Facing his 4th primary election in five terms, Republican U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn is in congressional cruise control.

He’s spent nearly $211,000 on advertising and other things, but has hardly acknowledged his opponent. No debates. Few public appearances.

It’s a formula the incumbent member of the House Armed Services Committee has relied on for years.

“I’m excited about the prospect of going back to Washington with Barack Obama out of the White House and having a new start,” he said. “Especially if we have Donald Trump instead of Hillary Clinton, (we’ll be) making tremendous progress on a whole series of conservative initiatives.”

Lamborn, who served 12 years in the Colorado General Assembly before being elected to the 5th Congressional District is facing a primary Tuesday from Calandra Vargas, a 32-year-old who has never held political office.

But Lamborn, 62, doesn’t consider himself a career politician.

“I’m only taking this one election at a time and my view is it’s in the people’s hands,” he said.

Lamborn and his wife, Jeanie, have lived in Colorado Springs for more than 30 years and raised their five children here.

The attorney grew up in Leavenworth, Kan., and went to the University of Kansas on a National Merit scholarship. He met his wife in Kansas and they moved to Colorado Springs to start a family.

Lamborn was elected to the state House in 1994.

During his time in Denver, Lamborn was a prime-sponsor of “one of the largest tax cuts in history.”

It was in 1998 and the state had a surplus of revenue. Lamborn introduced a bill that became law, reducing income-tax rate from 5 percent to 4.75 percent.

Vargas is painting Lamborn as a do-nothing Congressman.

“That’s ridiculous,” Lamborn said. “Look at the national veterans’ cemetery which is being designed as we speak. It was funded yesterday in the House.”

He said the bill, which also included funding for the response to the Zika Virus, other VA funding and military construction, included $36 million for the cemetery which will be built near the Colorado Springs Airport.

“That’s a project I’ve been working on for nine-and-a-half years,” Lamborn said. “I’m proud to see that it continues to make progress.”

If re-elected Lamborn said, “veterans reform would be my biggest priority.”

He’s backing a bill to allow veterans to leave the VA and get a second health insurance option. The measure would pass VA’s hospitals and clinics to a government-owned but independent nonprofit.

“It’s a dramatic reform,” Lamborn said. “It’s going to make a big difference who gets elected in November, because the sad truth is if Hillary Clinton is elected she will be much more comfortable with the status quo. And the status quo is letting veterans down way too often. There is some good care being provided but too many veterans fall through the cracks.”

Even facing Republican opposition, Lamborn has focused his energy on bashing Democrats, particularly President Barack Obama.

“I’ve helped lead the fight against Guantanamo Bay coming to Colorado,” Lamborn said. “It needs to stay open. We need to start doing the military tribunals. I don’t know why the Obama administration has put those on hold because that would be better than indefinite detention. Let’s try them and sentence them.”

Lamborn said his chamber just passed an amendment that prevents the administration from even studying locations in the U.S. for the detainees, something they’ve been doing, including looking at sites in Florence.

“I’ve done many things like that over the years, but that is something that was just a week ago,” he said.

Lamborn said the other critical role he’s played in Congress is protecting the military installations in the Pikes Peak region.

“We haven’t been losing missions in fact we’ve been growing,” Lamborn said, acknowledging that there are many people working on that goal. “I believe I’m one of the key ingredients in having the military presence here be expanding instead of contracting.”

–

Contact Megan Schrader: 286-0644

Twitter: @CapitolSchrader

Colorado Springs VA woes drive Lamborn plan for national fix. Photo by Julia Moss, The Gazette

JULIA MOSS, THE GAZETTE