Ryan Frazier wins 7th Congressional District Republican primary: How did his star rise?

Ryan Frazier.

Now he faces a bigger challenge taking on Democratic incumbent Ed Perlmutter -- but as a 2008 Westword profile notes, Frazier has a history of staring down strong competition.

As reported in "Ryan Frazier Puts His Job on the Line With Amendment 47," the 32-year-old Frazier -- only the second African American ever nominated to run for a federal office by Colorado Republicans -- caught the public's attention two years ago by becoming the unlikely public face of a controversial right-to-work measure going to the polls.

National labor interests were so inflamed by measure, which they saw as a blatant attempt at union-busting, that they inserted four "poison pill" measures on the ballot that could have caused statewide financial havoc. They also launched a multimillion-dollar smear campaign against Frazier and his cohorts and turned many of right-to-work's expected allies into opponents.

It seemed that Frazier was risking his political career for a cause that didn't make sense, considering his markedly liberal views on subjects like abortion and gay marriage. Some wondered if it was all a ploy to climb the political ladder.

In the end, the right-to-work measure failed -- but as yesterday's election results demonstrated, Frazier didn't come out worse for wear.