By Teresa L. Benns
MOFFAT— Republicans gathered at the annual Lincoln Day dinner at Moffat School Saturday to hear candidates for the mid-terms speak and catch up on party happenings. Many new party members attended the dinner this year, party Chairman Richard Drake reported.
Those attending enjoyed a hearty meal catered for the event by Grammy’s Kitchen in Moffat, owned by Tina Freel. Conejos County Republican Chairman Dick Ross auctioned off dessert and other items at the event.

Gubernatorial hopeful
Greg Lopez
Spokesperson for gubernatorial candidate Greg Lopez, Beverly Shoemaker, told Republicans Lopez is pro-life, pro-second amendment, a supporter of school choice and charter schools and pledges to conduct a review of Colorado water laws and policy if elected. Lopez has been married for 30 years, became the mayor of Parker at age 27 and is a business owner.
He has served as a director of the Small Business Association and is also the CEO of Denver’s Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Shoemaker promised Lopez will “remove the handcuffs off small business” if elected. Lopez also is opposed to sanctuary cities. She told Republicans not to expect a blue wave but a red tsunami in Colorado in November.

Attorney General candidate George Brauchler
Saguache County Republican Vice Chairwoman Tresa Rupright spoke on behalf of Attorney General candidate George Brauchler, the District Attorney for Arapahoe, Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln counties. Last year at the Lincoln Day dinner, as a gubernatorial candidate, Brauchler said Colorado is no longer the state he grew up in and he wants to return Colorado to what it once was for his four children.
He withdrew from the governor’s race to run for the Attorney General position.
As the Arapahoe County District Attorney, Brauchler requested the death penalty for Aurora theater shooter James Holmes, but in a plea deal, Holmes settled for life in prison without parole. Brauchler also stressed his commitment last year to a return to the rule of law in Colorado.

Republican Party
Chairman Jeff Hayes
State Republican Party Chairman Jeff Hayes filled party members in on how the party is doing financially and the progress on the remodeling of Republican Party headquarters. After the primaries, the party will start pushing for candidates and fundraising for the November election.

Sen. Cory Gardner
Senatorial assistant Cathy Garcia spoke to the crowds about Sen. Cory Gardner’s latest effort in Washington on behalf of Coloradans.

Glenn Gallegos, CU Regent race
Colorado University regent Glenn Gallegos, third district, promised to keep tuition costs down, encourage free speech on campus for all students and said the university is planning the reintroduction of civics to its classrooms. Gallegos also supports the establishment of a Western Civilization center at the school, now under discussion.

Scott Honeycutt, Dist. 62
Verla Honeycutt, wife of District 62 state representative candidate Scott Honeycutt, told Republicans that despite challenges her husband faces he has the qualifications and dedication necessary to make a good state representative. Honeycutt, an Alamosa resident, is running against Rep. Donald Valdez, whose residency issues, some say, disqualify him for running for his legislative seat.  
Verla describes Scott as “a family man, a businessman and a cowboy.” The couple has been married 28 years. Honeycutt is a former bull rider turned calf roper and is heavily involved in pro rodeo and PRCA activities. He has been a PRCA member for 38 years and is also an Alamosa School District bus driver. If elected, Honeycutt plans to lobby for restoring trade classes in schools. He also supports the second amendment.

State Sen. Kevin Grantham
The keynote speaker for the event was State Senate President Kevin Grantham. Grantham, who lives in Canon City, said he has been involved in politics since he was a child. He grew up in a farming family in Crowley County. He describes the devastation of the Obama and Hickenlooper administrations as “truly tragic” for rural Coloradans, reporting rural counties lost 10’s of thousands of jobs.   
He described the ongoing fight he has waged in the state senate to ward off some 30 attempts to introduce bills that would further erode second amendment rights in Colorado. He reported that Republicans in the state senate passed a major transportation bill, rural broadband bill and did a reboot on the Colorado Energy office to prevent funds from going primarily to alternative energy development.  
Grantham commended Pres. Trump’s return of the American embassy to Jerusalem, his attempts to ban nuclear weapons in North Korea and the re-establishment of economic stability. This despite unrelenting personal attacks on the presidency and threats of impeachment, he noted.
Grantham urged Republicans to help the party take back Colorado and repeated the old War for Independence adage — “We can all hang together or hang separately.” He accused Democrats of using government as a club over everyone’s heads to enrich themselves and asked those attending the dinner for their help in ending that threat.