“Those of you who know me, know I don’t Quit stuff,” conservative education advocate Scott Bright wrote of his work at the state Capitol in an Instagram post last year. “I think I’m making some progress.”
Bright, the owner of a chain of Weld County childcare centers and the Chair of the Early Childhood Education Association of Colorado, now aims to take an official position at the Capitol as the Republican nominee in a competitive race for Colorado Senate District 13 (SD13).
“I have been advocating for high-quality early childhood education for my entire life, and most recently as chair of the Early Childhood Education Association,” Bright said in a recent interview with Brandon Wark of Free State Colorado. “I’ve been advocating to legislators at the Capitol every session, looking for high-quality options for kids and addressing some of the issues that are in the current universal preschool program.“
On a public Instagram account, which is linked on his campaign website, Bright has spoken candidly about his time at the state Capitol advocating for education policies such as school choice. On that same account, he has also promoted fringe conspiracy theories about climate change, the 2020 election, and others.
Bright’s campaign did not respond to an emailed request for comment. This story will be updated with any response received.
Bright’s campaign is backed by multiple prominent figures in Colorado’s conservative movement, touting endorsements from state Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer (R-Weld), an assortment of local mayors, and the Denver Chamber of Commerce. Documents from TRACER show that his campaign’s registered agent is Marjorie Klein, a longtime political operative within the GOP establishment.
SD13 is currently held by term-limited state Sen. Kevin Priola. Originally a Republican, Priola switched parties in 2022, citing his frustration with fellow Republicans’ promotion of conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and lack of action on climate change. Brighton City Councilman Matt Johnston, a Democrat, is running to succeed Priola.
“We need to bring the seat back to the Republicans,” Bright said at a recent event. “It belongs there. It was stolen from us. We’re going to get it back.”
SD13, which runs up the length of U.S. 85 from Brighton to Greeley, is widely believed to lean slightly conservative, though redistricting documents show that voter registration was evenly split between Democrats and Republicans as of Sept. 2022. This was seen as a boon by conservative advocates who aimed to recall Priola after he changed parties earlier that year. However, the Colorado Supreme Court declined to let the recall move forward.
In an August interview on KCOL Radio’s “The Jimmy Lakey Show,” Bright acknowledged the district’s moderate bent post-redistricting as a potential stumbling block.
“The majority party at the time that was in charge of redistricting decided that it would be more helpful, more advantageous, I would think more of a competitive seat, if they got rid of the West half of Greeley, and then traded it for Brighton,” Bright said on air. “So Senate District 13 used to be all within Weld County, and now is parts of Weld County and then also includes Brighton in Adams County. So, that is the way that it’s drawn up. And while it might lean a shade Republican, it is not a slam dunk by any means. So we gotta put the work in.”
Donald Trump won Weld County, which makes up the majority of the district, by just over 30,000 votes in 2020.
At a recent pro-Trump rally, Bright did not directly answer the question of whether he thinks the 2020 election was stolen. During the event, he told the Colorado Times Recorder that the election is “done, certified,” and that “Joe Biden is the President.”
In a public Instagram post four days after the November 2020 election, Bright didn’t just cast doubt on the legitimacy of results. He also insinuated a call to violence, posting an image that read, “Anybody interested in finding out if there was cheating? Or should we just start throwing bricks & lighting stuff on fire?”
Additionally, on his Facebook account, Bright also posted a ubiquitous “stolen election” meme of a graph showing Democratic votes instantly jumping ahead at the last minute, implying fraudulent votes had been added. He commented “It’s 2020, what did you expect?”
Bright has positioned himself as a champion for conservative education policy, including school choice programs. In addition to charter schools, he supports “education savings accounts,” which would, in effect, use taxpayer dollars to subsidize tuition costs for charter or private schools. He has made frequent visits to the state Capitol to testify in support of such policies.
“I’m a big proponent of parent-directed education for kids. As long as they want to be,” Bright told Wark. “There are a lot of folks out there that are fully okay with turning the steering wheel over to their local school districts. And I know there are a lot of good options out there. But in the end, the choice, the driver of that education choice should remain with the parents. We shouldn’t take that away from them.”
On his campaign website, Bright says he wants to “keep politics out of the classroom.” For many Republicans, that phrase signals an opposition to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts in schools. Bright accuses such efforts of seeking to “divide students.”
“Political agendas that seek to divide students by race or ethnicity or teach that some students are victims and others are oppressors based on what they look like do not belong in the classroom. Schools that violate that basic principle should be called to testify before the Legislature and held accountable,” his page reads.
Bright has also positioned himself as a strong supporter of the oil and gas industry — a sharp turn from the stance held by Priola, who earlier this year cosponsored a controversial bill to completely phase out fossil fuels in Colorado.
“I’m out in the country right here. And as I look out my windows, I can see four or five different oil and gas wells,” Bright told Wark. “And I know that those oil and gas wells are what heats my home and every other home that is in Colorado.”
In one Instagram post, Bright seemingly mocked the idea of man-made climate change.
In a compilation of memes he shared on October 21, 2022, Bright included a picture of “The Simpsons” character Ralph Wiggum with the caption, “The tv told me that if I eat bugs and pay more money to the government the weather will be gooder.” In his own caption, Bright added, “Please tax me more so it won’t be so hot. There’s no bad weather only bad clothes.”
Opposition to “eating bugs” has become a rallying cry for many right-wing conspiracists, who claim that a shadowy cabal of global elites plans to force the world to eat insects under the guise of mitigating climate change. While some climate scientists have proposed including insects in human food as a potential way to reduce the impact of the meat industry, the idea is far from mainstream.
In another meme, posted in January 2023, Bright invoked conspiracies about COVID vaccines, writing “When do we get to start asking questions about sudden heart attacks?”
Misinformation has abounded among conservatives about COVID vaccines causing blood clots and cardiac events. Health experts say that blood clots can be a concern for those who have recently had COVID, not those who have been vaccinated against it.
RELATED: Boebert Denies ‘Rumors’ That Vaccination Caused Her Blood Clot and Hospitalization
Last year, the Colorado Libertarian Party released a pledge for Republican candidates, promising to run spoiler candidates and potentially sabotage tight races for candidates who did not sign. While Bright refused to sign the Libertarian pledge, he told Colorado Politics that he had no actual issues with the content of the document.
“I fully support all 19 points articulated by the Libertarian Party, but it’s un-American to be strong-armed into signing a document ‘or else,'” Bright said in an emailed statement.
Among the 19 points in the Libertarian Party’s pledges for state GOP candidates are opposing vaccine mandates and supporting an amendment to the state Constitution that would “protect citizens’ medical freedom from unelected public health departments.”
Other points on the pledge include the deregulation of the healthcare industry, as well as supporting the distribution of raw milk, which is linked to a variety of foodborne illnesses. Earlier this year, public health officials had to warn against the consumption of raw milk after conspiracy theories claimed without evidence that drinking milk contaminated with bird flu would grant greater protection against the disease.
10/7: Updated to include a link to Bright’s interview with Brandon Wark.
