On Monday, Republican gubernatorial candidate Heidi Ganahl announced she’d selected businessman Danny Moore as her lieutenant governor. Having a real choice this election ought to enthuse Colorado voters.

Demographically, the GOP ticket symbolically reflects the kind of change we desperately need: If Republicans successfully defeat Gov. Jared Polis, Ganahl would be Colorado’s first woman governor while Moore would be the first Black lieutenant governor since Joe Rogers in 2003.

Let’s be clear: Polis’s aspirations are not to serve Colorado. His grander ambitions are obvious. As I explained last week, “If Biden doesn’t run again, Polis will seek the presidency.” His sole aspiration now is presidential — serve two more years as governor, then run for POTUS.

Recall how Polis helped lead Proposition CC in 2019 to gut the Taxpayer Bill of Rights. At the time, Ganahl successfully led the fight against it. Now, Polis and his Merry Band of Newfound Tax-Cutting Democrats have attempted a bait-and-switch on their new gas tax and on refunds provided by TABOR.

Polis is the purveyor of Colorado’s Green Little Deal that has helped push up the cost of gasoline, an issue Jon Caldara drilled into this week.

Polis played political games on masks, and his self-anointed coronavirus coronation crippled our state’s economy while making Colorado No. 1 for nursing home deaths in 2020.  Polis has duplicitously portrayed himself as libertarian-leaning while repeatedly limiting freedom and raising spending.

Contrast the Polis-Primavera ticket with the Republicans. The Ganahl-Moore campaign is laser-focused on revitalizing Colorado’s economy amid an inflationary spiral and energy crisis generated by policies of the Biden and Polis administrations.

Perhaps the Republicans’ vision of an economy that unleashes the innovation and creativity of private businesses and individuals is guided by their extensive business backgrounds.

A “Mom on a Mission,” Heidi Ganahl founded and grew Camp Bow Wow into the nation’s first franchised doggie daycare. Ganahl personally interacted with pet-owners daily, meeting customer needs and providing top-notch service that enabled her company to grow from scratch into a multimillion dollar enterprise.

She’s served one term as a statewide elected regent for the University of Colorado, overseeing the university’s massive budget and diligently fighting for greater free speech rights on campus.

Danny Moore brings experience as a 24-year veteran of the United States Navy. He later served as a contractor to the Intelligence community prior to founding DeNOVO Solutions, a small business engineering firm in the aerospace industry. Aerospace is one of the most critical industries in Colorado’s economy. Moore remains president of DeNOVO and serves on the executive committee and board of directors of the influential Colorado Business Roundtable.

Colorado’s unyielding crime wave has undermined our sense of safety and security in our own homes. Auto theft in the Denver-Metro area has skyrocketed some 60%. Violent crime is staggering. Fentanyl is now the #1 killer of Coloradans aged 18-45.

In every KNUS radio interview I’ve conducted with Ganahl, she’s sounded the alarm on this crisis. Polis, on the other hand, merely pays it lip service. “We owe it to the people of Colorado to improve safety and make Colorado truly one of the safest states in the nation over the next several years,” he promised in his State of the State Address this year.

Yet, blame for the crime spree belongs at the feet of Polis himself. He’s signed numerous bills into law that undermine Colorado’s status as one of the safest states in the country – handcuffing police rather than criminals. SB20-217 is but one example.

Finally, Ganahl and Moore seek to rejuvenate Colorado’s floundering education system. Polis and his allies shut down schools, forcing students dramatically behind such that only 5% of Black and brown students are reading at grade level in Denver schools.

The Republican campaign embraces the fundamental education lesson from the pandemic – that we must prioritize students over systems, empowering parents with choice by letting tax dollars follow the children. They recognize the need for this in K-12 and in higher education.

How is it that our sitting governor is so out of touch on the economy, crime and education? Perhaps because his sights are on a 2024 presidential run – not serving Coloradans better today.

As if on cue, after Ganahl’s big announcement that Moore was joining the ticket, some critics instantly jumped into smearing her running mate as an “election denier.” I addressed an effort to “cancel” Danny Moore in April of last year, when he faced calls for expulsion from Colorado’s independent congressional redistricting commission. Ultimately, Moore kept his seat but had his chairmanship revoked.

As I wrote at the time, “Moore dismisses the idea that he espouses a conspiracy viewpoint. ‘I never said that the election was rigged,’ he insists. ‘What I did was put information out there that was being discussed in my circle…for more discussion.’”

The truth is more than the media narratives. In fact, on his Facebook page this April, Moore shared my column urging Colorado Republicans not to “snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.” Frustrated Facebook posts in the months following a stinging election loss do not define one’s actual views.

Fundamentally, the 2022 elections are a chance to reset the balance of power in Colorado, which has suffered from single-party rule for too long. Coloradans are clamoring for affordable lives, safe communities and good-quality schools. Given the record of the Polis-Primavera administration, voters may decide the Ganahl-Moore ticket is more likely to deliver.