Greg Lopez, the Republican nominee in Colorado's upcoming special election in the 4th Congressional District, on Friday canceled plans to participate in a debate with his Democratic and third-party opponents scheduled for the following day, citing a refusal by a GOP organization hosting the event to endorse Lopez before the debate.
Lopez, a former two-time gubernatorial candidate, is one of four nominees running in the June 25 election to fill the remainder of former Republican U.S. Rep. Ken Buck's term in the solidly Republican seat, which covers the state's Eastern Plains. Also on the ballot are Democrat Trisha Calvarese, Libertarian Hannah Goodman and Approval Voting Party nominee Frank Attwood.
Lopez agreed in late April to face off against all three of his opponents on Saturday afternoon as part of a daylong series of debates put on at the Grizzly Rose, a country bar in North Denver, by the Republican Women of Weld and the Lincoln Club of Colorado, a group that supports GOP candidates. The program also includes debates between Republican primary candidates in the 4th and 8th Congressional Districts.
While Lopez and Calvarese have so far debated twice — on 630 KHOW's "Dan Caplis" show and at a closed event held at a senior-living facility in Highlands Ranch — Saturday's debate was the only one scheduled to feature all four candidates. The moderators at Saturday's debate are Colorado Politics reporter Ernest Luning, political strategist and 9News commentator Kelly Maher, Colorado Sun reporter Jesse Paul and Chris Rourke, owner of Rourke Media.
The debate is set to take place just days before ballots go in the mail to Colorado voters. The 4th CD's special election — the state's first election to fill a vacant U.S. House seat in more than 40 years — is being held at the same time and on the same ballots as the state's primary election.
Earlier this week, however, Lopez demanded that the Women of Weld formally endorse him before he took the stage. A spokeswoman for the group told Colorado Politics that they declined, telling Lopez that to do so would be incompatible with their role as debate hosts. Tammy Klein, the Women of Weld's vice president, said she informed Lopez that the group would be happy to revisit the question after the debate.
Lopez notified the group on Friday — less than 24 hours before the event was scheduled to kick off — that he would skip the debate, saying in an email that he was "perplexed" by the group's decision not to endorse the "only Republican candidate" in the special election. That position, Lopez maintained, was contrary to the group's bylaws.
"I think it's highly disappointing," Klein told Colorado Politics. She noted that the group has a long history of organizing lively, well-attended primary and general election debates, including a gubernatorial primary debate two years ago at the same location that Lopez participated in.
Colorado Politics was unable to reach Lopez on Friday, but a campaign adviser sent a written statement via text message explaining the candidate's position.
“I was recently notified that the hosts of the debate are in violation of their bylaws," Lopez said. "Since their violation pertains to my race for Congress, I feel it would be inappropriate to participate in Saturday’s debate. My team will be there, and we will continue to engage voters of the 4th Congressional District.”
An officer with the Colorado Federation of Republican Women — the Women of Weld's parent organization — told the group's leaders on Friday in an email obtained by Colorado Politics that she didn't feel the debate's hosts had violated any bylaws.
Lopez' campaign didn't respond to repeated requests to specify which bylaws the debate's organizers were supposed to have violated.
Calvarese told Colorado Politics she'd been anticipating the chance to debate Lopez in front of a mostly Republican audience. She added that she wondered if he'd been "rattled" by their earlier meetings.
"I'm so grateful especially to the Women of Weld County for inviting me to their forum," Calvarese said. "People are hungry for women's leadership. I'm looking forward to it."
Colorado Democratic Party Chair Shad Murib cast a side eye at Lopez' move.
“Greg Lopez is afraid to debate because he knows the more people get to know him, the more likely it is he loses this race," Murib said in a text message. "Leadership in the GOP has never been as relentlessly and pathetically weak as they are now.”
Goodman, the Libertarian nominee and the minor party's state chair, said she wasn't bothered by Lopez' decision to duck the debate.
"This gives me a chance to really highlight all of the reasons Libertarians actually uphold the Principles of Liberty far better than moderate Republican candidates," Goodman said in a text message.
"Overall," she added, "I'm able to represent Congressional District 4 far better than Greg Lopez as a sixth-generation Coloradan who fights for rural Colorado and our way of life."
