Former House Speaker Romanoff To Run For Congress
DENVER (AP) - Former Colorado Speaker of the House Andrew Romanoff announced Saturday he will run for the 6th Congressional District seat in 2014.
The Democrat submitted paperwork to the Federal Election Commission on Friday and will run for the seat currently held by Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman. The announcement comes just three months after Coffman narrowly defeated former Democratic state Rep. Joe Miklosi.
The district, based in the diverse Denver suburb of Aurora, is nearly evenly split among Democrats, Republicans and unaffiliated voters.
"Our state has no patience for ideological extremism or intransigence," said Romanoff, who has served four terms in the Colorado House of Representatives, including two terms as House speaker. "What we need, now more than ever, are men and women committed to solving problems, not just pointing fingers or picking fights."
Romanoff lost to Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet in a primary in 2010 and now works at Colorado-based International Development Enterprises, a nonprofit that provides irrigation, water storage and technology to poor, small-scale farmers around the world.
Many thought Romanoff might enter the 6th District race last year, but he ultimately decided not to run.
Romanoff is a popular Democrat in Colorado, and some have suggested in the past that he run for governor. He was considered a likely candidate to be appointed to the U.S. Senate when Ken Salazar left his seat to become Interior secretary. Former Gov. Bill Ritter appointed Bennet.
On Saturday, Tyler Q. Houlton, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said in a statement that Romanoff "is wildly out of touch with the needs of Colorado's hardworking families."
Houlton said Romanoff's "longstanding ties to special interest groups" make him unfit to represent the middle class.
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