{"id":501,"date":"2026-01-12T13:22:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T13:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stuntsintrucks.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/12\/ben-nighthorse-campbell-foretold-of-denvers-elites-and-backlash-to-democrats-opinion\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T13:22:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T13:22:00","slug":"ben-nighthorse-campbell-foretold-of-denvers-elites-and-backlash-to-democrats-opinion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stuntsintrucks.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/12\/ben-nighthorse-campbell-foretold-of-denvers-elites-and-backlash-to-democrats-opinion\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Nighthorse Campbell foretold of Denver\u2019s elites and backlash to Democrats (Opinion)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Then-Sen.<\/a>
Then-Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell greeted President Bush at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs on Wednesday, June 6, 2004.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ben Nighthorse Campbell, the former Colorado U.S. senator and congressman who served first as a Democrat and then as a Republican, died of natural causes Dec. 30<\/a> at his ranch in Ignacio, Colorado at age 92.<\/p>\n

A member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, Campbell grew up poor and spent part of his childhood in a California orphanage, yet he led a life of excelling. He became a judo champion in 1963, winning a gold medal at the Pan-American Games; served in the Air Force for four years where he earned his GED; went on to get degrees in physical education and fine arts at San Jose State University; and honed skills as a silversmith and jeweler. His Western belt buckles were prized.<\/p>\n

He entered politics in 1982, first serving as a state legislator. He was next elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, serving rural Western Colorado from 1987 to 1993, then was elected to two terms in the U.S. Senate.<\/p>\n

When Senator Campbell switched from being a registered Democrat to a Republican on March 3, 1995, \u201cthe switch was shocking and traumatic to his staff,\u201d said Ken Lane, his longtime chief of staff. He quit soon after Campbell\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n

Lane said there was lots of speculation about why Campbell became a Republican. A major irritant for Campbell, Lane recalled, was what the senator called the \u201celitist\u201d attitude of Democratic leaders in Denver and Boulder, who found him too moderate. Campbell\u2019s main support always came from the union stronghold of Pueblo, in southern Colorado.<\/p>\n

It was known that Republican Senator and majority leader Bob Dole courted Campbell to make the switch, and once he did, Campbell was appointed chair of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. Campbell relished the job, advocating for Tribal rights and spurring the creation of the Sand Creek Massacre National Historical Site in Colorado, where two of his ancestors had been killed by U.S. soldiers.<\/p>\n

Dea Jacobson, who worked in his Grand Junction, Colorado office when he was a Democrat, called him a force of nature. \u201cHe could do anything he put his mind to,\u201d she said. He was a licensed pilot, and he also earned a commercial driver\u2019s license, which he used in 2000 and 2012 to drive huge Colorado Christmas trees to the Capitol in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n

Though his party changed, Jacobson said, Campbell\u2019s politics remained the same: \u201cHe was pro-choice, pro-union and, despite criticism from some environmentalists, he backed key legislation protecting Colorado\u2019s public lands.\u201d Over the years, Campbell became known as someone who\u2019d horse trade to get the bills he cared about passed.<\/p>\n

One of his major victories was passage of the Colorado Wilderness Act of 1993, which designated or expanded 19 wilderness areas. The landmark legislation had been 13 years in the making. Campbell also worked on the creation of Great Sand Dunes National Park and helped make the Black Canyon National Monument a national park.<\/p>\n

Campbell had a major impact on Colorado\u2019s Four Corners region. Working with the Tribes he changed the Animas\u2013La Plata water project to protect the free-flowing Animas River, despite criticism from environmentalists over the pumping of water uphill into a dry basin. The deal fulfilled long-overdue water rights held by the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute Tribes.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d called Campbell last October when I was writing a column about changes coming for the reservoir named after him — Lake Nighthorse \u2014 authorized by Congress in 1968 as part of the Animas-La Plata Project. I\u2019d been told Campbell was in poor health, but he answered the phone, later telling me, \u201cI\u2019m suffering from old persons\u2019 problems so I\u2019m not following water wars these days. But don\u2019t forget what Mark Twain said about water: \u2018Whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n