As initially dropped here at Holla last week, Fort Collins Republican Matt Fries has now officially announced his candidacy for state Senate District 14, against incumbent Democrat Bob Bacon (pictured).From a January 26 press release:
"In the coming months, we look forward to meeting with the people of Fort Collins and discussing what they think is best for Fort Collins. I will run a positive campaign and will bring to the table a successful approach that facilitates relationships and consensus building, regardless of which party is in the majority."
Fries lost a close race for a Fort Collins City Council seat to Lisa Poppaw in April 2007. The district was considered strongly conservative, and Fries had been tapped as the heir apparent by sitting council representative Karen Weitkunat. But his campaign was something of a train wreck, including the resignation of a campaign manager who wrote a misleading letter to the Coloradoan, and Fries' suggestion that city bicyclists should pay tolls to use bike trails and billboards should be added to those areas to raise revenue. On election night, he lost by 58 votes.
Some people had speculated former Mayor Ray Martinez would take another shot at the senate seat, after Bacon had defeated him by more than 10,000 votes in a bitter campaign last time around, in 2004. But Martinez and Fries seem to have a close relationship: Martinez was an early supporter of Fries for council, his political action committee directed thousands toward that council race, and Fries gave Martinez a copy of Rudy Giuliani's Leadership at his council election-night party.
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