Who’s running to replace Ken Buck in Colorado’s fourth congressional district?

Leisy is a backer of former President Donald Trump; he sports a “MAGA King” hat in some of his photos on social media and describes himself as an “America First Candidate” for the district.  In one post on X, formerly Twitter, he endorsed Trump for president, writing “I’m running for Congress to be another soldier in President Trump’s army in Congress.”

He also wrote that elections have been “overtaken by FRAUD” without offering any proof and said he would fight for single-day elections, paper ballots, and no mass mail-in voting.

Leisy served on the Weld RE-4 school board from 2005-2009 but lost a bid to return to the board in 2021. 

Justin Schreiber: The self-described real estate investor and U.S. Army veteran entered the race in June, but has not shown any money raised since then through FEC filings. Currently, he doesn’t have a campaign website. 

He’s signed a pledge to support term limits in Congress. In a Ballotpedia candidate filing, he wrote, “I don’t tolerate tyrants! I’m running to restore the constitution fully, dismantle the IRS, ATF, and FBI they are domestic terrorists.” 

Democrats:

Karen Breslin: An Elbert County resident, Breslin is a lawyer and political science instructor at the University of Colorado Denver. She said her campaign is focused on economic fairness. In a video announcement, she said “I’m deeply concerned about the inequities that rural communities experience around things like maternal health care, lack of food security…that too is something that government policy can address.”

Breslin ran unsuccessfully to challenge Michael Bennet for the Democratic nomination in 2022, raising under $5,000 for that endeavor. She filed to run in CO-04 in September but did not file a recent campaign finance report.

Ike McCorkle: This is McCorkle’s third try for the seat. The former Marine faced off against Buck in 2020 and 2022, losing each time by double digits in this solidly red district.  He said he’s running to “represent and fight for working families.”  

On his campaign website, McCorkle said “trust and confidence in government must be restored… He will listen to Colorado’s citizens, will turn aside improper and immoral financial offers, and will fight for what is best for Colorado, America, and the world.”

As of September 30, McCorkle has more than $160,000 in campaign cash on hand.

John Padora, Jr.: He filed his paperwork to run earlier this year. Padora describes himself as a manufacturing engineer, addiction recovery advocate, and progressive. He’s also been public about his experiences as a recovering drug addict. 

Padora said he’s a working-class person who will fight for working families and Coloradans, “not special interests in DC or companies based out of other states.” He added he thinks he can do better than other Democratic primary candidates to motivate the base and create support.

He recently moved to Severance, Colorado, from Pennsylvania, where he ran unsuccessfully for the statehouse in 2020. As of September 30, he had just over $1,500 in campaign cash on hand.