Lundberg gets competition

It might not be too much of a surprise to those in the know, but Lilias Jarding has announced her Democratic candidacy for House District 49, a seat currently held by Republican Rep. Kevin Lundberg.

Sue Radford ran as the Democrat against Lundberg in 2006, and lost by 2,400 votes (9 percentage points), but did so with no financial support from the state Dems. Radford's ability to avoid a landslide could help Jarding this time if the House Majority Project decides to target the district, which is considered a pretty conservative slice of rural Larimer and Weld counties. Funding for 49 will likely depend on how secure the Dems feel about other local legislative races for seats currently held by Reps. John Kefalas and Randy Fischer.

Jarding has been hinting about her campaign since that last election, but since then she has considerably boosted her local profile through her involvement with the Coloradoans Against Resource Destruction anti-uranium citizens' movement.

From an initial press release:

Consultant and former educator Lilias Jarding will announce her candidacy for Colorado House District #49 on Friday, January 4, 2008.

Formal announcements will take place at the following locations in House District #49 on Friday, January 4, 2008:

• 9:00 am -- Estes Park Public Library, Hondius Room, 335 East Elkhorn Avenue

• 1:00 pm – Berthoud Community Center, Cottonwood Room, 248 Welch Avenue

• 2:30 pm – Windsor Community Center, Oak Room, 250 North 11th Street

• 4:00 pm – Bellvue Grange, central Bellvue

• 5:30 pm – Wellington Comfort Inn, Meeting Room, 7860 Sixth Street

The public and the press are invited to attend.

Beginning January 10, Jarding will meet with voters every Thursday evening at the following locations:

• First Thursday of the month: Wellington: 7:00 pm at the T-Bar Inn – café side,
3803 West Cleveland Avenue.

• Second Thursday of the month: Berthoud: 6:00 pm at the Jumping Bean coffeehouse,
434 Mountain Avenue

• Third Thursday of the month: Windsor: 7:00 pm at Loodles coffeehouse,
1180 Main Street

• Fourth Thursday of the month: Estes Park: TBA

House District #49 includes Larimer County outside of Fort Collins and Loveland, as well as Windsor in Weld County.

Lundberg has already announced that he will run again, but has also expressed interest in moving to the state Senate should fellow Republican Steve Johnson vacate his seat to run for county commissioner.