Republican U.S. Senate candidate Janak Joshi was excited to announce on a right-wing podcast last week that he scored the endorsement of former GOP Senate candidate and influential Colorado conservative Bob Schaffer.
Schaffer “has thrown his full support behind me, and he endorsed me, sent me a good quote to use on my flyers,” Joshi, a former state representative, told podcasters Chuck Bonniwell and Julie Hayden.
“He is a wonderful man, a very good Christian, very good educator,” said Joshi on the show, referring to Schaffer. “He is in support of the vouchers, and currently he is good public educator.”
Schaffer did not immediately return a call confirming Joshi’s announcement.
In the political sphere, Schaffer is best known for his three terms in the U.S. House and for a 10-percentage-point loss to U.S. Sen. Mark Udall in Colorado’s 2008 Senate race. Schaffer was linked during the campaign to abusive immigration policies in the Marianas Islands and to corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff. He also served in the state legislature and the Colorado State Board of Education.
Schaffer is board chair of the Leadership Program of the Rockies (LPR), a conservative training program whose graduates populate political offices, conservative media platforms, and right-leaning educational institutions across Colorado. Joshi is an LPR alumnus, from its inaugural class of 1989.
Currently Schaffer is the headmaster of Liberty Common School, a classical charter school in Fort Collins.
Joshi, who’s described himself as “proudly pro-Trump” and as an “America First Republican,” hopes that Schaffer’s endorsement will bring in the campaign cash he needs for an underdog victory in the Senate race.
A former physician, Joshi lost decisively in 2024 to U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans (R-CO) in the GOP primary for Colorado’s 8th Congressional District.
Joshi faces fellow MAGA Republicans Sen. Mark Baisley (R-Roxborough Park), retired Colonel George Markert; and veteran Sean Pond in the June GOP primary, the winner of which will likely take on encumbent Democrcatic Sen. John Hickenlooper or state Sen. Julie Gonzales (D-Denver), who are the most prominent candidates in the Democratic Senate primary.
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