Fort Collins real estate developer Gino Campana is jumping into the U.S. Senate race to challenge U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet next year.
Campana, an accomplished developer, is well known in Republican circles from his time as a Fort Collins City Council member and chair of the Larimer County GOP.
Campana was appointed by former President Trump last year to serve on the Public Buildings Reform Board, a commission established in 2016 to sell off unused and underutilized federal real estate.
While the Senate ran out of time to act on his nomination, Campana’s appointment should give him some credibility in the primary.
In an interview with Colorado Politics Campana said his experience in business will help him succeed where Bennet has failed, particularly with respect to addressing rising consumer prices from gasoline to groceries.
“I look at my children, the future,” Campana said. “I mean, I don’t feel comfortable saying they’re going to live a better life than we’ve lived. We have politicians like Michael Bennet who don’t understand the American dream, crafting programs around a cradle-to-grave dependency on government. We are in trouble. That is a representative of our state who does not understand the American dream.”
Choosing the economy as the focal point of a campaign for next year’s midterm makes a lot of sense in the current political environment.
Public approval of Biden’s handling of the economy has been steadily eroding as inflation continues to take huge chunks out of the family wallet.
This week’s Civiqs tracking poll has President Biden’s Colorado approval rating underwater by 9 points, an even deeper deficit than Biden faces in states like Virginia and Minnesota.
Campana’s entrance into the primary should also alter the dynamic in terms of candidate fundraising.
Former El Paso County GOP Chairman Eli Bremer is the only GOP candidate so far to exhibit any semblance of a finance operation.
However, some believe Campana could inject his own cash into his campaign.
Earlier this summer Campana’s firm sold the Fort Collins development Bucking Horse Apartments in a deal that totaled $101 million.
It’s hardly unreasonable to suspect Campana may already have the resources necessary to get through next June’s primary.
Should that be the case, and the wind continues to blow against Democrats nationally, then next year’s Senate GOP primary is about to get even more interesting.
Campana told Colorado Politics he will file campaign paperwork this week, and a formal announcement and rollout is expected to commence early next week.