George Athanasopoulos, who ran unsuccessfully against U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter of Golden for the 7th Congressional District in the Nov. 8 general election, has announced his candidacy for chairman of the Colorado Republican Party.

Athanasopoulos made the announcement on the Tuesday, Nov. 29 on the early morning show on KNUS-AM radio.

The current state chair, Steve House, plans to finish his term and will decide in January whether to seek another one.

“My term ends in March and I will serve out my term completely and a decision on whether I run again or not will be made between Jan. 1 and inauguration day,” House told political blogger Jason Salzman via email.

State party bylaws call for an organizational meeting to be held between Feb. 15 and April 1 in  odd-numbered years to elect a chairman, vice-chairman and secretary, and to conduct other business.

In his comments to Peter Boyles on KNUS, Athanasopoulos said, “We are broken as a party in the state of Colorado. You need look no further than Colorado, we’re a blue state.”

“This was not an easy decision for me,” Athanasopoulos told Boyles. “But I had a lot of people talk to me about it and ask me to run.”

Athanasopoulos has started a website to promote his candidacy.

Born in Denver and a graduate of Wheat Ridge High School and the University of Colorado – Boulder, Athanasopoulos has been a vocal supporter of Donald Trump. While at CU, he interned for U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard in Washington, D.C., working in the Senate Armed Services Committee section of his staff.

A veteran of the U.S. Army, Athanasopoulos served four tours of duty in Iraq.