Sonnenberg announces bid for Congress
Logan County Republican would address economy, Eastern Colorado interests, he says
Jerry Sonnenberg, a Logan County farmer and rancher and formerly a state representative and senator, has announced he will seek the Republican nomination for the Congressional District
4 seat in the U.S. House, representing a large swath of Eastern Colorado.
U.S. Rep. Ken Buck, R-windsor, has announced he will not seek another term.
“I think 16 years of legislative experience and leadership skills I have obtained over a lifetime has prepared me to become an advocate for rural Colorado and this district,” Sonnenberg said. “If not me, then who? No one has the proven track record, and the dirt under their fingernails.”
A lifelong resident of Sterling, Sonnenberg grew up on a Centennial farm and graduated from Sterling High School before attending Northeastern Junior College. In 1979, he recalls beginning his own farming operation. Sonnenberg served as a director for the Colorado Farm Bureau,
and from there was elected to four consecutive terms in the Colorado House of Representatives and two terms in the Colorado Senate, serving the maximum term limit of 16 years in the Colorado Legislature. Sonnenberg presently serves as a Logan County commissioner.
“I’m the average guy. A guy with a high school education and some college who worked all his life,” the Logan County Republican said. “I entered public service when I was 48 years old. I want to continue that service.”
Sonnenberg’s early years of farming and ranching in Logan County weren’t easy, he says, having decided to farm on his own.
“It was so expensive to get started,” Sonnenberg said. “I remember working many jobs to get by — driving a truck, learning to program and working in tech support, teaching at Northeastern Junior College and sub
stitute teaching in Sterling schools, reporting and taking photos at the Journaladvocate.”
It was all while working the farm and eventually expanding into today’s operation, he recalls, and along the way others began to call him into service, such as with his first appearance on the ballot for the Colorado House.
“People said we need a spokesperson, a farmer and rancher up there, who could carry the message of rural Colorado to Denver,” Sonnenberg said. “With that support it worked out well.”
The announcement by Buck that he would not seek another term in Congress again led friends to reach out to Sonnenberg to serve, he says, and he has now accepted the challenge of one more campaign.
“In the last several years, when there was talk Buck may not run again, we would have those conversations as a family.” Sonnenberg said. “It has been on my mind. I want this to be something to benefit the Eastern Plains and quite frankly Colorado.”
If elected, Sonnenberg pledges he would address the economy, debt and inflation, and says the “Bidenomics” policy is not working.
“This inflation is a killer for all of us. We’re taking home less because we are having to spend more,” he said. “Even if we make more in a salary or on the ranch. The worst part about it is all of this is being caused by the current President and his administration. It is expanding our national debt to unsustainable levels.”
It is a reason Sonnenberg’s family supported his bid for Congress, he says.
“They understand the impacts on their children and grandchildren, if we don’t have someone to represent their interests in Washington, D.C., and rein in the spending,” Sonnenberg said.
In Colorado, residents face the one-two punch of President Joe Biden and Gov. Jared Polis’ economic policies, he says.
“It looks like our governor and Biden work arm in arm on the same agenda,” Sonnenberg said. “It is especially bad for us in rural areas of the state. What we pay for diesel and gas is not in correlation with what they pay in the Front Range. It becomes even more important to have someone who understands the rural-urban divide.”
He has pledged to fight any tax increase in Congress, and points to his record of working to reduce income tax in the Colorado Senate.
In 2022, there were 2.2 million illegal border crossings, up from 1.6 million crossings, and, if elected, Sonnenberg would work to close the border, and reduce incentives causing illegal crossings.
“The policies in place with basically an open border has made every state a border state,” Sonnenberg said. “The drugs are going rampant because of these policies. We have to have a process for immigration. I support legal immigration for anyone wanting to work.”
He has a record for working to oppose providing taxpayer-funded state benefits for illegal immigrants. He has committed to return to President Donald Trump-era policies to secure the border.
Sonnenberg connects the issue of energy to national security, proposing a policy to regain energy independence and become a net exporter.
“We have to make the United States energy independent,” he said.
Yet, he complains, President Joe Biden has hampered production, canceled pipelines, imposed unnecessary regulations and demonized hard-working Americans fueling the economy.
“What I would work to do is reduce the regulations and limitations to allow oil, gas, wind and solar to do what they need to do to be successful,” Sonnenberg said. “Let’s not have federal folks standing in the way. Using taxpayer dollars to make winners and losers is not the role of government.”
Relying upon his experiences on the family farm, Sonnenberg has promised to be an advocate for agriculture. If elected, he would represent each of the state’s top 10 agriculture production counties.