By Don Knox, STATE BILL COLORADO
The owner of a steakhouse in Greeley has filed paperwork to challenge incumbent Democratic Rep. Jim Riesberg in Colorado’s House District 50.
Bob Boswell, who owns the Western Sizzlin restaurant, is the first GOP candidate to file to run against Riesberg.
With fewer than 40 percent of voters in the district registered to either the Democratic or Republican parties, House District 50 is among 22 of 65 House seats considered by State Bill Colorado to be “truly competitive.”
Unaffiliated voters account for 38 percent of voters in the district, as of August 2009. Democrats had 32 percent of registered voters, and Republicans 29 percent.
Earlier this month, Boswell’s restaurant was trying to avoid foreclosure, according to The Greeley Tribune. “It’s a battle we’re fighting, like a lot of folks,” Boswell told the newspaper. “Loans come due, banks aren’t refinancing, et cetera, et cetera. We kind of figure it will be resolved in the courthouse steps the way things are going.”
Boswell told the newspaper he has struggled with business in the past few years, starting when gasoline hit $4 a gallon in 2008, followed by the worldwide economic collapse, through what is now being called the Great Recession, with banks tightening up their lending.
State Bill Colorado has updated its election tracker to reflect this candidacy.