Uphill, but Doable

The conventional wisdom—and let’s face it, that phrase might be meaningless in 2016—was that Glenn would never make it this far. He’s not the man the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) thought they’d be dealing with at this point, but they shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. On paper, he might be about as close to the perfect Republican candidate as you could imagine. He’s a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, an attorney, and a former city council member in Colorado Springs, one of the biggest conservative strongholds in America. He’s currently a commissioner of El Paso County, which encompasses Colorado Springs. His specialty in the Air Force was logistics, which has served him well in local politics. He’s highly regarded for the leadership he exhibited in response to a series of dramatic floods and fires Colorado Springs experienced in recent years. And while it might be a superficial qualification, Glenn is black and the GOP is certainly in need of an image overhaul.

The fairytale version of Glenn’s victory in the primary begins in April. Colorado has one of the most active and organized state Republican parties, and in such a competitive environment even a compelling candidate such as Glenn was a lesser-known figure. Glenn had one shot at making an impact, a speech at the state convention. He stepped up to the mike and proclaimed himself “an unapologetic Christian, constitutional conservative, pro-life, Second Amendment-loving American.” The Denver Post, not given to encomiums on rousing professions of conservatism, described it as an “inspiring 10-minute speech to the delegates, interrupted often by standing ovations and hitting conservative high notes on immigration and Iran.” It “boosted the Air Force veteran to the front of the pack of 10 candidates.”

There are two ways to get on the Republican primary ballot in Colorado. The first is by gathering enough signatures statewide. The second is by getting at least 30 percent of the delegates at the state convention to vote you on the ballot. Glenn stunned the Republican establishment by getting just over 70 percent of the delegates at the convention, locking out all the other candidates.

This caused chaos, as the remaining candidates fanned out across the state in a mad dash to collect signatures to get on the ballot, prompting a flurry of lawsuits about the validity of various petitions. It didn’t matter in the end. Glenn ended up with 38 percent of the vote, an impressive victory in a five-way race.

But to say that his victory hinged on the speech shortchanges the man. He began campaigning hard well over a year ago, but lacking the name ID and financial backing of better-known candidates, he had to work the phones, knock on doors, and otherwise commit to canvassing the grassroots in ways that don’t attract much attention. “We went to events where 15 people were there, and we were happy!” Glenn tells The Weekly Standard.

Further, winning the convention wasn’t a fluke—it was the strategy from the get-go. “When you have a 15-candidate field, I’m looking at it from the standpoint of having to make an investment in somebody,” says Glenn. “So we were never shooting for the moon, we were realistic in what the expectations were. We knew exactly what it was going to cost to get through the assembly process, and we wanted to be able to use that to showcase how much it was going to cost in comparison to the other candidates .  .  . who spent probably between three to four hundred thousand dollars to be able to petition and sue their way on the ballot. We just wanted to show a very stark contrast for who you want managing your money.”

Glenn didn’t seal the deal entirely on his own. After he made a splash at the convention, he picked up a crucial endorsement from Ted Cruz. And perhaps more important, the Senate Conservatives Fund stepped in and spent $600,000 on his behalf. While his shoestring campaign desperately needed a cash infusion to put him over the top, the windfall is a decidedly mixed blessing. As Glenn wryly notes, the SCF and Republican Senate leadership “do not exchange Christmas cards.”

The SCF was founded in part by former South Carolina senator and current Heritage Foundation president Jim DeMint, who was well known for feuding with Mitch McConnell when the two were in the Senate together (McConnell was then minority leader). In 2014, the SCF sponsored a primary challenge to McConnell. The NRSC and McConnell responded by launching total war against any candidate who had the imprimatur of the SCF. McConnell told the New York Times the goal was to “crush them everywhere” and expressed hope the SCF wouldn’t have “a single [Senate GOP] nominee anywhere in the country.” The pitched battle escalated to an undeniably counterproductive point in key races in the last election cycle. Notably, McConnell went scorched-earth against Ben Sasse in Nebraska, who, despite the institutional opposition, won the GOP Senate primary in the state, carrying 92 of 93 counties.

Even though GOP control of the Senate and McConnell’s job as majority leader may hinge on Glenn winning in Colorado, his campaign is walking on eggshells. (Glenn has also picked up some key members of the campaign team that helped elect Sasse.) Glenn’s campaign aides believe the NRSC will come around to supporting them, but for now they’re not expecting a big influx of cash from the national GOP. At some point, Glenn says, “it’s important for me to sit down and have a conversation with the NRSC and say, ‘Guys, at the end of the day we’re on the same team.’ ”

In the meantime, the plan is to play to Glenn’s strengths. He’s focused on grassroots campaigning—Senator Cory Gardner has been hitting the trail with Glenn, as have a couple of his GOP primary competitors. The thinking is that if Glenn keeps his head down and proves his viability, the national GOP will come around. It appears to be working. On July 11, the Republican National Committee’s morning email featured a glowing paragraph about Glenn’s efforts in Colorado.

Since Senate campaigns aren’t cheap, the final piece of the puzzle is to raise Glenn’s national profile, so they can expand his fundraising efforts well beyond the Centennial State. He’s started to make appearances on Fox News, and the fundraising numbers are encouraging so far. Gardner raised a million dollars in the first 30 days after being nominated in 2014, and Glenn is on pace to do the same.

And speaking of playing to his strengths, the key to Glenn becoming a national figure may hinge on Glenn giving another speech. On July 3, Derrick Wilburn, founder of the Rocky Mountain Black Conservatives and vice chairman of the Colorado GOP, uploaded a video to YouTube addressing the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. “Mr. Trump, as a conservative, as a Republican party official, and as a personal friend of Darryl Glenn, I’ve got a request of you. Darryl Glenn needs to be on the stage in a primetime slot at the RNC,” he said. “Darryl and you together are a team that can help deliver an incredibly important swing state.”

Certainly, speaking at a convention has launched notable political careers, including that of the current occupant of the White House. As this article goes to press, a few days before the GOP convention in Cleveland, Glenn is tentatively scheduled to speak on July 18, the first night of the proceedings.

Glenn endorsed Trump on July 3 at the Western Conservative Summit in Denver, and given the wisps of racism swirling around Trump’s campaign, it would do Trump a world of good to embrace and elevate a black conservative such as Glenn. Conversely, it might also raise eyebrows if Trump and the national GOP were inexplicably to keep him at arm’s length.

In the long term, it’s tough to say whether Trump being at the top of the ticket will be of much help to Glenn. In a Monmouth University poll taken July 9-12—after Hillary Clinton was denounced by FBI director James Comey—Trump was still trailing Hillary Clinton in Colorado 35 percent to 48 percent. In the same poll, Glenn trailed incumbent Democratic senator Michael Bennet by exactly the same margin. But Glenn had just won the primary and remains an unknown quantity in the state. Presumably, he has real potential to rise in the polls.

Glenn still has plenty of opportunities to press his case. Bennet is a fairly milquetoast Democrat, and Glenn smartly plans to make the race a referendum on Washington. “You want to be able to say it’s just like someone going in for a performance review. You hired someone to do a job, they met, and they performed. Now is their performance satisfactory, based on how they voted? .  .  . Is he doing a good job for you—yes or no?”

Glenn’s self-confidence stems from his belief that no other candidate can work harder than he will. Asked what Bennet’s weakness is, he doesn’t hesitate: “competing.” Glenn’s work ethic is evident just by looking at him. If elected, the 50-year-old—a three-time Collegiate National Powerlifting champion from his days at the Air Force Academy—would be the fittest man in Congress by a significant margin. Thankfully, a winning smile and positive attitude nearly make you forget that he’s literally an intimidating figure.

“We’re going to win this,” he says. “We’ve been very confident in this race because we believe we’re on the right side of the issues and .  .  . because we are willing to continue to go out and talk to people, and people appreciate that.”

Mark Hemingway is a senior writer at The Weekly Standard.