University of Colorado Regent Wanda James unveiled her campaign to unseat Colorado’s longest-serving congressional lawmaker on Wednesday, hoping to ride a wave of Democratic dissatisfaction with longtime party officials.

“When you take a look at what’s happening right now in America, it’s pretty dismal,” said James, a Democrat, in an interview. “And we are lacking leadership in America.”

James’ effort to beat Democratic U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette in the Denver-based 1st Congressional District comes nearly three years after James was elected to CU’s governing board. An early marijuana entrepreneur who opened a cannabis shop in northwest Denver, she sought to frame her primary challenge within larger debates consuming the Democratic Party.

Namely: how to respond to the Trump administration a

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