John Wren
Audio By Carbonatix
John Wren wanted someone, anyone, to run against Congresswoman Diana DeGette in the primary election. But on deadline day, when he couldn’t convince any of his friends to throw their hats in the ring, Wren made a decision.
“I guess I’ll just do it myself,” he says, looking back.
Wren, a 77-year-old Denver resident, is the only certified write-in candidate for Colorado’s June 25 election. He’s facing off against DeGette in the Democratic primary for Congressional District 1, making DeGette the state’s only incumbent member of Congress to receive a primary challenge to represent their current district.
If you haven’t heard of Wren’s bid for office, you’d be forgiven. He hasn’t fundraised or promoted his campaign, and as a write-in candidate, his name does not appear on the ballot.
“I’ll probably get killed” in the election, he jokes.
However, becoming a U.S. representative isn’t his only goal. Wren wants to send a message to refocus Colorado’s political landscape on community dialogue.
Wren has spent decades advocating to preserve the state’s caucus system in order to maintain a grassroots process for political parties in Colorado to choose primary candidates and a party platform. But the system is not what it used to be, he says, arguing that various policy changes and leadership decisions have led party members to be disconnected from one another – and from politicians like DeGette.
He fought against a failed 2002 ballot measure to eliminate caucuses, and against two successful 2016 measures to replace presidential caucuses with primary elections and allow unaffiliated voters to vote in party primaries. Now, with more potential changes on the horizon that could abolish appearing on the ballot via caucusing, Wren wants to readjust.
“A lot of the changes we’re making to the political system, I think, are not working in our favor. This is an opportunity to make that a concern,” Wren says. “I lived in a neighborhood where the caucuses – everybody, both parties – got together once a month for a social gathering. It was fantastic. It was the best neighborhood we’d ever lived in. That’s what we need again.”
Wren largely made his living in consulting. Today he runs the nonprofit discussion groups the Socrates Cafe Society and the Colorado Small Business Chamber of Commerce. The groups foster community dialogue through adult self-directed learning, he explains, with members meeting to talk about topics ranging from fighting terrorism to starting a business.
He thinks discussion forums would be ideal for keeping politicians tuned into their community, pointing to a lack of communication with her constituents as one of his primary issues with DeGette. He also claims that she’s been in office for too long to reflect the views of average Denver citizens. (DeGette has represented Congressional District 1 since 1997.)
“People are becoming more isolated,” Wren says. “Representatives should be representing everybody, and that just doesn’t happen. Part of that is because of the brutality [of politics]. But when you gather people together face-to-face, you learn some things.”
If Wren is elected to Congress, his main policy priority would be to initiate a “global peace dialogue” and address health issues, including alcoholism and addiction.
Wren has lived in Colorado since 1949 and first moved to Denver in 1951. He ran for elected office once before, in 2004, when he was the Republican nominee for Colorado’s House District 5 seat. He lost to Democrat Joel Judd, who received nearly 79 percent of the votes. Wren changed his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat shortly after, he says.
Although he didn’t campaign this time around, Wren says he hoped a political leader or influential figure like President Joe Biden, Donald Trump or Elon Musk would notice his running for office and pull him into the public view. That hasn’t happened.
“This may have been an indication I had too much time on my hands that afternoon,” Wren jokes about the day he signed up as a write-in candidate. “It wasn’t real well thought out.”
“I don’t think I’m a good candidate, really,” he adds. “If my friends vote for me, that’s great.”
Who says all politicians are liars?
