Unabashedly pro-Trump Republicans define field to challenge Hickenlooper
In case you missed it, two extreme MAGA Republicans have announced their campaigns to defeat John Hickenlooper in 2026 and flip Colorado’s Senate seat. Former state Representative Janak Joshi and retired Colonel George Markert are the first two extreme candidates in the Republican primary fighting to prove who would be more loyal to Trump and his extreme MAGA agenda in Washington.
Joshi, a former state representative from Colorado Springs and a physician whose medical license was suspended for “unprofessional conduct,” promised to make supporting Trump’s MAGA agenda his top priority. Markert said he would have voted for the Washington Republicans’ disastrous budget bill and proudly touts his endorsement from another extreme Republican who claims to be “Trump before Trump was cool.”
While Joshi and Markert position to prove who is more extreme, Hickenlooper is fighting to actually lower prices and help Coloradans. He is pushing back against Trump’s reckless tariffs and fighting Washington Republicans’ disastrous budget bill that will kick 15 million Americans off their health insurance – including 241,000 Coloradans – and raise health care costs. He was one of the first Senate Democrats to announce he would vote against the Republicans’ so-called Continuing Resolution unless Republicans negotiated with Democrats to lower health care costs, support rural hospitals, and end Trump’s tariffs.
Read more below:
Colorado Times Recorder: The GOP Field To Oust Hickenlooper Is Thin and And Unabashedly Pro-Trump
…Joshi has left no doubt that his top priority in federal office would be to support Donald Trump’s MAGA agenda.
…For his part, Markert describes himself on his website as “a constitutional conservative and proud supporter of President Trump’s America First agenda,” promising in a video to “finish what DOGE started.”
…On a right-wing radio show in July, Markert said the first six months of Trump’s term were “extremely aggressive” and “exactly what this country needed.” Trump’s “progress has been phenomenal, if not historic,” Markert said.
Asked later by the Colorado Times Recorder if he disagreed with anything Trump has done to date, Markert said, “Not right now, no,” adding that he would have voted yes on the Big Beautiful Bill if he’d been in the Senate.
…A spokesperson for Hickenlooper said both GOP Senate candidates are in the race to “do Trump’s bidding.”
“From day one, Hick has taken the fight to Donald Trump,” said Justin Lamorte, a spokesperson for Hickenlooper. “He helped block Trump’s attempt to sell off Colorado’s public lands, refused to be stopped from conducting ICE oversight, and is fighting to restore Coloradans’ healthcare coverage and lower costs. It’s no surprise that MAGA Republicans are jumping in the race to do Trump’s bidding, but Hick will keep working to lower prices for working families and won’t stop fighting the MAGA agenda.”
Former Republican state Rep. Janak Joshi filed paperwork Monday to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper’s bid for reelection, becoming the first experienced GOP candidate to take on one of Colorado’s most enduring politicians.
…Joshi is a former physician. He voluntarily surrendered his medical license in 2008, a year after the state suspended his license following his admission of “unprofessional conduct” in the care of a 76-year-old patient.
…Colorado Democratic Party Chair Shad Murib told Colorado Politics that Joshi was the ideal GOP nominee.
“Janak Joshi is one of the most far-right politicians in Colorado,” Murib said in a text message. “His record of having his medical license suspended and inflating his resume makes him a perfect fit for today’s Republican Party.”
Republican Janak Joshi, a former state lawmaker from Colorado Springs, has formally launched his campaign to challenge first-term Democratic U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper in next year’s election.
…Declaring that he “fought toe-to-toe” against Hickenlooper when Joshi was a legislator and the Democrat occupied the governor’s office, Joshi said in a statement that he “(has) no choice but to go toe-to-toe with Hickenlooper again. In the legislature, I was a thorn in his side. Now, I’m going to send him packing and deliver common-sense results for Colorado.”
…A spokesman for Hickenlooper’s campaign called Joshi “too extreme” for the state.
“Janak Joshi is a far-right politician,” Hickenlooper aide Jess Cohen told Colorado Politics in a text message. “He’s a self-described pro-Trump Republican who said he’d be proud to answer to Trump’s MAGA supporters in Congress. He’s too extreme for Colorado.”
Colorado Public Radio: Former state Rep. Janak Joshi wants to challenge Sen. Hickenlooper next year
Former state lawmaker Janak Joshi has filed paperwork to run for U.S. Senate. He’s the first well-known Republican name to enter the race to challenge incumbent Democratic Sen. John Hickenlooper.
…Joshi is known as a hard-right conservative. In the 8th Congressional District GOP primary, he described himself as the “Pro-Trump, America First Republican.”
Former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo has endorsed Broomfield Republican George Markert for the Colorado Senate seat held by Democrat John Hickenlooper, calling the Marine Corps veteran “a genuine American hero and patriot.”
…Describing himself as a “constitutional conservative and proud supporter of President Trump’s America First agenda,” Markert says in his campaign material that he’s running “with a Marine’s resolve” to “take our country back from the corrupt career politicians who’ve failed us.”
…A spokesman for Hickenlooper’s campaign told Colorado Politics that Tancredo’s endorsement suggests that the Republican primary will be fought on the margins.
“With this new endorsement from a far-right politician who once described themselves as ‘Trump before Trump was cool,’ this primary is further solidifying into a contest to see who would be the biggest MAGA loyalist in Washington,” strategist Justin Lamorte said in a text message.
