CLAY: We are joined now by Heidi Ganahl. She is the candidate for governor for Republicans in the great state of Colorado. We appreciate all of you listening, including Denver, where we are currently number one in the market. And I wanted to introduce Heidi by playing this cut because of all the things you could call Heidi, I bet a mad mom would maybe be the best thing yet. It was deployed as an insult. Listen.
POLIS: My opponent identified herself as a mad mom. I identify myself as a happy dad.
GANAHL: I am a mad mom. We have skyrocketing crime, out of control, inflation, a huge fentanyl problem that’s killing our kids. And our kids can’t read, write or do math at grade level. I have a right to be angry.
CLAY: Boom! Heidi, it seems like he walked right into that one. There are a lot of mad moms and dads all over this country over Democrat failures. What are you hearing from people in response to your debate last night?
GANAHL: Well, boy, people are really fired up. We’re getting mad moms. Texts and tweets and posts all over Colorado. So I think he created a storm with that comment. And we are mad. We’re upset about the terrible things he’s done to our state. Colorado used to be an amazing place to live. And now we have one of the highest inflation rates in the country. One of the highest crime rates in the country. We’re number one in auto theft. We’re one of the top states for fentanyl. I mean, it’s just not okay what he’s done to Colorado and we are mad.
BUCK: So, right now you’re in a competitive contest. The top issues, I assume, mirror what we see in the rest of the country, Heidi, with the economy, the border crime, some variation of those three and inflation, obviously the primary issue within the economic sector. So, what is that? What are some of the variance or some of the specificity that in Colorado you’re hearing from the voters, you know, or is there a more of a focus even on on schools or on some other issue that might make it into that top three?
GANAHL: Well, I do think it’s about our kids. And I say Colorado is now one of the most dangerous places to be a kid. We have one of the highest suicide rates for children in in the country, one of the highest drug addiction rates for kids in the country. And homelessness is rampant. Teen homelessness is skyrocketing here. And our kids are not doing well in school. Sixty percent of kids in Colorado cannot read, write or do math at grade level. So, all those things are firing up parents all over Colorado and we are ready for change. We flipped ten school boards last year. So that’s evidence that there’s something brewing here.
CLAY: Heidi, I think you’re exactly right. The Mad Mom Brigade, we started talking about this on the show last year when I was a part of that Mad Mom Brigade brigade. There were some dads there who were so fired up about kids having to wear masks, about restrictions that were still existing because of covid. I know that there have to be so many fed up people all over Colorado. Is anybody taking responsibility for this or are they pulling into a force and saying, “Well, we didn’t ever really want to shut down schools? Oh, well, we don’t even really know who to blame; that wasn’t me,” because it seems like there’s an awful lot of dodging of responsibility going on.
GANAHL: Boy. And it starts right at the top with Jared Polis. He acts like he’s very moderate libertarian. There is nothing moderate about Jared Polis. He has destroyed our energy industry here. He passed one of these, signed one of the most extreme abortion laws in the country here. And he’s doing nothing to address the skyrocketing crime and drug problem. He actually signed the bill decriminalizing fentanyl and he signed some really bad crime deals that made it very easy to stay out of jail. We have the fourth highest rate of recidivism in the country. So, that means repeat offenders are doing most of the crime.
So, it’s a hot mess and he doesn’t want to take any responsibility. In fact, I asked him to apologize to some of the parents that were in the audience that lost their children to fentanyl. And he refused. He didn’t even really acknowledge them. And it’s just heartbreaking to see that.
BUCK: Where is your opponent on the border and immigration issues, Heidi.
GANAHL: Well, he actually made Colorado a sanctuary state after saying he would not do that in his debate with his prior opponent. And it’s just making it impossible for ICE agents and law enforcement to stop the flow of fentanyl and other drugs into Colorado, because I-25 goes right from New Mexico up into Colorado, and we’ve got I-70 as well. So it’s very important that as the minute I become governor, that I cancel that sanctuary status and do all we can to give law enforcement and ICE agents the tools to stop Colorado from being one of the top drug states in the country.
CLAY: It seems like, Heidi, you’ve got a lot of reasons to be a mad mom associated with crime. And we have heard about carjackings and car theft and just all sorts of massive increases of crime that have occurred all over the state of Colorado. What are you seeing on the ground there? And is there any Democrat response to try to make it better?
GANAHL: No. In fact, they’re doubling down on their ideas and their approach to addressing crime. And it’s laughable that Jared says in the debate, we’re going to make Colorado one of the top-ten safest states in the country. Well, he’s made it one of the I think it’s fourth worst in the country now for crime that’s under his watch. So, my dad was a reserve police officer. I will be a law-and-order governor. I’m going to fire leadership in all the different departments dealing with law enforcement right now and make public safety our number-one priority here. Because, honestly, if we’re not safe, if our kids aren’t safe, nothing’s okay, nothing else matters. Inflation’s a huge issue. But we’ve got to make sure we’re safe in our neighborhoods, in our schools, and that kids have an opportunity to flourish and live here, stay here, not have to move away to another state where they can live. Live well.
CLAY: Heidi, I think it’s interesting, Buck and I have talked about this on the show and we have discussed with many different moms who are running for statewide office. And I’m just going to toss out a couple: Tiffany Smiley for Senate in Washington, Christine Drazan for the governor of Oregon, Tudor Dixon for the governor of Michigan. I’m sure there are many more that I am not mentioning. You certainly would fit that mom brigade as well. Why do you think so many Republican moms have risen up and ended up their party’s nominees all over the country?
BUCK: Heidi, she’s running in Colorado. Heidi, where should people go if they want to help out? Donate to your campaign?
GANAHL: Well, thanks, guys. It’s HeidiForGov.com. We need all the help we can get. Jared Polis has spent about $25 million in the last two months, him and his groups against us. And we’re doing all we can to keep up with that. But we’ve got the heart of the people of Colorado. You can feel it around the state. We need everybody volunteering, donating, anything you can do. Follow us on social media. We’re having a lot of fun during the day-to-day on the campaign trail as well.
CLAY: Awesome stuff, Heidi. We’re wishing you well. We want people in Colorado to make sure if they’re listening to us all over the state, we’ve got a lot of big affiliates. They can make it happen for you. Thanks for the time.
GANAHL: Well, thank you. And for those mad moms and dads out there, use the hashtag #MadMom and MadDad and post some stuff telling us why you’re upset and how we’re going to get our country back.
CLAY: Amen.
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