Doug Bruce, the author of Colorado’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, is considering joining the Republican primary for the 5th Congressional District seat held by retiring U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn.
“I am strongly leaning toward becoming a candidate,” Bruce, a former state lawmaker from Colorado Springs and El Paso County commissioner, told Colorado Politics.
The anti-tax advocate said he plans to decide within weeks whether to jump in a primary field that has swelled since Lamborn’s surprising announcement last month that he would not seek a 10th term in Congress.
“I think if I ran, I would be the best candidate,” Bruce said. “I was a big fan of Doug Lamborn, and I think one Doug deserves another.”
An enduring and polarizing voice in state politics for decades, Bruce wrote and promoted 1992’s voter-approved TABOR amendment, which sets limits on government revenue and requires votes for most tax increases. He was censured in 2008 by the state House for kicking a press photographer at the Capitol and served 104 days in jail following a 2012 convictions on charges of felony tax evasion, filing a false tax return and trying to influence a public servant. He served 180 days in 2016 after he was found guilty of violating his probation. Bruce maintains his innocence.