He's back!

He’s back!

Surely in House District 59, which is near Durango, there must be more Democrats than those with the last name McLachlan? Democrats couldn’t find anyone else to run against the State House’s moral compass, J. Paul Brown?  In 2014, Brown beat Mike “McNasty” McLachlan to reclaim the seat he lost to McLachlan in the 2012 wave. McLachlan’s wife, Barbara McLachlan, will run for the seat in 2016.

The seat is one of the most competitive in the state with Brown winning the seat in 2014 by just 170 votes. In 2012, McLachlan won the seat from Brown by just 768 votes. The Durango Herald laid out the district’s numbers: “the latest voter-registration numbers for active and inactive voters indicate that the district is 36 percent unaffiliated, 34 percent Republican and 28 percent Democrats.”

McLachlan was panned in the press for his disastrous support of gun control, which placed him at odds with his constituents. In fact, he was one of the key supporters of a limit on ammunition in magazines. He also was known to have a prickly personality.  Whether his wife, a teacher, will carry either of those liabilities forward, remains to be seen.  But, as a former teacher, she likely will have the union and its unlimited resources at your back.

Then again, Brown, despite his mild temperament is something of a fighter, so this could be one of the more interesting races of the 2016 cycle. We will keep you posted, PeakNation™.