The Navy veteran who mounted an unsuccessful third-party run against U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn last year is giving it another try next year in the Republican primary.

Rebecca Keltie, the 2020 Unity Party nominee in the Colorado Springs-based 5th Congressional District, faults the eighth-term incumbent for going years without holding any town halls. She said she believes it’s time the heavily Republican district “put fresh blood” in Congress.

Three other Republicans have also declared they hope to deny Lamborn another term in the U.S. House – political newcomers Christopher Mitchell and Brandon Kyle Mimiaga, and three-term state Rep. Dave Williams, who launched his campaign last week.

Keltie, a member of the ultra-conservative John Birch Society, said she hasn’t changed her positions since running last year on the Unity Party ticket, when she finished fifth in a field of five candidates with 0.8% of the vote.

She told Colorado Politics she joined the tiny party – with just under 3,000 active, register voters, it’s the smallest of Colorado’s five recognized minor political parties – because it helped her get on the ballot.

“I was pretty mad at the Republican Party at that time,” she said. “They had the House, Senate and White House, and they just didn’t do anything. The Unity Party allowed me to get on the ballot, allowed me to get experience running and allowed me to be my own candidate, which is a conservative.”

After last year’s election Keltie decided to register with the GOP because, she said, “I really can’t expect the Republican Party to become stronger if I’m not part of the group helping it become stronger.”

She said Republicans need to “put aside our petty BS and come together on core values” or the Democrats will win.

“I’m still mad at the Republican Party,” she added with a laugh. “But everywhere I go, every speech I give, I talk about getting involved. This is our fault – we’ve been complacent too long. Whatever it is, get up and get out there.”

Keltie said she’s the Republican who can topple Lamborn, who has survived seven primaries since 2006.  

“I think they’ve been waiting for a really strong, fiery candidate,” she said. “They haven’t had the fire and brimstone I bring.”

Keltie said she plans to seek a spot on the primary ballot through the assembly process, which kicks off the first week of March at precinct caucuses. The primary is June 28.