Colorado governor’s race: Republican favorite Heidi Ganahl files to face Jared Polis in 2022

Heidi Ganahl, the lone Republican to clasp a statewide elected office, filed Friday arsenic a campaigner for governor, according to the Secretary of State’s website.

Ganahl is an entrepreneur who founded the favored attraction work Camp Bow Wow and presently serves arsenic a University of Colorado regent.

She told Colorado Politics she is making an “announcement” Tuesday successful Monument, but did not specify what she’d say. She did not reply The Post’s calls Friday afternoon. The filing shows a “Heidi for Governor” campaigner committee, which is the concern limb of a campaign.

The Douglas County nonmigratory has agelong been preparing for a run, penning regular columns successful the Colorado Springs Gazette that instrumentality purpose astatine the Democratic enactment and hosting a statewide podcast program.

Republican leaders person told The Post they expect Ganahl won’t person a superior superior hostile connected her way to situation incumbent Democratic Gov. Jared Polis successful November 2022.

“I cannot ideate that anyone other would amass the gravitas that she’d person going into that,” House Minority Leader Hugh McKean said.

Should Ganahl win, she would beryllium Colorado’s archetypal pistillate governor. Colorado is 1 of conscionable 5 states to ne'er person elected a pistillate arsenic a U.S. legislator oregon governor.

But Polis is known for spending extravagantly to triumph and support his governmental seats. Add his incumbent status, polling popularity and voter-registration vantage successful an progressively bluish state, and he’ll beryllium pugnacious to beat. Ganahl acknowledged that this summertime erstwhile she told The Post that moving against Polis is simply a “moonshot.”

Republicans are astatine their post-World War II electoral nadir successful Colorado, controlling zero statewide offices and neither enclosure of the legislature. But they’ve struggled successful the gubernatorial contention for decades, good earlier Colorado’s caller displacement to the left. Bill Owens is the lone Republican since 1975 to beryllium elected governor.