Colorado Springs Republican Rebecca Keltie, one of four GOP candidates challenging U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn’s bid for a ninth term, has qualified for the primary after submitting a sufficient number of valid petition signatures, state officials said.

Lamborn qualified for the June 28 ballot in Colorado’s 5th Congressional District by petition earlier this month.

In a statement to Colorado Politics, Keltie thanked the thousands of voters who signed her petition and the petition-circulators who braved “below-freezing weather and gale-force winds” to gather signatures, calling the petition drive “one of the hardest jobs I’ve done to date.”

“Anyone who disputes the petitioning process has never worked their tail off to get thousands of signatures for a petition,” she said in a text message. “Dedicated blood, sweat, tears and stress went into this task, and it paid off in the end.”

It’s the second time Keltie, a Navy veteran, will face voters in the congressional district, following a run for the same office in the 2020 election on the Unity Party ticket.

Major party congressional candidates in Colorado must gather 1,500 signatures from fellow party members to make the primary. The Colorado Secretary of State’s Office said 1,679 of the 2,807 signatures submitted by Keltie passed muster.

Candidates can access Colorado’s primary by gathering petition signatures, by receiving more than 30% support from delegates to their party’s assembly, or by pursuing both methods.

The other Republicans running for the nomination in the El Paso County-based 5th CD are state Rep. Dave Williams, local business owner Andrew Heaton and electrical engineering contractor Christopher Mitchell.

While Heaton is awaiting word from state officials whether he’ll make the ballot based on the petitions he submitted earlier this month, Williams and Mitchell are hoping to win slots in the primary at the April 2 assembly.

Lamborn said earlier this month that he intends to go through the assembly – where he’ll need to clear just 10% support from delegates, since he’s already qualified by petition – but a campaign spokeswoman didn’t respond to a request for comment or an update on his plans after the announcement that Keltie had made the ballot.

The heavily Republican 5th CD includes most of El Paso County under boundaries approved last fall by an independent redistricting commission. In its current configuration, the district also covers all or portions of four adjacent Front Range counties.

Williams took several shots at Keltie and the incumbent in a statement to Colorado Politics sent by text message.

“Like Doug Lamborn, Rebecca Keltie quickly discovered that Republican caucus voters would reject her for her RINO record,” Williams said, using an acronym for “Republican in name only.”

“Lamborn and Keltie couldn’t trick the Republican base so they hired signature gathers to buy their way onto the ballot. While Keltie may live to fight another day, Republican primary voters won’t elect a former Unity Party nominee who bragged about being a moderate two years ago,” he said.

Keltie returned fire in a series of text messages to Colorado Politics.

“Dave Williams has never worked as hard as we have in his life,” she said, adding that she is proud to be “fighting against the internal GOP corruption” Keltie claims she witnessed at the El Paso County GOP assembly earlier this month.

“I won’t play any part (in) their twisted games,” she said. “This is a serious election, and I’ll be darned if I’m going to let the few at the GOP take away the voice of 3,000 voters who gave me their vote to be on the ballot.”

Calling Keltie “honorable and dedicated,” Heaton told Colorado Politics he wasn’t surprised she had qualified for the ballot and extended his congratulations.

Four Democrats and four independents are also running in the 5th CD, which has only sent Republicans to Congress since the seat was created in 1972.

Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to reflect that the Republican’s 5th Congressional District assembly is scheduled for April 2, not April 9.