In July 2010, Tancredo warned the two Republican candidates for governor, Scott McInnis and Dan Maes, that he would launch a third-party bid as candidate of the Constitution Party's Colorado branch if the Republican primary winner was behind in general election polling and did not drop out. Tancredo felt that McInnis was unelectable because his plagiarism scandal had exposed him as "basically a fraud," while Maes' campaign finance violations likewise made him unelectable. Tancredo subsequently announced that he was going ahead with plans to run as a Constitution Party candidate.