It is now officially election season, with the first presidential caucus of 2024 already past.
In Colorado, candidates are filing paperwork to run in congressional races and other local contests, but the process of running for elected office isn't as simple as just putting your name on a ballot. Larry Ryckman, co-founder and editor of The Colorado Sun, joined KUNC’s Nikole Robinson Carroll to discuss what it takes to become a candidate.
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“We've already seen a wave of candidates filing paperwork to run in Colorado's eight congressional districts, 16 state senate districts and 65 house districts,” Ryckman told KUNC. “The first step is filing with the Federal Election Commission to run for Congress, or with the Colorado Secretary of State's office to run for state offices. From that point, the feds and the state governments set different qualifications for candidates to run for office.”
Candidates in the next election cycle were required to declare a party affiliation by Jan. 1. To seek the Democratic or Republican nomination to run for the U.S. House of Representatives, candidates must be at least 25 years old and have been a U.S. citizen for at least seven years. They also must live in the state they seek to represent. Candidates who want to run for state-level office in Colorado need to meet some similar, albeit somewhat stricter, requirements.
“In Colorado, you also have to be a U.S. citizen,” Ryckman said of the state's candidacy rules. “But that's not the only requirement - you have to live in the district you're seeking to represent.”
One example of the difference in rules for state and federal candidates came up in the race for retiring Republican Rep. Ken Buck’s Congressional District 4 seat. Rep. Lauren Boebert has announced she is moving from Colorado's District 3 to run in the more conservative District 4. That is permissible under federal rules, since they do not require representatives to reside in the districts they represent.
Ryckman said other familiar names to watch out for in the upcoming election include Democrat Adam Frisch, who challenged Boebert in 2022.
Prospective candidates can now begin collecting signatures to qualify for the ballot. Coloradans petitioning to run for office must submit signatures to the Secretary of State’s office by March 19.
