George Brauchler, the prosecutor of the Aurora theater shooter, will announce his bid for Colorado governor Wednesday, entering as the early Republican front-runner in the high-stakes 2018 race.

“Everything important in my life is here in this state … and what I see is a state that is in need of leadership,” he told The Denver Post before his announcement. “I think I can provide that leadership — not just for now, but for the future.”

The 18th Judicial District attorney named education and transportation as his top two issues, and he emphasized his military and public safety experience as qualifications for the job.

“There isn’t an issue out there I can think of that I don’t deal with every day,” he said, noting that his jurisdiction is the largest in the state. “But on top of that, I bring a different level of leadership. I’m not a career politician.”

Brauchler, 47, is the most high-profile candidate to date to join the campaign to replace term-limited Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper.

The contest is expected to become crowded, with another top Republican, two-term state Treasurer Walker Stapleton, looking to make a run — a possibility that pushed Brauchler to announce his intentions sooner rather than later.

Positioning himself as one of the more conservative candidates in the race, Brauchler said he plans to seek a slot on the primary ballot through a nomination at the Republican Party’s convention, rather than collect petition signatures to qualify.

The political gamble is paired with a not-so-subtle dig at his expected rivals. “Every single one of them is a potential self-funder or has long family connections to politics. I’m not that guy,” he said without noting Stapleton’s ties to the Bush family. “I’m the guy who has spent his entire life in Colorado, and I’m going to get around this state and win it through the grassroots effort.”

Read the full story in The Denver Post.