COLORADO, USA — Republican Heidi Ganahl is running for governor in Colorado; the University of Colorado Regent filed her candidate affidavit on Friday.
Ganahl was planning to wait until a Tuesday news conference to announce her intention to run for governor. Still, earlier on Friday, a candidate committee named "Heidi for Governor" was formed and made public on the state's campaign finance website.
Ganahl said in a statement provided by her campaign manager:
"I'm making a big announcement on Tuesday in the town where I grew up, Monument. I love Colorado and our future is too important to risk. We're headed in the wrong direction. The cost of living is skyrocketing. Crime is rising beyond anything we've seen and our kids are struggling. There is a mental health crisis in our state. It's time to fight for the Colorado way of life we love and miss."
Ganahl is the last Republican to win a statewide race in Colorado.
She was elected to be CU Regent in 2016. She defeated former State Rep. Alice Madden (D) by almost 56,000 votes. Ganahl won 51% to 49%.
In the 2020 election, former Sen. Cory Gardner (R) lost to now-Sen. John Hickenlooper (D) by 9 points. President Joe Biden (D) defeated President Donald Trump (R) by 13 points.
"A statewide Republican race today, the morning after what happened last night, seems really tough," Ganahl told Next with Kyle Clark on Nov. 4, 2020, the day after Election Day.
Ganahl, who founded Camp Bow Wow, served as a Republican analyst for 9NEWS during the November 2020 election.
There were clues that Ganahl would run for office, even before the "Heidi for Governor" committee was formed.
The content on her Twitter account has changed dramatically.
A search of the Wayback Machine, which archives the web, shows that in May 2020, Ganahl had tweeted 2,034 times, with 4,910 likes. Her account used to follow nearly 4,500 other accounts.
As of Friday night, she has just 187 tweets, with the most recent dating back to May 31. That oldest tweet is a loving emoji sharing the video of a dog helping a guy work on his truck.
Her account also has 2,602 likes and follows 116 other accounts.
Gone are the tweets before May 31.
One deleted tweet, which is not visible in a search, prompted a reply from another Twitter user that wrote, "Any woman who supports Trump is NOT helping any women, ever. Sorry!"
Another deleted Tweet is a retweet of the Colorado Republican Party sharing an article including a quote from then-Republican candidate Lauren Boebert (now Congresswoman Lauren Boebert). Ganahl's retweet started with an American flag emoji and said, "Vote for @laurenboebert for Congress CD3 friends."
Her support of the CU Buffaloes football team from last year is also gone. Also deleted was her encouragement for former Republican Sen. Cory Gardner.
Ganahl joins former Parker mayor Greg Lopez in the race for the Republican nomination. Lopez finished third in the Republican gubernatorial primary in 2018. Former State Treasurer Walker Stapleton earned the Republican nomination and lost to Gov. Jared Polis (D) by 10 points.
In all, 15 people have filed the candidacy paperwork to run for governor.
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