Colorado Republicans once again nominated a statewide candidate who has no chance of winning but has a lock on being a national laughingstock.

But though the governor’s race is already over, Republicans in Colorado’s First Congressional District have one last opportunity this cycle to accomplish something useful.

They probably won’t take it.

Ordinarily, CD-1 is about as competitive as a Harlem Globetrotters game. Democrats don’t simply win Denver. They own it.

The Washington Generals, I mean Republicans, dutifully nominate a candidate every two years, hold a few events, print a few yard signs, and then discover, once again, you can’t reverse gravity.

Nothing has changed. Republicans are not going to win Diana DeGette’s old seat, even if the Democrat they’re facing is an underage, antisemitic socialist. They should be able to. But they won’t.

That’s because having an “R” behind your name as a candidate in Denver is like having a swastika behind your name. It makes you instantly unelectable.

Which explains why the media, local and national, will spend gobs more time gawking at Republican gubernatorial nominee Victor Marx, the exorcist, than at Melat Kiros, the angry-child antisemite.

Marx may or may not be able to expel demons over the telephone. I honestly don’t know. But I’ve never heard him cheer on immolating Jews. He’ll become late-night comedy fodder while having absolutely no chance of holding statewide office.

Kiros, who wants to confiscate your stuff, meanwhile, will receive only a fraction of that scrutiny despite being almost guaranteed to become a member of Congress.

See the imbalance?

There is an opening, however narrow, for someone who can attract Democratic voters uncomfortable with Kiros without carrying the radioactive “R” after his name.

Enter Denver physician Shimon Blau, an unaffiliated candidate who is Jewish and says he entered the race because of Kiros’ antisemitism.

Let me confess, I know almost nothing about Blau. I’ve never spoken with him. I don’t know where he stands on most issues. He describes himself as anti-socialist, fiscally conservative and socially liberal, which, these days, sounds like about 80% the state of Colorado. And he may represent the only mathematically plausible path to making this race competitive.

Conventional wisdom says he can’t win.

Conventional wisdom could be wrong, but only if three nearly impossible things happen.

First, Blau must immediately declare, if elected, he will caucus with the Democrats.

Independent members of Congress eventually choose a caucus. Bernie Sanders, despite being elected as an independent, caucuses with Democrats. Denver voters need to know Blau isn’t a Republican in disguise before they’ll even consider listening to him.

Second, those who genuinely want to fight antisemitism and socialism need to open their wallets immediately.

I’m thinking of respected Jewish leaders such as Larry Mizel and the enormous network of people he could rally. Blau would need a serious war chest from the outset to convince voters and donors alike this isn’t merely a protest campaign.

Third, Republicans would have to do something they seem almost biologically incapable of doing. They would have to act strategically.

Registered Republicans make up less than 9% of CD-1 voters. They are not an opposition party in Denver. They’re a political curiosity.

Their nominee, Christy Peterson, deserves credit for volunteering to be this cycle’s sacrificial lamb. Her campaign website proudly declares, “No to Sharia Law. No to Socialism. No to anti-semitism.”

I assume she means every word. Why else would she put her head into a political guillotine?

But by staying in the race, she’ll accomplish exactly none of those goals. She will lose by a landslide, splitting away votes that might otherwise coalesce behind the only non-socialist, non-Jew hater with even a theoretical chance of defeating Kiros.

The same logic applies to Libertarian Chad Bredesen.

Libertarians, and now Colorado Republicans, would rather win an argument than an election. Often, they claim they’re motivated by principle rather than party.

Here’s the test.

If stopping antisemitism and socialism is truly the priority, the strategic move is obvious.

Clear the field and give Blau the only thing he doesn’t currently have: a one-on-one race.

I’m guessing they won’t.

Because for too many political parties, for all of us too many people posing as candidates, losing nobly is more satisfying than winning strategically.

Sad, isn’t it, Comrade.

Jon Caldara is president of the Independence Institute in Denver and hosts “The Devil’s Advocate with Jon Caldara” on Colorado Public Television Channel 12. His column appears Sundays in Colorado Politics.