{"id":1501,"date":"2026-06-11T12:04:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T12:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=1501"},"modified":"2026-06-11T12:04:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T12:04:17","slug":"2-army-vets-vie-for-chance-to-unseat-u-s-rep-jeff-crank-this-is-not-your-mothers-colorado-springs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=1501","title":{"rendered":"2 Army vets vie for chance to unseat U.S. Rep. Jeff Crank: \u2018This is not your mother\u2019s Colorado Springs\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Getting your Trinity Audio player ready…<\/strong><\/div>\n
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Two veterans are vying to achieve a never-before-accomplished feat: becoming the first Democrat to win Colorado\u2019s 5th Congressional District in this November\u2019s election.<\/p>\n

Read more Who\u2019s running for Colorado attorney general? A look at the Democratic and Republican primary candidates.<\/a><\/p>\n

The district, covering Colorado Springs and its suburbs, is typically solid red. But national Democrats have marked the race to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Crank as one to watch as demographic shifts, falling approval for President Donald Trump and fired-up liberal voters shifted the district\u2019s rating from \u201csolid Republican\u201d to \u201clikely Republican,\u201d according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report<\/p>\n

Crank is unopposed in the Republican primary.<\/p>\n

Candidate Jessica Killin, a former U.S. Army captain and chief of staff to former second gentleman Doug Emhoff, is going up against Joe Reagan, a U.S. Army combat veteran who turned to the nonprofit sector after his military career, in this month\u2019s Democratic primary.<\/p>\n

Reagan narrowly lost the 2024 primary for the Democratic nomination and is running again.<\/p>\n

While the 5th District is expected to be a tighter race \u2014 the Cook Political Report notes it is one of the few House districts that has consistently moved to the left over the past three presidential cycles \u2014 it will still take work to flip a district Crank won by 14 percentage points in 2024.<\/p>\n

Killin, 52, is banking on doing so with a \u201cTeam Normal\u201d platform.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are fed up and frustrated,\u201d she said. \u201cThey want someone who is going to stand up for their community and stop playing partisan games. Yes, I have a \u2018D\u2019 behind my name, but I hate the labels. I am Team Normal\u2026 I am exhausted by the chaos, uncertainty, partisan bickering, tribalism.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Killin had raised more than $2.3 million for her campaign as of the end of March \u2014 outraising incumbent Crank, who had raised more than $1.3 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cJeff Crank has completely failed this community,\u201d Killin said. \u201cHe is completely out of touch\u2026The minute he took the oath, he went full MAGA (Make America Great Again). He lost Space Command. He\u2019s never worked to stand up to Trump for our community. He hasn\u2019t done anything to improve cost of living \u2014 he\u2019s made it worse\u2026 I want our government to be functional again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reagan raised more than $87,000 during the same timeframe. <\/p>\n

He served as a senior director at two nonprofit organizations, Easterseals, which helps people with disabilities, and veterans-focused Wreaths Across America. He works at a local nonprofit, Veterans Business Outreach Centers, which helps veterans open and operate small businesses.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

The 44-year-old said veteran mental health and expanded healthcare access for everyone were priorities of his, along with working toward more affordable housing, making sure every child has access to a high-quality public education and supporting labor unions.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump has a new, surprising take on the higher cost of living: \u2018I love the inflation\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you are around town and talk to people about me, most don\u2019t think of me as the Democratic candidate for Congress,\u201d Reagan said. \u201cThey think of me as, \u2018This is the guy at the Little League field with his kids every week, the guy who helped me start my small business, the incoming president of the Rotary Club.\u2019 That\u2019s how you inspire trust.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reagan said his down-to-earth approach attracts people from all political factions. His campaign headquarters is a melting pot of progressive and moderate Democrats, \u201crecovering Republicans\u201d and independent voters, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo often, we get voters who say they don\u2019t like either candidate and they\u2019re going to vote for the lesser of two evils,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd in El Paso County, that means a Republican. It\u2019s on us to put forward a candidate people want to vote for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reagan said there are El Paso County voters who support Democratic issues like the county voting to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution during the 2024 election, but they still vote for conservative candidates.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s because they distrust the Democratic Party, and you break that by being a community organizer and leader first,\u201d Reagan said. \u201cI\u2019m a combat veteran, so with 100,000 veterans in El Paso County, that puts me in a place I can relate directly to so many of our friends and neighbors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Killin, who secured early endorsements from all of Colorado\u2019s congressional Democrats, zeroed in on cost-of-living issues as a core tenet of her campaign.<\/p>\n

She said she would focus on improving the affordable housing stock in the Pikes Peak region and creating policies to get first-time homebuyers into homes. She would tackle the childcare desert to address skyrocketing childcare costs, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI joke that this is not your mother\u2019s Colorado Springs,\u201d Killin said. \u201cPeople are hungry for change and normalcy. People are feeling so exhausted by this administration and Jeff Crank\u2019s total failure, and that\u2019s how we win this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter, The Spot.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more Joblon sells Cherry Creek office building for $93M in biggest deal of year<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jessica Killin, a former U.S. Army captain and chief of staff to former 2nd gentleman Doug Emhoff, is going up versus Joe Reagan, a former U.S. Army combat veteran, in this month\u2019s Democratic primary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1500,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\n2 Army vets vie for chance to unseat U.S. Rep. 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