Donald Trump’s Colorado campaign on Monday announced its senior staff, including several operatives and politicians familiar to state Republicans.

“The team we have assembled in Colorado will help bring victory to the Trump campaign in November. I am confident that every staff member will help spread Mr. Trump’s message of change throughout the state,” state director Patrick Davis, who was hired to helm the state campaign at the end of June, said in a statement. “Colorado voters recognize that Hillary Clinton represents a third Obama term while the Trump-Pence campaign of tougher law enforcement, stopping illegal immigration and bringing back jobs is resonating strongly across the state.”

As The Colorado Statesman was first to report, Jefferson Thomas, the former political director of the Colorado Republican Party, has been hired as the Trump campaign’s state political director. Prior to his most recent position with the state GOP, Thomas had worked as one of two deputy state directors on the Colorado Victory program. The Missouri native also ran an Ohio statehouse campaign – winning an all-write-in campaign – and moved to Colorado last year.

Lydia Blaha, the state Trump campaign’s new communications director, worked most recently as deputy campaign manager for Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Robert Blaha – she’s also his daughter – and before that was a mental health therapist specializing in treating PTSD and trauma. The former Division I athlete has the phrase “Make A Difference” tattooed on her arm, she revealed in a video for her father’s campaign that included her six siblings, an homage to the family tradition of having to declare that’s what the children would do every day before leaving the car to go to school

Dede Laugesen, a communications and political consultant, is one of the campaign’s coalitions directors. Laugesen runs Windhover Media, served as communications director for Colorado GOP chairman Steve House when he was running for governor two years ago, and ran El Paso County Commissioner Peg Littleton’s campaign for the U.S. Senate. She is executive director of the public-accountability organization Colorado Government Watch, which has been a prominent critic of state Reps. Janak Joshi and Gordon Klingenschmitt, two Colorado Springs Republicans who lost primary elections at the end of June.

Melissa Simpson, who has more than a decade’s experience in state and federal government positions, is the state campaign’s other coalitions director. She has been a staffer with the Colorado House of Representatives, worked for U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis in his Washington office and was appointed by President George W. Bush to positions in the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Former CU Regent Tom Lucero is the Trump campaign’s Hispanic outreach coordinator in Colorado. The software and database consultant narrowly lost a Republican primary for Larimer County’s House District 51 seat after petitioning onto the ballot. He was also an unsuccessful congressional candidate in 2010, making a bid for the 4th Congressional District seat when it was held by Democrat Betsy Markey but lost the GOP nomination to now-U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner.

As the campaign had previously announced, Robert Blaha is serving as state chairman of the Trump for Colorado campaign. The business consultant ran third out of five candidates on the Republican U.S. Senate primary ballot at the end of June and mounted an unsuccessful primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn in 2012. Blaha founded Human Capital Associates and was a co-founder of Integrity Bank & Trust in Colorado Springs, where he resides.

– ernest@coloradostatesman.com