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Jon Keyser Makes Colorado Republican Primary Ballot

Denver District Court rules in favor of Keyser

Jon Keyser
Jon Keyser
April 29, 2016

Combat veteran Jon Keyser successfully won a court challenge and will appear on the Republican primary ballot in Colorado this June.

Keyser, who is seen as a leading candidate to take on Democratic incumbent Sen. Michael Bennet in the fall, protested a ruling by the secretary of state that his petition to appear on the ballot was "insufficient." The secretary of state’s office said Keyser was 86 signatures shy of the necessary 10,500, or 1,500 from each of Colorado’s seven districts.

A Denver District Court ruled Friday that Keyser did, in fact, have enough signatures.

"It’s a shame for Senator Michael Bennet that the best days of his campaign will be remembered as the few days he falsely dreamed Jon Keyser was blocked from the ballot," Keyser’s campaign spokesman Matt Connelly said in a statement. "Jon is a combat veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and nothing will prevent him from holding Senator Michael Bennet accountable for his cowardice on matters of national security and economic security."

"Sen. Michael Bennet and his special interest allies have routinely demonstrated their outright fear of facing Jon Keyser on the November ballot and the Keyser campaign is now one step closer to holding Sen. Bennet responsible for his failure as a United States Senator," the campaign said.

Keyser was away on U.S. Air Force Reserves duty when the secretary of state announced he would not appear on the ballot. His campaign vowed to challenge the decision, and argued that the issue was not that the signatures were invalid, but the collector, Tyler Gonzalez, was not "properly registered."

The campaign said the processing error was cleared up within 24 hours of filing their suit.

"The Court orders the Colorado Secretary of State to accept all of the petitions submitted by Jon Keyser which were rejected on the basis that Tyler Gonzalez did not meet the statutory requirements for being a circulator," according to the ruling, reported by FOX KDVR.

"In doing so, if that increases the number of valid signatures to 1,500 or more from each of Colorado’s seven congressional districts, for a total of at least 10,500 valid signatures statewide, the Colorado Secretary of State is ordered to place Jon Keyser’s name on the 2016 Republican Party’s primary election ballot for United States Senator," the ruling said.

Keyser will appear on the ballot for the June 28 primary along with former Colorado State University athletic director Jack Graham, who also collected enough signatures, and El Paso County Commissioner Darryl Glenn, who earned a spot after delivering an impassioned speech to earn a spot on the ballot at the Republican convention earlier this month.