Two Lakewood Republicans are considering whether to challenge U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter’s bid for a seventh term in the 7th Congressional District, Colorado Politics has learned.

Jerry Natividad, who mounted a brief campaign last year for the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Michael Bennet, and Mark Barrington, who has run for legislative and city council seats, both said they’re thinking about running for the seat – particularly after Perlmutter said in April he was running for governor and wouldn’t seek reelection, then dropped from the gubernatorial field in July and then declared in August he was back in the congressional race.

Natividad, 64, president and CEO of American Facility Services Group, the Lakewood-based facilities management company he founded, told Colorado Politics he decided against running earlier this year but was recently “approached  by some significant  political  donors and others” who asked him to reconsider.

“I agreed to revisit  my initial decision and am meeting  with my political  advisers once again based on their request and the recent turn of events,” he said. “This is not to say that I at this time will change my mind, but that this may present  an opportunity  we are looking for.”

“I am honored and humbled  that many here in our district and others look at me as a viable  candidate,” he added.

Barrington, 38, who works in sales, said he’s also been urged to look at a congressional campaign.

“We’re seeking counsel and talking to people and trusting that if all the stars align, we’ll make a decision,” he said. “I am excited to see that people are engaged in the idea of having youth involved in the Republican Party. People are excited that a young person is exploring a campaign. We need a fresh start out there – that’s the feedback I’m getting is people are hungry for something different.”

Barrington noted, however, that he’d be happy to step aside if Natividad or another potentially strong candidate decided to run.

“All a primary does is hurt our own party’s chances,” he said. “There would be no point. If Jerry wants to step up and do it, absolutely, let him do it, and we’ll be behind him 100 percent.”

Two other Republicans whose names have circulated as potential candidates – businessman Don Ytterberg, who challenged Perlmutter in 2014, and Jefferson County Commissioner Libby Szabo – recently told Colorado Politics they were unlikely to run.

After joining a crowded Senate primary field a month before last year’s state GOP assembly, Natividad placed fourth in delegate voting, behind El Paso County Commissioner Darryl Glenn, the eventual Republican nominee, and state Sen. Tim Neville and El Paso County Commissioner Peg Littleton.

Barrington came up short in a bid to unseat then-state Rep. Andy Kerr, a Lakewood Democrat, in 2010. He lost a run for a Lakewood City Council seat the next year.

Perlmutter, a former state senator, was first elected to the congressional seat in 2006. He’s won reelection by double-digit margins ever since, even though it’s considered a potential battleground district because neither party holds a wide edge in voter registration.

A spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee told Colorado Politics the group is confident Perlmutter is vulnerable this cycle, which is why he landed on a list of targeted Democratic incumbents at the beginning of the year.

:We are still absolutely targeting the seat and continuing to recruit in the 7th,” said Jack Pandol, a regional press secretary for the NRCC. “Perlmutter’s flailing in and out of the governor’s race only weakened his standing and trust with Colorado voters, and he needs to be held accountable.”

After Perlmutter announced he was getting back in the congressional race race, three Democrats who were running in a primary – Kerr, state Sen. Dominick Moreno and state Rep. Brittany Pettersen – ended their campaigns. Dan Baer, a former diplomat with the Obama administration, is still a candidate.