I don't know if the former Bachelor thinks this is Six Flags or something, but he's had me on quite a rollercoaster lately. First, Ben Higgins announces he's running for office. Then, less than 24 hours after officially announcing his campaign, Higgins drops out of his race for public office. Now, as I'm sure you are, I'm wondering why. A lot. This is a godd*mn rollercoaster if I've ever seen one, and I need ANSWERS.
As you may recall, the reality star was running for Colorado's House of Representatives, a job that I actually thought he'd be uniquely suited for, and he also had a spin-off series with his fiancée Lauren Bushnell that seemed perfectly timed to increase his visibility with voters leading up to the election. Everything seemed like it was lining up, until just hours after officially announcing his intention to run, Higgins suspended his campaign with a cryptic statement to Mic that brings up more questions than it answers:
I regret that I must withdraw my candidacy. Despite my best efforts to pursue this opportunity in good faith, I recently received information that has made such a pursuit unworkable. Due to unforeseen circumstances, I will not be able to move forward as a candidate. I find solace in knowing that our intentions and actions have been fair and sincere. I entered into this endeavor wanting to bring positive change to my community, and it is with that same spirit that I will move forward, albeit on a different path.
Pretty mysterious, right? I'd love to wait for official clarification, but I'm also immensely curious, so let's speculate on what "information" Higgins could have possibly received, or "unforeseen circumstances" that could have emerged to completely change his plans in such a short time. My first instinct was that it was some kind of conflict of interest, mostly due to the specific phrasing of "our intentions and actions have been fair and sincere." This makes it sound like maybe something had come to light which Bushnell and Higgins may not have realized would be an issue, but that in some way precluded a political career — though it's not clear what that could have been.
But then, the longer I thought about it, the less likely I felt that would be. I feel like the real answer is something much simpler. Once again, I have no more information about this than you do, but I'm wondering if maybe Bushnell is pregnant, and she and Higgins just found out. That turn of events would make it a bad time for him to spend a lot of months away from his fiancée and focused on his political career — a) because I'm sure he wouldn't want to, and b) because it wouldn't be the greatest look to leave Bushnell to go through that process alone. And plus, if she is pregnant, that's definitely something that the reality cameras are going to want to document, and a plot point that's big enough to carry the series on its own — finally! — so the run for office wouldn't be as necessary any more to their brand.
Just a guess, but I feel like a pregnancy is one of the more likely scenarios to make Higgins pull out so abruptly like this. Fingers crossed that it's good news like this and not anything more troubling.
