Updated 4:11 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024.
Republican Jeff Crank, a former Colorado Springs political consultant and conservative talk radio host, will fill the congressional seat left by retiring Republican Congressman Doug Lamborn. The AP called the race Wednesday afternoon.
As of midnight on election night, Crank was leading his Democratic opponent River Gassen, 55 to 42 percent in preliminary results.
“It’s going to be a great night for America,” Crank told a raucous crowd of supporters earlier in the night, at the El Paso County GOP watch party at Boot Barn Hall in Colorado Springs.
“We have to stand up against crushing government debt and big government,” Crank told the Tuesday watch party. “We have to stand for educational freedom, religious freedom, economic freedom.”
The apparent win comes after a closely-watched Republican primary race when Crank handily won against embattled GOP state party chair Dave Williams by a two-to-one margin
In an October interview with CPR News, Crank expressed a firm interest in reigning in deficit spending by the federal government, while simultaneously advocating greater defense spending, especially for the five military installations within the district. He said he would attempt to move Congress past a culture of regularly looming government shutdowns and would be a strong voice for border security.
The 57-year-old has been eyeing the 5th Congressional District seat for nearly 20 years. Having started his political career as a D.C. staffer to Rep. Joel Hefley — who held the seat in the ‘90s and early 2000s — Crank tried for the spot in 2006 but lost to Lamborn in the primary. Crank was again unsuccessful in a 2008 primary bid to unseat Lamborn.
CO-5 isn’t the most Republican seat in the state, but it remains the only district in the state that has never sent a Democrat to Congress since its creation in 1973.
