his “Drain the Swamp Plan”. It calls for support of the 2nd Amendment, securing the border, protection of ag and water rights, reducing taxes and unleashing energy development, among the 14-point plan.
“I’m not the establishment politician,” he said, a remark he has directed toward Sonnenberg on the campaign trail. “I’m not in this for 30 years.”
Sonnenberg, who served the maximum of 16 years in the Colorado Legislature, finished ahead of Holtorf in both the 4th District special election delegate convention and at the Colorado Republican Party’s assembly. Flora did not participate in either process, relying upon a signature petition to reach the ballot, as did Holtorf and Sonnenberg. Boebert was placed on the ballot by delegates at assembly, and also had a successful petition. The assembly eliminated Ted Harvey from the race. There are others which should appear on the ballot through petition.
Kit Carson Republicans heard three of the candidates offer various criticism appearing to be pointed at ex-Rep. Buck, who caused a special election for his seat, for the first time in 41 years, by resigning before completion of his current two-year term.
“I can tell you I will be in Burlington exponentially more than Ken Buck ever got here,” Holtorf said. “He wouldn’t come.”
Buck attended the dinner just last year.
“I will be here. I will be present. I will be listening,” Flora said. “I am not a career politician. It is time for new leadership, rather than business as usual.”
Boebert has alleged Buck resigned his seat early to harm her prospects in the 4th District. Buck denies the allegation.
“There are a lot of people who will run as Freedom Caucus members in Congress in the district, and then they go back to D.C. and vote differently,” said Sexton, speaking on Boebert’s behalf.
With two days left prior to his effective resignation, Buck was tossed from the Freedom Caucus membership. The Rocky Mountain Voice asked his office for an interview the following day.
Sonnenberg didn’t clarify the direction of his criticism: “Wouldn’t it be nice to have a congressman with integrity and honor representing you in Washington, D.C.?”
The appearance by 4th District candidates was the third in far Eastern Colorado in a six-week period. The field was invited to Phillips County for a tri-county forum in early March and then most of the field participated in the special election delegate convention in Hugo, before the Kit Carson County event.
Colorado’s 4th District includes 21 counties, with 16 in Eastern Colorado and five along the suburban area of the Front Range. The district includes about one-third of the land area of the state.