http://www.politico.com/story/2014/06/bob-beauprez-colorado-primary-2014-108271.htmlFormer Rep. Bob Beauprez won the Colorado GOP primary for governor on Tuesday, besting immigration hardliner Tom Tancredo as the Republican establishment breathed a sigh of relief.
With 86 percent of precincts reporting, Beauprez raked in 30.4 percent of the vote. Tancredo followed with 26.5 percent; Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler with 23.4 percent; and Mike Kopp, former state Senate minority leader, took 19.7 percent, according to The Associated Press.
Many in the Colorado establishment, along with outside figures such as Mitt Romney and Eric Cantor, backed Beauprez, ultimately coming to see him as the most electable candidate to take on Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper in November.
“Bob ran a disciplined primary campaign, and we’re proud to have such a fine leader, family man, and small businessman as our nominee for governor,” state GOP Chairman Ryan Call said in a statement, adding that “Beauprez is a leader who will bring our state together after years of divisiveness from Governor Hickenlooper.”
The GOP establishment’s fear was that Tancredo would kill their shot at the governor’s mansion in this Democratic-leaning state — and even worse, that his name on the ticket could cause problems for other Republicans on the ballot because of his history of making highly controversial statements.
“Any one of the other three would be strong challengers to Gov. Hickenlooper,” said former GOP state Chairman Dick Wadhams, a longtime critic of Tancredo’s. He added, in an interview before results came in, “There’s no doubt in my mind that if Tancredo is nominated for governor, his long, inflammatory and reckless record of alienating Hispanics and women will come back to haunt not only his chances in the governor’s race, but would also hurt all the Republican candidates.”
Beauprez was elected to Congress in 2002, where he served two terms before running for governor in 2006 — and lost by double digits. But he has emphasized in interviews the lessons he learned from that race, and has painted himself as a business-minded Second Amendment champion who opposes Obamacare.
On Tuesday night, Hickenlooper told Fox31 Denver, “the Bob Beauprez I know is a gentleman, he cares deeply about Colorado … he’s not a bad person.”
Beauprez also is the “most equipped to take on” the governor, said state Rep. Amy Stephens, who also expressed concerns that Tancredo would tarnish other GOP contenders.
Earlier this year, Stephens bowed out of pursuing a Senate run in Colorado to make room for Rep. Cory Gardner, who is vying to unseat Democratic Sen. Mark Udall.
Republicans were concerned that should Tancredo pull through, Democrats could rally their base in the governor’s race while also linking Tancredo to Gardner and GOP Rep. Mike Coffman, who could be in one of the closest House races of the cycle. An outside group called “Republicans Who Want to Win” even emerged and coalesced around Beauprez.
Republicans have long viewed Hickenlooper as a flawed candidate. But Tancredo, who ran a quixotic 2008 presidential bid largely rooted in opposition to illegal immigration, was the wrong candidate to take him on in a Democratic-leaning state, according to GOP leaders. Yet as the primary wound down, it increasingly appeared to narrow to a two-person race between Beauprez and Tancredo.
According to The Denver Post, Tancredo called Beauprez to offer congratulations within an hour after polls closed.
