Darryl Glenn joins pool of Republicans challenging Doug Lamborn for Congress in 2018

DENVER – Darryl Glenn, the Republican El Paso County Commissioner who was defeated by Michael Bennet in last year’s U.S. Senate election, will try again for a congressional seat in 2018—this time challenging Rep. Doug Lamborn in Colorado’s 5th Congressional District.

Glenn confirmed to Denver7 over the weekend he would be running for the seat against Lamborn, who is in his sixth term in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Glenn said he would be issue a formal statement about his campaign when he announces officially at an upcoming campaign launch. News of his latest bid was first reported last week by ColoradoPolitics.

Glenn becomes the second high-profile Republican to throw his name into the hat to challenge Lamborn.

State Sen. Owen Hill, a conservative Republican also from Colorado Springs, announced he’d be running in April and has done well raising money over the past few months.

Hill’s profile has been raised since he first won a seat in the state Senate, as he chaired the Senate’s education committee and was the vice chair of its finance committee. He started a bid to run for the U.S. Senate in 2014, but backed out after Cory Gardner, who eventually won the seat, announced he was running.

Glenn ran away with the primary for the Republican Senate bid last year, getting nearly 50,000 more votes than the second-place finisher.

And though he garnered 1.2 million votes in the general election, he lost his bid to unseat Sen. Bennet, a Democrat, by more than 150,000 votes.

Last year, Glenn ran on a conservative platform that pushed for fewer government regulations and spending, the easing of business regulations, and increased spending in defense and border security.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, endorsed Glenn during his Senate campaign, saying Glenn had “the experience to understand what it takes to bring back economic growth and preserve our individual liberties.”

It’s unclear when Glenn will make his campaign official. His announcement comes amid the close of second-quarter fundraising, whose figures are expected to be released next week, and as a slew of other people declare their candidacy for various congressional districts in Colorado—some as challengers and some aiming to replace seats that will be vacated in 2018 over the governorship or retirement.

Diane Mitsch Bush, a Democratic state House member, announced last week she’d be challenging Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Colo., in the state’s 3rd Congressional District.

And The Denver Post reported Monday that Levi Tillemann, an area technology entrepreneur and former member of the Obama administration, would be among a growing list of Democrats, including Jason Crow and Gabriel McArthur, who will be challenging for the Democratic nomination to try and unseat Rep. Mike Coffman in the state’s 6th Congressional District. ColoradoPolitics also reported that story first in late June.