Platteville Republican Scott Bright, the owner of a chain of child care centers, announced on Monday that he’s running for the state Senate seat held by term-limited Democrat Kevin Priola, who switched parties a year ago.

In a statement, the 53-year-old Bright said he wants to help spur “a conservative renaissance in the state legislature focused on protecting our communities and defending the values of smaller government, low taxes and better schools.”

“The American dream is under assault by Colorado Democrats’ agenda of higher taxes, job-filing regulations, hostility toward education innovation and criminal-coddling politics,” said Bright. “With conservative leadership and ideas, Colorado’s best days still lie ahead.”

Bright owns ABC Child Development Centers, which operates 25 licensed early childhood centers in Weld County, serving more than 2,000 families and employing 250 people, his campaign said. He’s a former president of Greeley Downtown Rotary, president of Colorado Trails Preservation Alliance, president of the Early Childhood Education Association of Colorado and a former chair and executive director of the Colorado Early Education Network.

Brighton City Councilman Matt Johnston is seeking the Democratic nomination in the Republican-leaning Senate District 13, which covers parts of Greeley and Evans, Garden City, Platteville, Gilcrest, Fort Lupton and Brighton along the U.S. 85 corridor.

Republican-aligned groups attempted to recall Priola last fall after he announced he was leaving the GOP and becoming a Democrat, citing his former party’s refusal to distance itself from former President Donald Trump in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol, among other issues.

Priola’s critics initially hoped to conduct a recall election within the district’s new boundaries, which took effect after the 2022 election, but courts ruled that they would have to ask voters inside the district’s old boundaries, which were less favorable toward Republicans. The groups subsequently abandoned the recall effort.

The seat is considered a must-win for Colorado Republicans if they hope to make up ground after next year’s election in the state Senate, where Democrats currently hold a 23-12 majority – one seat shy of a veto-proof supermajority.

Bright told Colorado Politics that he doesn’t intend to sign a pledge released earlier this summer by the Colorado Libertarian Party as part of a deal reached with the state GOP to avoid potential third-party spoiler candidates, though the Republican noted that he agrees with the elements of the document.

“I fully support all 19 points articulated by the Libertarian Party, but it’s un-American to be strong-armed into signing a document ‘or else,'” Bright said in an emailed statement.

State Libertarian chair Hannah Goodman, who negotiated the agreement this summer with Colorado Republican Chairman Dave Williams, said last month that the minor party plans to field Libertarian nominees “against any Republican candidates who do not sign this pledge.”

Republican state Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer of Brighton predicted that Bright will be “a tremendous asset for the Senate Republicans” in an endorsement statement released by his campaign.

“The Colorado Senate desperately needs more conservatives, more legislators who take their jobs seriously, more business and community leaders, and more education reformers. That’s Scott Bright,” Kirkmeyer said.

Madeline Zann, executive director of the Colorado Senate Democrats’ campaign arm, the Democratic Senate Campaign Fund, told Colorado Politics that the party is prepared to defend the seat.

“Senate District 13 remains a competitive seat, and after the debacle of the Priola recall-that-wasn’t, I’m not surprised to see Republicans targeting this seat,” she said in an email. “However, Colorado voters have proven time and time again that the Colorado GOP is too extreme, and I feel confident that Democrats will be able to hold this seat.”