Republican Bruce Baker, a member of the Westminster City Council, is challenging five-term U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter, a Golden Democrat, on a platform of ending immigration into the United States and slapping a punitive tariff on all imports into the country.

“We need to end immigration — all immigration, not just illegal immigration,” Baker told The Colorado Statesman Tuesday. “We built this country for ourselves and our posterity, not the world’s posterity. I’m more concerned about the well-being and success of Americans than I am about some smart, willing, friendly immigrant coming from somewhere else.”

The country, Baker said, is facing “finite limits, and at some point we’re going to have to say end immigration.”

He said that Republicans needed to step up and draw the line on immigration the same way the party opposed slavery and went on to compare the two issues.

“Immigration is an institution of slavery,” Baker said. “It’s built on the exploitation of people. Immigration is the exploitation not only of the immigrants coming in but of the natives being displaced from their jobs. That needs to end.”

Baker is also proposing establishing a high tariff on all imports as a way to address what he called concerns about global warming and shrinking resources.

“Global trade and the flat earth has not benefited the American people,” Baker said. “I think we should put on a tariff like Republicans did for 100 years, and that would be the biggest sign for all these companies that we need to move these companies back to the United States.”

The tariff, he said, should start at 10 percent and then be raised “on a consistent basis,” resulting in “self-sufficiency.”

“We should make our own things. We should do our own jobs. We should flip our own burgers and make our own cars and make our own TVs,” Baker said.

Baker said he was inspired to run for Congress because his fellow Republicans have become “indifferent to the success of our neighbors,” and believes that focusing on economic success at home is the way to replicate the economic strengths the country enjoyed after the Revolutionary War, the Civil War and World War II.

“Republicans have been so beat up and maligned and mocked and ridiculed that our hearts have gotten very hard. We look at our neighbors, and if they do well, great, and if they do poorly, that’s too bad. We really don’t care,” Baker said. “The quintessential moment of that was Mitt Romney writing off 47 percent of the people. If we don’t care about our fellow citizens, why the heck would they care about us?”

Baker acknowledged that there’s a “downside” to his proposals. “Our global trading partners will be very angry,” he said.“I’m taking on two almost sacred cows.” He added, “These are large mountains to climb – almost as big as unseating an incumbent.”

The day before Baker filed his paperwork to run for the seat Friday, Perlmutter reported that he raised $156,016 in the last quarter of 2015 and has $645,986 on hand. In all, he’s raised $906,939 this cycle.

In his five runs for the 7th Congressional District seat, which covers northern Jefferson County and western Adams County, Perlmutter has won by at least 10 points, despite challenges by some of the Republicans’ heaviest hitters in the district. In 2010, Perlmutter defeated former Aurora City Councilman Ryan Frazier by 11.6 points; in 2012, he beat Joe Coors, Jr., by 12.7 points; and last time around, Perlmutter won by 10.2 points over Don Ytterberg.

“You never get complacent in this business, because when you do, you realize a sad surprise,” said Perlmutter Sunday night at the Jefferson County Democratic Party’s annual Italian dinner at the Jeffco Fairgrounds.

Wearing a Broncos jersey — the dinner convened only an hour after Denver beat New England, qualifying for the Super Bowl — a grinning Perlmutter held up his arm, displaying an Apple Watch, which tracks vital signs. During the first half of the game, he said he’d gone to the YMCA and walked 6.7 miles on a treadmill before returning home to watch the second half.

“On average, my heart rate is 60, 65 beats per minute,” Perlmutter said with a smile. “During that fourth quarter, it was 126.” As the crowd gasped, he added, “Our guys aren’t pretty, but they’re gritty and they get it done, and we’re going to get it done this year too,” he said to cheers.

Perlmutter rallied the Democrats at the dinner by talking about the upcoming election year.

“I’m a Clinton supporter, but I know there are some Sanders supporters here,” he said, provoking some cheers from diners. “And it’s going to take each and every one of us working full-on to defeat the crazies that they’ve got in the Republican Party.”

He also took a swipe at the crowded GOP primary field in the U.S. Senate race, saying, “Michael Bennet has everybody in the Republican Party running against him so far.”

Then, Perlmutter turned attention to a planetary alignment in the skies that night, referenced earlier by Jefferson County Democratic Party Chair Cheryl Cheney when she brought Perlmutter to the stage.

“Remember the year 2033,” Perlmutter said. “Mars lines up just right for us to put our astronauts on Mars. Because I’m on that space committee, and because I’ve gotten Mars to line up just right, we’re going to get our astronauts to Mars, and that’s going to be a place where I’m going to make a difference.”

“President Obama has made a lot of changes in a lot of things, whether it’s the economy, whether it’s peace treaties, whether it’s the Affordable Care Act, whether it’s environmental steps, we’ve made a lot of change, and he’s been great,” he said. “We’ve got to elect somebody to carry on that legacy.”

“Let’s go, Democrats!” Perlmutter shouted before introducing Assistant Majority Leader Dominick Moreno, D-Commerce City, saying the youthful Adams County Democrat was going to be elected president before long.

— ernest@coloradostatesman.com