Asked during a conservative radio interview last week whether he’d “reach out” to get “President Trump to come out and stump” for him, the Colorado Republican Party’s candidate for governor said he’d “already been in touch with the White House” and is expecting Trump to campaign with him “schedule permitting.”
The GOP nominee, who will face Democat Jared Polis in November to replace John Hickenlooper, went on to say that it’s “beneficial for a leader of this state to have a positive, rather than an adversarial relationship, with the person who’s the president.”
KNUS host Steffan Tubbs: Do you reach out to this White House? Do you wait for them to reach out to you to get President Trump to come out and stump for you?
Stapleton: We’ve already been in touch with the White House, and the President will come to Colorado, schedule permitting. I’ve always welcomed the President to Colorado. He’s the president of the United States. He’s kept us safe, which is the most sacred, solemn duty a president can undertake. He’s named now two men of high character to our nation’s highest court. I wholeheartedly supported his economic policies back in September. And we will see what the future holds. But I think it is beneficial for a leader of this state to have a positive, rather than an adversarial, relationship with the person who’s the president.
Stapleton’s campaign did not return an email seeking to know if he still wants to campaign with Trump, after the President’s widely criticized press conference with Russian leader Vladimir Putin yesterday.
During the primary campaign, Stapleton aligned with Trump on multiple issues, including his policy to separate immigrant children from their families along the border. And Stapleton aired a TV ad promoting his support of Trump’s tax plan.
In 2014, during Colorado’s last election for governor, Hickenlooper, who was running for a second term, played pool with Obama.
KDVR Fox 21 Denver’s Eli Stokols reported at the time:
In a couple hours after landing in Denver tonight, President Barack Obama bounced around Lower Downtown from one seemingly impromptu event to another, dining with a group of Coloradans and talking about pocketbook issues, shaking hands in a crowd of onlookers along 15th Street and making it over to the Wynkoop Brewing Company to share a beer and game of pool with Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper.
The nightcap at the brewery the governor founded years ago took place before a bevy of television cameras and still photographers and served as a sunny rebuke to the Republicans who have argued that Hickenlooper and Sen. Mark Udall are afraid of being seen with the president.
On the radio, Stapleton did not indicate what he might do with Trump on the campaign trail, if the president accepted Stapleton’s invitation to come to Colorado.
Listen to Stapleton on KNUS 710-AM July 11: