Democrats Kristopher Larsen and Mark Williams are gathering signatures to run in the 2nd Congressional District primary election, meaning  former University of Colorado Regent Joe Neguse is more than likely going to have some company on the June primary ballot.

A former Democratic nominee for secretary of state and the early frontrunner for the seat held by gubernatorial candidate U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, Neguse told Colorado Politics he plans to go through the caucus and assembly process to qualify for the primary ballot.

Democratic and Republican congressional candidates can get on the June 26 primary ballot by submitting 1,000 valid signatures from fellow party members by the March 20 deadline or by winning the support of at least 30 percent of delegates to congressional district assemblies in March or April, a process that kicks off with March 6 precinct caucuses.

While it can be an expensive hurdle to petition onto the statewide ballot – firms are charging in the neighborhood of $200,000 this year to gather the required 10,500 valid signatures from every corner of the state – congressional candidates with any sort of volunteer base can usually collect 1,000 signatures over the nine-week period.

“It’s more open to petition on – you don’t have to ask people to give up three or four hours of a Tuesday evening,” said Larsen, the mayor of Nederland and a planetary research scientist at the University of Colorado.

He added that lots of people can’t participate in precinct caucuses at all for a variety of reasons, including their jobs, family obligations or an inability to get to the neighborhood meetings.

What’s more, the March 6 precinct caucuses fall on the same night as a Nederland Board of Trustees meeting, one of the few remaining before the mountain town’s April municipal election. Larsen, who said he plans to run for a second term as mayor, told Colorado Politics he “didn’t feel comfortable canceling a town board meeting for the sake of the caucuses.”

Williams confirmed he’s petitioning onto the primary ballot, and his campaign has scheduled several petition training sessions for volunteers this week.

Neguse told Colorado Politics he’s excited to participate in this year’s caucuses, which is the same way he got the nominations for CU regent n 20018 and secretary of state in 2014.

“I think is an important process where Democrats can get together and meet with their neighbors and discuss issues – it’s a grassroots way to connect with Democrats,” he said, adding, “We’re looking forward to continuing the work we’ve done to build our team across the 2nd Congressional District.”

Neguse, who stepped down as executive director of Colorado’s Department of Regulatory Agencies last summer when he launched his campaign, has been endorsed by nearly every prominent current and former Democratic official in the district, as well as a number of state and national party luminaries.

He’s also led the pack in fundraising by an overwhelming margin, reporting nearly $250,000 in contributions through the the 3rd Quarter last year – the most recent reports available – compared to the roughly $7,500 Williams reported raising through the same period. (Since he didn’t get in the race until October, Larsen hasn’t filed his initial fundraising report yet.)

Larsen predicts the enactment this year of Proposition 108, which allows unaffiliated voters to vote in Democratic or Republican primaries without having to sign up with either party, will play a bigger role in picking the nominee than traditional party politics.

“I’m not the establishment candidate. We can see there is an establishment candidate in the race who has spent his career as a politician. I’m a scientist; this was never my life goal,” he said. “I really do think, at least during the primaries, the independents are going to be a major force and really change the calculus of the election.”

So far, a dozen congressional candidates – including six-term incumbent U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn and all three of his Republican primary challengers – have gotten the OK to start collecting signatures. Republican Peter Yu, so far the only GOP candidate in the heavily Democratic 2nd CD, is one of them.