I am writing to introduce myself as I have declared my candidacy for Colorado’s District 4, the seat currently held by incumbent Republican Ken Buck.

For the better part of three decades, I have called Weld County my home, and living in Weld County is what keeps me in Colorado. Like you, I never thought I would see the day when Colorado shifted into a solid blue progressive state run by far-left democrats. Those tentacles are far-reaching and have embedded themselves deep into every corner of the state, including Congressional District 4. For years the Republicans in Congressional District 4 have operated on “complacency”, with the mindset that it will always be red. I hate to break it to the establishment in Congressional District 4, but we can no longer operate on “complacency”, and it will be lost to the Democrats if we do not take action to preserve its greatness. We need to accept the fact that people moving to this district are not Republicans; they are Democrats.

As a Pioneer of Colorado, my roots are embedded deep into the Colorado soil, dating back as far as 1888, on the very soil that they began farming on and continue to farm to this very day. I took my first breath of life in Colorado, and I will take my last breath of life in Colorado. Despite the current climate in Colorado, I will always call Colorado my home. I believe it is my calling to preserve and protect the land my family rooted itself in generations ago. I believe that understanding your heritage, your roots, and your ancestry is an important part of carving out your future.

For as long as I can remember the passion to be a public servant has flowed through my blood. I found this passion rooting itself deep inside me while attending high school in Windsor. I became active in the Weld County Republican Party helping local, state, and federal elections. I walked the streets in small and large towns throughout Weld County, knocking on doors in an effort to get republican candidates elected. While in high school I was voted as senior class president and worked tirelessly to get elected officials as guest speakers in Government and History classes. Upon graduation, I was voted most likely to be president one day. Following graduation from high school, I attended Colorado State University to seek a degree in Political Science. While attending college I interned for the Hon. Senator Wayne Allard at his Greeley office.

After three semesters at Colorado State University, I decided to join the United States Navy where I served on board the USS Abraham Lincoln CVN-72, an aircraft carrier that was based out of Everett, Washington. I spent three and half years working in the Supply Department, specifically assigned to the Hazardous Materials division. My responsibility was overseeing the storage and handling of new hazardous materials that were stored on the ship. I served from May 2001 through May 2005 and during my time in the Navy I was deployed to the Persian Gulf for the start of the Iraq War, and following the end of my time we were the first responders on the scene following the horrific destruction of the Tsunami that hit Indonesia. Following the conclusion of my first deployment, and after being the longest deployed carrier since Vietnam, then President George W. Bush made a visit to the ship where he gave a nationally televised address and then spent the night on the ship before heading back to Washington, DC. As a historian, it was an honor to meet President George W. Bush and be a part of history that will forever be a part of my roots.

Upon leaving the United States Navy I returned home to Colorado where I went on to finish my degree at Colorado State University and concluded my collegiate time with a double major in Political Science and History. During that four-year period, I continued my work in the Weld County Republican Party picking up where I left off years before working to get republican candidates elected by making phone calls and walking the streets throughout Weld County. During this period, I solidified my passion for agriculture by working for United Agri Products, now known as Nutrien Agriculture. Following graduation from college, my heart began to veer towards selling corn seed to farms and I was fortunate to land a job for Triumph Seed Company selling corn seed to farms in Colorado.

For the better part of 10 years, I worked with various seed companies building my relationships with farmers throughout Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, and New Mexico. In 2018 I had the opportunity to open my own company, Northern Colorado Seeds LLC, where I contracted exclusively with one corn seed brand. The company I still own and operate today is a symbol of the fact that my heart is in agriculture and working with farmers. I have opened various other small businesses that focus on rental properties, farming, and social media advertising. During this time, I found myself drifting away from politics as the State of Colorado and the state of our nation were drifting to the left.

That all changed the day former President Trump entered the 2016 Presidential race. My renewed hope is that our country will be restored back to the greatness our founding fathers worked to preserve and protect. Countless lives have been lost since the forming of our Republic to preserve and protect the freedoms that the United States was founded on. The ultimate sacrifices to defend these principles have allowed me to make a difference in my country by ensuring that equality of opportunity is a reality for all, and not just for some as the political winds blow one direction or the other. Excellent representatives should stand in the gap to keep the government from infringing on us daily in a thousand different ways.

Following the presidential election in November 2020, I felt a calling, a duty, an obligation to myself and my country to get back involved in grassroots politics. I began to become a driving force in the Windsor community working with a group of conservative parents to bring a common sense approach to COVID in the Weld RE-4 School District. In August of 2021, after watching the district fall to state mandates, I felt it was time to move forward and declare my candidacy for the school board. During my campaign, I focused on parental rights as I believe the rights of every child belong in the hands of the parents, not the school district or state mandates. The results were close and even though I did not pull out a victory, a series of events within the school district led to several positive results for parental rights. My first win was that the massive bond failed. The second victory was when the superintendent resigned. Thirdly, our rights were strengthened when the board president resigned. And lastly, the battle was won when an application for a new civics-oriented charter school was approved in June of 2022. The families of Windsor will now have the choice to immerse children in classical, civics-minded, pro-America, principled, and character-driven education.

In March of 2022, I attended my first caucus in several years. I was elected as a PCP and worked my way through the process to become a delegate at the Republican State Assembly. Following the assembly I began attending all the Weld County Republican Executive Committee meetings. In February of 2023, I ran for party chair for Weld County. In the end, I was elected as a District Captain for District D.

Since the beginning of 2022 I had the opportunity to start FyreFox Media LLC which is focused on promoting and advertising for American First patriots who are looking to build their following in the conservative realm. During this venture, I have met some incredible patriots who are freedom-loving like me, and who believe that America First is the right focus for the United States. In December of 2022, I had the opportunity to meet former President Trump in Florida. The opportunity to meet former President Trump was a special moment for me, but what made it even more special was the fact my parents were able to be with me, which was the opportunity of a lifetime for us all.

I believe that when one door closes another one opens. Two months after the Weld County Republican Central Committee, I walked out of the event knowing that God is in control of my life, and He will guide me in the direction I need to go. The opportunity to apply for a vacated Weld County Council seat for District 1 opened and I was one of three applicants. It was an honor to be able to make it through the process and be appointed to the Council. It has been rewarding being a public servant to the constituents of Weld County. This is the second time I have held an elected office. The first was a director district seat for the Weld RE-4 School Board from 2005 through 2009 and now a sitting council member for Weld County.

In recent weeks I have felt a true calling to enter the race for Congressional District 4 in Colorado. I believe that the voice of the constituents is being drowned by the republican establishment both in Colorado and on the national level. This district is a solid republican district, but the influx of people moving into Colorado, especially in this district, are no longer mostly Republicans. We need real representation that is not focused on a select few, we need representation that is focused on all constituents. The influx of synthetic drugs pouring into Colorado is a direct result of the open border policy by the current administration. The legalization of drugs has led to a massive homeless problem throughout Colorado. We are seeing record gas prices as a direct result of the current administration’s attack on oil and gas. Agriculture is under attack on multiple fronts – from high input prices to the regulations put on agriculture through the Environmental Protection Agency, the list of government interventions into private business is hurting Colorado economically on all fronts.

The focus needs to be on solving problems, not attacking the very values your constituents hold. The day has come when new leadership and new representation is needed. I owe it to my family’s heritage to protect the state in which they settled and planted their roots in. Those roots produced a seed that is now blossoming into a public servant. It would be an honor to be a part of protecting the very land on which my family and generations of other families before me fought to protect. The founding fathers framed the greatest doctrine in the world, the Constitution. That document has led to the greatest nation on earth. We are a country of greatness and generosity, and we must use what we've learned from history, that failed political ideology that creates government overreach and tyranny doom our lives and the lives of future generations to poverty and despair. We are on the cusp of doing just that, and without freedom-loving representation, we will soon see the end of a great and prosperous nation. The motto that formed my family’s heritage in Colorado is a motto that is embedded into Colorado: “Nothing without the Deity”. Without God we are nothing. Without God we have nothing. Without God, we are lost. Through God, we are found. Through God we have freedom.

I am a perfectly imperfect man in the eyes of my maker, and I believe the time is now to serve my country again as a United States Congressional Representative in District 4 in Colorado. I cannot do this alone and with your help, the voice of our constituents will finally be heard. 

RON HANKS

Serving Our Country

• Combat veteran - Ron served in the military throughout the world and across the United States.  He purchased land in Colorado in 2007 with the intent to retire and explore the Mountain West from the center of it all.  Out-of-control government forced him back into public service.

• Ron retired from the U.S. Air Force at the end of 2017 after more than 32 years of active and reserve service, serving as an enlisted man and as a commissioned officer.  He worked as a linguist in Desert Storm and during multiple operations, including Northern Watch, Southern Watch, and Earnest Will.  During the Global War on Terror, Ron served as an intelligence officer, performing duties in Iraq, Kuwait, and United Arab Emirates.

• Ron served in several other capacities during his career, to include as a treaty escort for foreign inspectors from Russia and other countries, as a counterdrug officer in Kazakhstan working to stop the flow of drugs out of Afghanistan that funded the Taliban and Al Qaeda, and as a badged, credentialed counterintelligence agent.

  When not deployed or in uniform, Ron worked in the oilfields of North Dakota, witnessing first-hand the benefits of American energy independence, the merits of hydraulic fracturing, and the spirit and know-how of blue-collar America.

Passion for Public Service

• His passion for public service began in the mid-1970’s as he listened to Ronald Reagan articulate the differences between conservative and leftist policies.  Just like Reagan, Ron Hanks understands that at all levels, government is too big and spends too much, and that protecting personal liberty should be the main goal of any elected official.

• Now a Colorado State Representative, Ron continues his life-long dedication to serving others, based on Reagan’s conservative principles, and motivated by the Democrat Party’s dangerous attempt to move our state and country towards the disastrous and failed models of socialism. Good people must stand up to stop the out-of-control liberalism that we are getting from Denver and Washington, D.C..

• Recognized as one of our best conservative representatives in the Colorado House, Ron Hanks knows that he works for you. Your liberties must reign supreme - NOT the government’s powers.

Serving Our Community

• Ron devoutly believes in our Bill of Rights and is an ardent, no-compromise defender of the 2nd Amendment.

• Without The People’s full trust and confidence in the validity of our elections, all public policy decisions are irrelevant because they do not have ‘the consent of the governed.’  Secure, open, and fair elections must be the backbone of our elections if our country is to survive.

• A strong social and fiscal conservative with a respectful live-and-let-live attitude toward others, Ron Hanks will keep fighting to protect Colorado taxpayers, grow our small businesses, and support and defend every law-abiding citizens’ God-given right to life, liberty, and property.

John is a retired police chief with over 20 years in law enforcement. He worked as a municipal officer, State Trooper and Police Chief in New Hampshire. After retiring John consulted and facilitated focus groups and educational workshops in equity, mental wellness, resilience, and organizational development. John regularly presents on wellness, social justice causes, and police-community relations. He was featured in the 2019 Nantucket Project documentary film “The Box”. In his spare time John enjoys riding bikes, cross-country skiing, performing comedy, and recently thought it would be a good idea to take up Jiu Jitsu. John is a consultant at The Center for Policing Equity.

Eli Friedman, M.D., FACC, is a medical and sports cardiologist at Miami Cardiac & Vascular Institute, a part of Baptist Health South Florida. Dr. Friedman serves as the Miami Cardiac & Vascular Institute’s medical director of sports cardiology. Dr. Friedman joined Miami Cardiac & Vascular Institute from Memorial Health System. There, he served as the chief of cardiac services at Memorial Regional Hospital and the system’s medical director of sports cardiology. Dr. Friedman is the cardiologist for the Women’s Tennis Association, team cardiologist for the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League, Inter Miami CF of Major League Soccer, and for numerous local colleges and universities. He serves as a cardiology consultant to the United States Tennis Association's Sports Science Committee and is an advisory sports cardiologist for the Broward County Public Schools Sports Medicine & Student Wellness Committee. Since 2018, he has helped develop the Heart of a Champion program which teaches trainees – including coaches, student-athletes and athletic administrators – how to recognize and respond to cardiac arrest in a sports setting. His research has been published in the Journal of Emergency Medical Services and Congestive Heart Failure. He has also co-authored educational content for the American College of Cardiology. Dr. Friedman’s approach to patient care is to spend as much time – if not more – listening to his patients than talking. By doing so, he can incorporate each person’s beliefs, opinions and thoughts into a treatment plan instead of a “one-size-fits-all” approach. He believes it is everyone’s right to feel as good as possible. He considers it is his job to do everything he can to help by using the skills he’s been privileged to learn. When he is not treating patients, Dr. Friedman enjoys spending time with his family, running, cycling and training.