DENVER – Colorado Republican gubernatorial candidate Heidi Ganahl announced Monday that Danny Moore, the Navy veteran and businessman who was removed as the chair of the independent congressional redistricting committee over election conspiracy posts, will be her running mate.
The announcement that Moore is Ganahl’s pick for lieutenant governor comes after she said on a news radio program July 1 that the lieutenant governor pick was “a very strong Hispanic leader from rural Colorado,” and a Colorado Politics story that was later retracted which identified the pick as Las Animas County Commissioner Felix Lopez, as 9News also reported.
But Ganahl’s campaign announced Moore as the pick Monday. He is a retired Navy Master Chief who served for 24 years and the owner of two small businesses that contract with the Department of Defense. He has a bachelor’s degree from Colorado Christian University and an MBA from the University of Phoenix.
“Danny is a wonderful addition to our winning team. We share a common vision to lower Colorado’s soaring cost of living, gas prices, crime rates, and a commitment to making our children the priority,” Ganahl said in a statement.
Moore was the original chair of Colorado’s Independent Congressional Redistrict Commission, but 11 of the 12 commissioners voted to remove Moore as chair, though he remained on the commission, after he claimed in social media posts that President Joe Biden was not rightfully elected, calling Biden’s win a product of “the Democrat steal.”
And according to the Gazette, the day after the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol, he claimed “mass mail-in ballots can be controlled by the people you give them too [sic],” and also called the novel coronavirus the “Chinese Virus.”
He said after he was voted out as chair that those comments were meant to create a “broader discussion” about political correctness.
Moore was set to make his first appearance with Ganahl at an event Wednesday in Aurora. But the campaign rescheduled the event to noon Friday because Wednesday is the 10th anniversary of the Aurora theater shooting.
"The campaign apologize for the scheduling error that resulted in insensitive timing," campaign spokesperson Lexi Swearingen said in a statement. "Heidi will be paying her prespects at the 7/20 Memorial Foundation's vigil at the Aurora Water-wise Garden."
In addition to the businesses he owns, Moore serves on the boards for the Leadership Program of the Rockies, Colorado Business Roundtable, and Farmland Partners, Inc.
“I am honored to be selected to run as Lt. Governor on the ticket with Heidi Ganahl,” Moore said in a statement. “She is a ‘Mom on a Mission’ and successful CEO who is ready to restore leadership and ensure our state gets our children back on track, creates an economy that does not strangle hard-working Coloradans, builds neighborhoods that are safe, and stands up for and respects our rural communities.”
Ganahl, currently a CU Regent, and Moore will face Democratic incumbent Gov. Jared Polis and Lt. Gov. Dianne Primavera in November. Ganahl defeated Greg Lopez in the Republican primary last month by nearly 50,000 votes and almost 8 percentage points.
