It’s a bit of a surprise that Heidi Ganahl, Colorado’s Republican nominee for governor, selected an election denier as her running mate. Navy veteran and business consultant Danny Moore was booted from his role as chairman of the state’s Independent Congressional Redistricting Commission after Facebook posts surfaced in which he wrote that President Biden was “elected by the Democrat steal.”

Throughout Ganahl’s run up to the primaries, she ranged from gingerly sidestepping to outright refusing to answer questions about whether Biden was legitimately elected. Ganahl instead focused on economic and safety issues. We imagined her to be a reasonable, moderate Republican.

Now, we don’t know who she is. For Ganahl to choose her running mate, someone who lost a leadership position because of election-fraud posts, is downright bizarre.

Maybe she’s intending to reach more of a conservative base. Maybe Ganahl is a closet election denier. We don’t know because so far, Ganahl hasn’t come clean on her innermost political beliefs. To build trust, voters need to know who they’re dealing with, no matter their political affiliations. Otherwise, we’ll make assumptions based on the company she keeps.

Moore’s peers – those commission members – were unanimous in their decision to strip him of the redistricting leadership position, though he remained on the commission.

Moore, owner of DeNOVO Solutions and Thornberry Consulting, which has the U.S. Department of Defense as a client, has also referred to COVID-19 as a “Chinese” virus, echoing former President Trump’s language on the pandemic. We wouldn’t categorize these comments as those aligning with a moderate Republican.

Ganahl, a member of the Colorado University Board of regents, has also been mum on John Eastman, a visiting scholar at CU’s Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization and a legal architect of Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Standing next to Rudy Giuliani at a Jan. 6 rally, Eastman helped lead the charge of the insurrection.

Ganahl has said multiple times that she “never met” Eastman. But the pair exchanged at least 10 messages, as first reported by 9News in June.

“I have heard wonderful things about you and would love to get together if you are available,” Ganahl wrote to Eastman on Oct. 6, 2020, according to 9News’ source.

She hasn’t publicly rejected Eastman and his actions. This doesn’t help Ganahl’s credibility beyond a highly conservative base.

Ganahl must be transparent. Or, by default, she will be judged by her associations.

Our question for Ganahl is simple and direct. Who are you?

Durango Herald editorial board