DENVER – Heidi Ganahl will get another chance to win a statewide election as a Republican when she faces Democratic Gov. Jared Polis in November after winning the GOP gubernatorial primary on Tuesday.
The CU Regent defeated Greg Lopez 53%-47% in Tuesday’s primary. After the race was called, she thanked Lopez for his “passion for Colorado and dedication to restoring freedom.”
In her victory speech, she already claimed to have defeated “Polis and the far left.” Because of the Democratic-funded ads that supported Lopez.
“Our team and our supporters are energized and ready to fight for our Colorado Way of Life,” she said in a statement. “Let’s tell Jared Polis this is an election, not an auction.”
Ganahl is a mother of four, the only current Republican holding a statewide office in Colorado, and says one of her priorities if she wins is November is undoing many of the law passed by Democrats and signed by Polis since he took office in early 2019.
“What I hear around the state is folks are really upset and frustrated about government overreach, whether it's taxes, fees, regulations, you know, moving industries out of Colorado, like the energy industry, we need to make sure that we trust the people of Colorado to make good decisions for themselves and their businesses, their families, their kids,” she told Denver7 in a recent interview.
Ganahl far out-raiseed Lopez during the campaign and had $145,00 in cash on hand as of mid-June. But defeating Polis and his ability to fund his own reelection (he had $4.7 million cash on hand in mid-June) will be another monster entirely.
Ganahl has said she would support abortions in the case of rape or incest and for the health of the mother and fetus, but she opposes the Reproductive Health Equity Act signed by Polis this year enshrining the right to abortion in Colorado statute.
She also says that humans play a role in causing climate change and that she’d take a “more balanced” approach when it comes to renewable energy and the burning of fossil fuels that greatly contributes to climate change.
She also supports cutting the state income tax to zero and has talked about looking at using voter IDs – though she supports mail ballots.
