University of Colorado (CU) Regent At-Large Heidi Ganahl is ducking questions about whether she will seek re-election to the CU Board of Regents in 2022.
The Boulder Daily Camera reported last week that Ganahl did not respond to emails asking her for a comment on a re-election campaign. Ganahl did not return a phone message from the Colorado Times Recorder with the same question.
Speculation that Ganahl is gearing up for a run for higher office has increased since she’s begun raising her profile, writing a column for the Denver Gazette and launching a podcast called Heidi’s Colorful Colorado.
Political commentators view Ganahl, who is the only statewide-elected Republican in Colorado, as a potential GOP challenger to Colorado Gov. Jared Polis or to U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) for their respective offices in 2022.
Ganahl has not said whether she is going to run for higher office next election cycle.
KCOL radio host Jimmy Lakey asked Ganahl in February if she had any plans to take on any other statewide positions.
“Well, I am going to do all I can to get the message about the policies we support; the way we want to represent the Republican Party in Colorado. I think we’ve got some great people on the bench and in the House and Senate in Colorado and I think we’ve got some good ideas about how to solve a lot of these problems,” Ganahl told Lakey. “Hopefully we can get a voice and get some collaboration going and it’s not just a one-sided approach to solving the problems of Colorado.
“But I’m all in, and I am ready to do all that I can to help solve the problems of this state. We’ve got a lot of ’em, and we’ve gotta get our kids back to school for one, we’ve got to get our businesses open and as an entrepreneur, that’s a whole ‘nother ball game.”
Last week, Denver resident and technology professional Scott Mangino announced his candidacy for Ganahl’s Board of Regents seat. Mangino told the Daily Camera that he was partially inspired to run for regent because of the lack of transparency around the hiring of CU President Mark Kennedy.
Kennedy, a former Republican U.S. Representative from Minnesota, is leaving CU after two years as president. In April Kennedy was censured by CU faculty for an apparent “Failure of Leadership,” and in May Kennedy announced his departure.
At the board meeting announcing Kennedy’s departure, Ganahl said he was fired not for a failure to lead but for “Not being a Democrat or left-wing academic.”
Ganahl endorsed Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential elections and also called CU professor John Eastman “Fantastic.”
Eastman is notable for his questioning of Vice President Kamala Harris’ eligibility to serve as vice president because her parents were born outside of the United States. Eastman is planning to sue CU Boulder after the university cancelled his courses due to under enrollment.
Ganahl has pushed back against the idea of tuition cuts during the COVID-19 pandemic and a plan from President Joe Biden offering tuition-free community college.
