By Vince Bzdek

Colorado’s 5^th Congressional District has one of the highest concentrations of military facilities in the country — Peterson Space Force Base, Schriever Space Force Base, Fort Carson, Air Force Academy, NORAD, the headquarters of Northern Command, Space Force and Space Command.

Yet, ironically, the district has not been represented by someone with military experience in more than 40 years.

That could change this fall. Jessica Killin, a former captain in the U.S. Army, and Joe Reagan, who completed two combat tours with the Army in Afghanistan, are both running for the seat. The twist is, they’re both Democrats.

Killin is considered the Democratic front-runner to take on Republican incumbent Rep. Jeff Crank, a longtime political operative and former podcaster.

That possible faceoff raises some very interesting questions for the 5^th District:

• Which quality does the conservative military bastion prize most, military service or party affiliation?

• Has the district changed so much demographically that a Democrat might win for the first time since the district was created 54 years ago?

• How will the biggest bloc of voters in the district — independents — weigh in on a race between a Republican incumbent with close ties to President Trump and a fourth-generation Coloradan who used to be chief of staff for Kamala Harris’s husband in Washington?

• Will the midterm blue wave that is expected to give Democrats back the House spill into Colorado and lift Killin to a win as well?

Make no mistake — the 5^th is still a plus-five Republican district, meaning that a generic Republican should beat a generic Democrat by roughly five points.

But for the first time in history, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee added Colorado’s 5th Congressional District to its Districts in Play List, placing it among the top pick-up opportunities for Democrats in the country.

And Killin has outraised Crank in campaign financing for three consecutive quarters, and raised more money than any other Democrat ever has in the 5^th Congressional District.

Killin enters April 2026 with a war chest of over $1.5 million in cash on hand, surpassing Crank’s $1.17 million by nearly $350,000. The Reagan campaign raised $87,638 in individual contributions in the first quarter of 2026, and ended the quarter with $33,034 cash on hand.

According to an analysis prepared by an advisor to Crank, more than 90% of the over $1 million Killin raised through last September came from out-of-state donors.

A former chief lobbyist for a national financial firm, Killin brought in more than half of the money she raised from donors involved in the financial services industry, the aide noted.

“It comes as no surprise to us that the folks who know Jessica Killin best, the Washington, D.C., Democrat Establishment, are bankrolling her campaign,” Crank senior advisor Nick Trainer said in a text message to our senior political correspondent, Ernest Luning.

Emily Dalgleish, a Killin aide, shrugged off the Crank campaign’s contentions.

Dalgleish told Colorado Politics that the lion’s share of Killin’s more than 2,000 individual donors are from Colorado, though more than 1,500 of them aren’t listed by name and address on the report, since the Federal Election Commission only requires that donations of $250 or more be itemized.

In another stat that could favor Killin this fall, Colorado’s 5th Congressional District is the fastest Democratic-trending district in the country, according to Cook’s Political Report analysis.

Still, the latest polling I’ve seen gives a generic Republican a 3-point advantage over a generic Democrat at the moment, but unaffiliated voters prefer a generic Democrat by 15 points in that same poll. If unaffiliated voters break strongly for Killin, this could be a horse race.

Killin won top-line designation on the Democratic primary ballot, with 39.6% of the delegate vote. Reagan landed in this year’s primary with 34.2% of the vote, above the 30% threshold required to make the ballot.

I bumped into Killin at a fundraiser recently, and she made the point that “This is not your grandmother’s Colorado Springs.”

In a recent interview, I asked her more specifically why not, and one of the main things she cited was the 200,000 new people who have moved into the 5^th in the last decade, fueled by college-educated voters.

“We have a whole group of new people who are, first of all, here because they love the beautiful outdoors, but also because this is a burgeoning economy, a diversifying economy, and a place that’s been on the ascent for a number of years, and that does change the demographics of the community.”

“I mean, in many ways, this is still the community I grew up in,” she added. “When I was growing up here, it very much had more of a small-town feel. It’s becoming more cosmopolitan. There were two core components to the community when I was growing up here: the military community and the evangelical community. Both continue to be significant parts … but now it’s more.”

Space, for example, is a key component of the Springs economy now, diversifying its profile. The Olympic Training Center and Olympic Museum and Olympic NGOs are a huge piece of the city’s identity now. And outdoor recreation and quality of life become a bigger and bigger draw for new people moving to the Springs.

Military background

Killin does not come from a military family — both her parents were public school teachers. But she grew up in close proximity to the military and was impressed by the culture. Her mother’s school, Pikes Peak Elementary, was right near Fort Carson. And a neighbor taught at the Air Force Academy, and he sponsored many cadets.

“So, in high school, I remember looking up to the Air Force Academy cadets,” she said.

“I also knew at that age that I’m someone who thrives on structure. I thought I would succeed with the structure, but also I was impressed by the level of service in Colorado Springs. This is what drives this community, so much of our culture, and it’s borne out throughout the rest of my career. The core values that I developed here as a kid were what got me in the military.”

After graduating from Falcon High School, she earned a Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) scholarship. She went on to serve as a captain and paratrooper in the U.S. Army, where she was stationed overseas and led soldiers as a Military Police Officer. She was also active in NATO expansion throughout Europe and peacekeeping missions in the Balkans.

From her time with NATO, Killin remembers “how much America was revered and respected. I already loved my country, but to now understand how much other countries believed in us .. we were a beacon of hope. I want to restore our nation to a point where people see us as a beacon again.”

She thinks the oath she took when she joined the military to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States will serve her well as a Congressperson.

“This is just another form of public service. I’ve done it once before,” she noted. “I’m frustrated with both parties, honestly, that they have lost sight of what public service really is and what it’s about, in Congress, what it should be about, which is delivering results for your community.”

She also plans to try to help break up the logjams in Congress by working across the aisle. “I grew up in a ruby red district. I know how to work with Republicans. I’m quite comfortable talking to people who disagree with me. I plan on very much reaching out, breaking that bread with Republicans.”

She’s frustrated that Crank isn’t meeting with people who disagree with him, not having open town halls to hear other people’s frustrations.

“Part of the job is to take a little beating. You’re supposed to represent your community, and the only way you can effectively do that is to listen and talk to people who didn’t vote for you.”

Washington work

Following her military service, Killin earned her law degree at Georgetown and went to work as an executive at USAA, a financial services company for military members. Among other things, she helped veterans navigate VA loans and avoid predatory lenders.

I asked Killin why she is a Democrat, given her military and business background, and she said she inherited her party affiliation and orientation from her public school teacher parents.

“But I would say I believe the sign of a healthy society is one that lifts up and takes care of its most vulnerable. And one that builds out a robust middle class and an economy that creates opportunity. And I think those are Democratic principles.”

When it comes to immigration, she thinks President Trump has gotten it right in shutting down the U.S.-Mexico border, but she called his deportation measures “immoral and, in my mind, illegal.”

Some Democrats don’t think she’d be very Democratic, but she says, “I’m Team Normal, I just want stuff to work, and I am tired of feeling like things aren’t.”

White House role

Killin returned to public service in leadership roles on Capitol Hill and at the White House, where she eventually became chief of staff to second gentleman Doug Emhoff. Killin had been chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Pérez and then-U.S. Reps. Carolyn Maloney and Donna Shalala. She also served as an aide for then-U.S. Sens. Bill Nelson and Tom Carper and was a lobbyist for USAA. Expect Crank to criticize her ties to Emhoff and his wife, Kamala Harris, who lost the last presidential election to Trump.

“Staffers are the people who get stuff done. I was focused on delivering results,” not ideology, Killin adds. ”One of the things I’ve been frustrated with in both parties, the left and the right, is there’s too much talk and not enough action.”

She hopes to bring high-profile military clout to District 5.

“It doesn’t seem like our representation on either side has been very strong for Colorado,” she argues. “Like I see us losing Space Command, and it’s frustrating to see that happen. I would have been knocking down the door at that White House every day,” making Colorado Springs’ case to keep Space Command, she said. “They would be so annoyed with me.”

The problem is, the Democrats and Republicans in the delegation should work more together, she said. On Space Command, she said, “there wasn’t a true sort of dog with the bone kind of situation that we needed to be in to keep it.”

Crank has been criticized for tacitly supporting President Trump’s decision to move Space Command, since he rarely defies Trump’s agenda publicly, though he has said specifically in public statements that he opposed the move.

Crank lately has also attempted to spin the move as a positive development for Colorado.

“This is just such an opportunity to try and reach out and get other roles and missions to come to our community, and the future is bright for that,” said Crank. “I think five years from now, we’re going to say, ‘Why were we fighting over that small of a piece of pie when the pie got so much bigger?’ And so, we really have to embrace that and look at it.”

Why now?

I asked Killin, finally, why this particular time is a good time for a Democrat to run in the 5^th.

“First of all, I do think the Democrats are going to be in charge in the House,” come this fall, she said. “It would be good to have someone who can play ball with leadership. But I don’t think this is about me being a Democrat so much. It’s about this community having the leadership and representation that it actually deserves. Someone who actually shows up, someone who actually will talk and engage with the community. We need someone who’s gonna actually fight for this community in Washington. And I already know what’s wrong with Washington. I know how to avoid some of the traps and pitfalls that other freshmen members would fall for. We are at a point where there’s a lot of work to be done and we can’t have someone with training wheels.”

Crank, serving his first term, won election in 2024 by nearly 14 points at the same time President Donald Trump carried the district’s electorate by about 9 points — both margins outside what is typically considered competitive territory.

In a future column, we’ll talk to Crank about his priorities for the 5^th.

Vince Bzdek, executive editor of The Gazette, Denver Gazette and Colorado Politics, writes a weekly news column that appears on Sunday.