George Brauchler

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George Brauchler

Republican Party

Prior offices

Arapahoe County District Attorney

Successor: John Kellner

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Elections and appointments

Last election

November 6, 2018

Contact

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George Brauchler (Republican Party) was the Arapahoe County District Attorney in Colorado. Brauchler left office on January 12, 2021.

Brauchler (Republican Party) ran for election for Attorney General of Colorado. Brauchler lost in the general election on November 6, 2018.

Brauchler completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2018. Click here to read the survey answers.

Elections

2018

See also: Colorado Attorney General election, 2018 and Colorado Attorney General election, 2018 (June 26 Republican primary)

General election

General election for Attorney General of Colorado

Phil Weiser defeated George Brauchler and William Robinson in the general election for Attorney General of Colorado on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Phil Weiser (D)	51.6	1,285,464
		George Brauchler (R)	45.1	1,124,757
	Submit photo	William Robinson (L)	3.3	81,733

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 2,491,954 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Attorney General of Colorado

Phil Weiser defeated Joseph Salazar in the Democratic primary for Attorney General of Colorado on June 26, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Phil Weiser	50.4	301,354
		Joseph Salazar	49.6	296,551

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 597,905
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Attorney General of Colorado

George Brauchler advanced from the Republican primary for Attorney General of Colorado on June 26, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		George Brauchler	100.0	418,713

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 418,713
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign themes

2018

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's candidate surveys

George Brauchler participated in Ballotpedia's candidate survey on October 4, 2018. The survey questions appear in bold, and George Brauchler's responses follow below.

What would be your top three priorities, if elected?

“

1. Vigorously protect Colorado families from the rising rate of crime and exploitation in our state. Statewide, violent crime is on the rise. In my own jurisdiction of one million Coloradans for which I serve as District Attorney, we have seen an increase in felony filings of nearly fifty percent since 2013. The Attorney General has a critical role to play in leading and coordinating statewide efforts to protect communities, especially those communities in the vast rural parts of our state. Where land is abundant, but law enforcement resources are not, we find an exploding meth epidemic and the unabated growth of black market marijuana grows. Statewide resources can help stem the tide and give local law enforcement the support they need to better protect their families and neighborhoods. 2. Defend Colorado from growing federal overreach into our lives regardless of who occupies the White House and keep Colorado’s economy competitive and fair to all. 1500 miles east of our great state is a quickly growing federal government which has proven incapable or unwilling to slow the rapid multiplication of rules and regulations designed to dictate to states how they must live their lives, protect their environment, conduct business and on and on. From Waters of the United States (WOTUS), to the Clean Power Plan, to the FCC’s version of Net Neutrality, to massive changes to labor rules, the federal government sees no area in which it should not weigh in with compulsive rules to achieve some bureaucratic objective too unpopular to pass through Congress. I am invested in Coloradans governing Coloradans, not bureaucrats who do not live here. Within Colorado, regulations have also grown unabated. A safe, stable, predictable environment in which business and individuals can operate and innovate is what Coloradans seek and deserve. As AG, I will work to achieve just that. 3. To prevent politics and partisanship from taking over yet another critical part of our government by representing all Coloradans, upholding the Rule of Law, and defending the Constitution. It is a partisan process to getting elected to be Colorado’s Attorney General, but once elected, the partisanship must yield to the Rule of Law. The trend across America—Republicans and Democrats alike—has been to weaponize state AG positions and turn them into rogue political warriors. We have seen countless examples under each of the last two Presidential administrations. Some legal actions pushing back against federal overreach, some to resist federal underreach (yes, underreach), and some to simply advance an ideological objective too unpopular to get through Congress or a state legislature. Too often, activist AGs have sought to legislate through litigation. I will resist that effort to thwart democratically-elected policy-makers at the state and federal levels by linking hands with other activist AGs across the country to file yet another lawsuit to achieve the unpopular or radical. Attorneys General are in the law enforcement business, not the policy-making business. Whether the AG agrees or disagrees with a constitutional law or policy, they are obligated to defend it and enforce it. At 30,000 feet, Coloradans should not be able to detect a significant difference between the operation of the AGs office under a Democrat or Republican AG. That will be my goal as Attorney General.

”

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about? Why?

“

Criminal Justice Reform. Too often the debate about criminal justice reform has deteriorated into knee jerk, quick fixes designed only to address a statistic or to minimize accountability for those who run afoul of our laws. Real reform requires changes far bolder – make naturally expiring laws be transparent in sentencing, expunge outdated records and be braver on pardons. Talk is cheap. Coloradans deserve and demand action. I have written on this topic for a national newspaper. I have advocated with our legislature for sunsetting laws and I have personally fought for a pardon for a now-former felon in our community. There is more to do, but these bold reforms are an easy and impactful place to start. I have dealt with criminal justice first hand as District Attorney for the largest DA’s office in Colorado. As Attorney General, I will continue to provide leadership and resources to advance the process of real reform.

”

Campaign website

The following themes were found on Brauchler's campaign website.

“	PROTECTING OUR FAMILIES Colorado is the only home I have known. I believe in a safe Colorado in which our families, children, parents, and friends are free from fear on our streets, in our schools, our places of worship, our workplaces, and in our neighborhoods. Fighting crime is no place for on-the-job learning. When it comes to matters of public safety, there is no substitute for experience. As District Attorney for nearly one million people, more than 1 in 6 Coloradans, I have led our office’s efforts to make our community safer by: Creating a Human Trafficking Unit comprised of an expert senior prosecutor, a specialized victim advocate, and recruiting and hiring the best HT investigator west of the Mississippi. This unit’s efforts have resulted in numerous Traffickers sent to prison, including the longest human trafficking sentence in American history. Standing up a Domestic Violence Unit to tackle some of our most challenging and impactful violent crimes. Expanding our Special Victims Unit to include adult Sex Assault (rape) cases, to provide more expertise to these important and challenging felonies and hold rapists accountable for their heinous crimes. Creating an Elder Abuse Unit to specifically target those unscrupulous crooks and uncaring abusers who seek to exploit our most vulnerable and most trusting neighbors and loved ones. Leading the creation of a Cold Case Unit to ensure that justice is served upon those who commit murder. The Cold Case Unit has convicted 7 murderers who otherwise were walking free on our streets. Establishing a Drug/Narcotics Unit to aggressively tackle the illegal marijuana black market and growing opioid epidemic. Vigorously enforcing all of our laws, including pursuing the death penalty in appropriate cases, such as mass murderers. Personally handling the most important and challenging cases in our jurisdiction. As Attorney General, I will continue to lead the effort to: Eradicate the scourge of Human Trafficking and its exploitation of Colorado’s boys and girls by aggressively targeting and prosecuting those who profit from it. Wipe out the illegal black-market marijuana that is growing and threatening the legal and voter approved marijuana industry in our state. Halt the opioid epidemic, which has captured and killed so many in our state. We cannot sue our way out of this problem. We cannot arrest our way out of this problem. The long-term solution requires leadership of a multi-faceted approach, including law enforcement, health care practitioners, and our community. Support all of Colorado by giving our rural communities the resources they need to pursue justice in violent crime and death penalty cases, Champion victims’ rights under our Constitution and defend their dignity through our demanding criminal justice system. ECONOMIC FAIRNESS Likewise, everyone in Colorado deserves to be protected from fraud, so one of my most important roles as Attorney General will be to act as the lawyer for all of Colorado: businesses large and small, as well as, employees and consumers must have faith that their Attorney General will be a fair and impartial arbiter on their behalf. As Attorney General, I will fight to: Protect consumers and Colorado businesses from fraud and the unscrupulous conduct of those who let greed overtake doing the right thing. Safeguard seniors and those who are at-risk from predators who exploit and take advantage of them. Lead a statewide effort to pursue and hold accountable those who profit from labor trafficking. Foster a growing, competitive, and innovative business environment through the consistent and predictable enforcement of regulations to encourage compliance with the law, not raising revenue on the backs of small businesses. Catch and stop those who seek to cheat the system and deprive us of our limited taxpayer resources through Medicaid and Food Stamp fraud and those who violate our anti-trust protections. Our growing natural resource industry and burgeoning, legal marijuana industry need easy to understand rules and regulations about how to operate in our state, from banking to environmental regulations. Our goal should be compliance, not fees and fiscal punishment that act like additional taxes on Colorado businesses. COLORADO FIRST I believe that Colorado is best governed by Coloradans (us) in state and local government, not government appointees and bureaucrats 1500 miles from here, regardless of who is in the Oval Office. As Colorado’s Attorney General, I will: Stand up to Federal government overreach everywhere it appears, including Colorado’s voter approved marijuana legalization. Resist the heavy hand of a Federal government that too often tells us how we should govern ourselves, educate our children, and protect our beautiful state. Refuse to follow the sea-level states like California, New York, and Massachusetts in their ongoing hyper-liberal pursuit of legislation through litigation. I will not accomplish by lawsuit that which the legislature refuses to enact. Defend our water from the perpetually and increasingly thirsty downhill states who want to renegotiate our water compact law to Colorado’s detriment. Not on my watch. Encourage the Federal government to return more autonomy and authority to allow us to govern ourselves in Colorado. RULE OF LAW I believe there are three things we can do with our laws. We can: follow and enforce them, amend them to something we like better, or repeal them We cannot ignore them or pretend they do not exist. As Attorney General, I will refuse to legislate through litigation and resist turning to the courts to judicially mandate an outcome that fails to achieve approval through our state legislature or Congress.	”
—George Brauchler's 2018 campaign website

Campaign advertisements

The following is an example of an ad from Brauchler's 2018 election campaign.

"Protect" - Republican Attorneys General Association ad, released June 27, 2018

See also

• Attorney General of Colorado
• Colorado Attorney General election, 2018

External links

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Candidate

Attorney General of Colorado

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Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by -	Arapahoe County District Attorney 2013 - 2021	Succeeded by John Kellner (R)