AURORA | For Aurora and Colorado Republicans who never thought this day would come, the dual exits of Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich from the presidential race cleared the way May 4 for Donald Trump to become the 2016 GOP nominee and for the world to ask, “now what?”
Republicans across the ticket were either grudgingly acquiescing to the new reality, standing proud or making clear they would not, could not support the unlikely billionaire presidential nominee. Tuesday night across the Twitterverse, staunch Republicans were renouncing their party affiliation.
U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Aurora, took the safe ground on Trump’s nomination. He didn’t specifically endorse Trump, but also didn’t discount the bombastic presidential candidate entirely.
“Both Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump have tapped into a legitimate anger about the failures of Washington but instead of running a campaign built on a positive vision for overcoming these failures, Donald Trump has conducted a polarizing and divisive campaign,” Coffman said in a statement. “Hillary Clinton is a non-starter and lacks the integrity to lead this nation but Trump has a long way to go to earn the support of many – me included.”
Floyd Ciruli, a nonpartisan Denver political consultant, said Coffman’s reaction shows that Colorado conservatives are looking for ways to disengage from Trump’s campaign while not also alienating the state’s Trump supporters.
“While this was a Ted Cruz state in terms of people that showed up for caucuses and went onto to Congressional conventions, there are Trump supporters out there,” Ciruli said.
Ciruli said Coffman’s campaign will also have to figure out how to keep the campaign from receiving the tail-end of future Trump backlash. Coffman faces Democratic state Sen. Morgan Carroll of Aurora, formerly state Senate president and known for not pulling punches on the Senate floor or during previous campaigns.
“That’s his challenge,” Ciruli says. “He’ll be running with a candidate (Trump) that has a long track record of saying controversial things.” Ciruli says Colorado Democrats will likely use the opportunity to attack Coffman by riling up local press about whether the longtime incumbent agrees with Trump when the candidate makes divisive statements.
Carroll made it clear supporting Trump would be a campaign issue starting now and used the opportunity to attack Coffman when asked about Trump’s nomination.
“Trump is bigoted, misogynistic, and absolutely dangerous when it comes to our national security,” she said in a statement. “It says a lot about Congressman Coffman that he would be supporting Donald Trump. The reality is that Coffman’s own divisive rhetoric has echoed Trump’s and hurts hard-working Coloradans.”
Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan, a Republican, said if someone had said a year ago that the Republican primary would play out the way it has, he would have told them it was impossible.
“I do think Donald Trump has struck a chord with people who are tired of a lot of things, whether it’s being tired of not being listened to, or tired of seeing absolutely nothing happen in Washington, D.C. or tired of what they perceive to be as bad news all the time,” he said.
Aurora’s mayor and city council members are elected in nonpartisan races, and Hogan has rarely waded into partisan politics as mayor but he said as a registered Republican he will likely vote for his party’s nominee.
“I expect to vote for the Republican,” Hogan said.
Still, while that is his expectation six months from Election Day, Hogan said he will study each candidate and their stance before he makes up his mind.
Trump has stoked controversy on the campaign trail by calling Mexican immigrants “rapists” and saying the United States needs to temporarily ban Muslim immigrants. Aurora is among the most-diverse cities in the country, with bustling Latino and Muslim communities. Hogan said he doesn’t put much stock into comments made during the primary, and certainly doesn’t give those comments the weight of comments made during the final stretch of the race.
“I think that people often times say things in campaigns that have nothing to do with either their real persona, their real person, or their real policy,” he said. “They are trying to get the nomination.”
He said there are likely comments from Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders that would bother segments of Aurora, particularly comments Clinton made in 2014 about “businesses not creating jobs.”
Hogan said people who expect Clinton to sail to the White House are underestimating Trump’s political abilities.
“He has excellent campaign advice and he has a good personal sense of what works at the moment,” he said. “You put those two together and they can result in a pretty effective political campaign.”
Former Colorado GOP Chairman Ryan Call said Trump’s likely nomination has him on the fence about who to support this fall.
“Mr. Trump has the opportunity to convince me and a lot of other Republicans that he is worthy of the mantle of the party of Abraham Lincoln,” he said.
But, Call said, Trump has a lot of work to do before he is convinced to pull the lever for the New York businessman.
Still, Call, who was the chairman of the state GOP until last year, said while he is undecided on the Presidential race, he has no plans to stay home on Election Day.
“I don’t intend to sit out the election, there are a lot of other good important races down ticket,” he said.
Other local Republicans were mum about Trump having cleared the GOP field. The normally-talkative Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler — seen by many as a sure bet to run for higher office down the road — declined to comment on the Presidential race.
On the “Never Trump” side locally is 710 KNUS radio host and Colorado Christian University instructor Krista Kafer, who said on Facebook that she switched her affiliation from Republican to Libertarian after the Indiana primary results.
In the still-crowded GOP primary to oust incumbent Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet, several candidates weighed in on the presidential race in the hours after the Indiana primary.
ROBERT BLAHA
“As a Republican it is now time for our party to unite behind Donald Trump,” the campaign for Senate hopeful and Colorado Springs Businessman Robert Blaha wrote in a Facebook post. “As I previously stated, #DonaldTrump clearly represents my belief in a strong America, a vibrant military and a secure border. He is a man of vision and courage. Together we win, unity is the key to victory.”
Earlier in the presidential race, Blaha had supported Sen. Cruz.
RYAN FRAZIER
Former Aurora City Councilman Ryan Frazier, another candidate in the race for Colorado’s contested Senate seat, issued a more tepid take on Trump’s apparent path to the GOP ticket.
“If Trump becomes the Republican nominee and wants to be our next President, he must come have a ‘Conversation with Colorado’ before the convention,” Frazier said in a statement issued by campaign spokesperson Joel DiGrado. “Not a rally or a stump speech. But, a real conversation about what Coloradans care about. Then I’ll tell him and all of Colorado whether I support him or not. Consider this an invitation.”
JACK GRAHAM
Former Colorado State University athletic director Jack Graham, the first Republican to qualify for the U.S. Senate primary via petition this year, said Trump’s behavior worries him.
“From my perspective I am concerned about (Trump’s) behavior over the last eight or nine months,” Graham said. “His comments about Mexicans, women, Muslims, the David Duke event and with black Americans — all of those things concern me a lot. I want something different and better for our president and I would like him to continue to improve. I do believe that he can do better and he can be better, I just want to continue to watch and observe.”
Graham said that he prefers Trump to the Democratic frontrunner in the presidential contest, Hilary Clinton.
“A lot of important and troublesome character issues don’t allow me to support Hilary Clinton in any way,” he said. “She’s not an acceptable alternative, full stop.”
JON KEYSER
Former state Rep. Jon Keyser, who solidified his spot on the GOP primary ballot following a legal spat last week, said that he will support the presumptive nominee.
“Hillary Clinton’s multiple derelictions of duty disqualify her from office and I will support the Republican nominee to ensure Hillary Clinton never becomes President. Our security and our prosperity hang in the balance, and as Colorado’s next United States Senator, I will hold the President accountable – no matter what party they are from. That’s something partisan Michael Bennett won’t do. “
DARRYL GLENN
The campaign for El Paso County Commissioner Darryl Glenn issued the following statement on Facebook following Cruz’ withdrawal from the presidential race:
“We want to thank Senator Cruz for running a valiant and honorable campaign. We must now unite and focus on leading the nation and implementing solid conservative principles. It’s time to work together to build a strong national defense, robust job creation and a very limited government.”
Glenn won his party’s nomination after receiving a majority of delegate votes at the state Republican assembly last month.
Nationwide unease for some Republicans
With no opponents left in the race, Trump becomes the Republican Party’s presumptive presidential nominee to take on the Democratic nominee in November — presumably Hillary Clinton.
“I am confident I can unite much of” the GOP Trump said Wednesday on NBC’s “Today Show, as several prominent Republicans said they’d prefer Democrat Clinton over the New York billionaire. In a shot at his critics, Trump added: “Those people can go away and maybe come back in eight years after we served two terms. Honestly, there are some people I really don’t want.”
Some Republican leaders remain acutely wary of Trump and have insisted they could never support him, even in a faceoff against Clinton.
“The answer is simple: No,” Tweeted Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse, who has consistently said he could not support Trump.
What’s their plan moving forward?
“Prayer,” responded Republican strategist Tim Miller, a leader of one of the GOP’s anti-Trump groups. “Donald Trump is just going to have an impossible time bringing together the Republican coalition.”
Some conservative leaders were planning a Wednesday meeting to assess the viability of launching a third party candidacy to compete with him in the fall. Such Republicans worry about Trump’s views on immigration and foreign policy, as well as his over-the-top persona.
Hours before clinching victory in Indiana, Trump was floating an unsubstantiated claim that Cruz’s father appeared in a 1963 photograph with John F. Kennedy’s assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald — citing a report first published by the National Enquirer.
Trump defended his reference to the Enquirer article on Wednesday morning as “Not such a bad thing,” but the line of attack was the final straw for some Republican critics.
“(T)he GOP is going to nominate for President a guy who reads the National Enquirer and thinks it’s on the level,” Mark Salter, a top campaign aide to 2008 Republican nominee John McCain, wrote on Twitter on Tuesday. He added Clinton’s slogan: “I’m with her.”
— Reporters Brandon Johansson, Quincy Snowdon and Rachel Sapin contributed to this report, as well as reporting from The Associated Press.
How long is “never” for #NeverTrump announcements? Here’s what Republicans are saying about that question on Twitter. Want to join in? Tweet your definition of “never” to @EditorDavePerry
@EditorDavePerry What part of “never” is unclear? It means that I refuse to vote for a middle school bully, no matter how old he is.
— Susan Burge (@georgiarealist) May 4, 2016
@EditorDavePerry as long as i draw breath i will not cast a vote for Trump even if he were running against Satan. That’s never.
— Travis Johnson (@travispjohnson) May 4, 2016
@EditorDavePerry six months is a looong time in an election. I try to avoid saying things I might have to walk back after we have more 1\?
— Greg Brophy (@SenatorBrophy) May 4, 2016
@EditorDavePerry information. I will never vote for Hillary. If I knew my vote would settle the election I’d vote for Trump 2/2
— Greg Brophy (@SenatorBrophy) May 4, 2016
@EditorDavePerry CO voter here. I changed my registration to independent today. I will never (as in never) vote for Trump.
— Thomas Sauerbrun (@cathbysgod) May 4, 2016
@EditorDavePerry Words still have meaning. “Never” means until they pry the last ballot out of my cold, lifeless, dead hands.
— David Bertoncini (@DaveBertoncini) May 4, 2016
@EditorDavePerry @JamesViser @IndJournal @TheRickWilson When the universe collapses into a giant black hole and God says well that was fun!
— Larry Gates (@AggieLarry) May 4, 2016
Imagine for a moment, billions of years from now when the Sun dims to a cinder. That’s the time scale of my “never” https://t.co/udis1ZJZkx
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) May 4, 2016
@EditorDavePerry Never is truly that. Never. I have a conscience, I intend on keeping it clear.
— Kevin in ABQ (@KevinInABQ) May 4, 2016