Colorado’s Republican Party is in complete disarray after two of its three remaining incumbent members of Congress retired, and the third fled her district to run for another seat on the other side of the state.
Making matters worse, the chair of the struggling Republican Party sent out an official email from the state party’s email announcing he would run for one of the newly vacant seats … while continuing to serve as party chair.
Dave Williams’ announcement that he will run for Doug Lamborn’s Congressional District 5 was sent using state party resources and included a postscript about how he wouldn’t do the things he just did: “The Party and its leaders will ensure fairness and transparency while avoiding any conflicts of interest as more competitors enter the CD5 race. I will do everything possible to ensure the State Party Bylaws are followed.”
I look forward to Williams’ emails from the party announcing the candidacy of every other person deciding to run for the highly desirable El Paso County seat in Congress. You know, to be fair and transparent.
Rumors are that prominent Republicans in Colorado Springs are mulling over making a bid for Congress to fill Lamborn’s seat, including former Secretary of State Wayne Williams, radio host Jeff Crank, state Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen, Assistant House Minority Leader Rose Pugliese, and former state Rep. Dan Nordberg who went on to work for the Trump administration in the Small Business Association. In my humble opinion, any of those candidates would be better for America and the district than Williams.
One of the most important jobs of a state GOP is to ensure it doesn’t poison the general election well for Republican candidates in a tough primary. There’s no need to attack one candidate or pick another if both will pull for the party if they win, but the party seems to have abandoned that motto under Williams. The party is now in disarray, especially in the last decade.
Ironically, the Republican Party thrived under former chairman Ryan Call, who was chairman from 2011 to 2015 and picked up statewide and national seats for the party in key victories. Call has been disbarred since, following a public settlement revealing he took $278,000 from a pro-Trump PAC in the years after he had stepped down as chair.
Not even when party chairman Steve House accused the then-sitting Republican attorney general of blackmailing him in 2015 was there concern the party could completely collapse in Colorado, failing to provide critical resources to candidates on the ballot.
U.S. Rep. Ken Buck, one of the incumbents leaving office this year, ran the Republican Party for a year, stepping up in a time of chaos to try and stop the bleeding of the Republican Party. In March of 2020, he noted that Republicans had suffered a shellacking at the ballot box and new leadership was needed to make sure Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner could remain in office. As we all remember, that fall, Gardner was defeated by Sen. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, by a wide margin.
Kristi Burton Brown tried her best to navigate the party’s divide. On one side, pro-Trump hardliners demanded actions to support Trump’s claims that he is still the rightful president two years after he lost to President Joe Biden in a free and fair election. On the other side, were moderate Republicans just hoping the party could move on from the mess left in the wake of Trump.
Burton Brown failed to unite the party, which was not surprising given the revelations that shortly before she ran the Republican Party, she was the head of FEC United — a group that not only supported Trump’s unsubstantiated claims that the 2020 election was rigged by the election hardware and software company Dominion but also is associated with a militia group.
But even Burton Brown wasn’t extreme enough.
She was replaced by Dave Williams, who has since accused her of malfeasance while running the party. An anonymous group put Burton Brown on the RINO (Republican in Name Only) Hall of Shame, echoing the accusations that came from Williams and the party.
Remember what I said at the very beginning about the important job Williams has to make sure he doesn’t poison the well for Republicans? Well, Burton Brown isn’t the only victim of Williams’ attacks.
He also, in a rare move by any state party , sent out official party communications critical of Rep. Doug Lamborn, the retiring congressman that Willaims is now trying to replace.
“Colorado Republicans are fed up with say-anything politicians like Doug Lamborn who say one thing to gain power but then do the opposite when they think no one is paying attention,” Williams wrote in an email sent to the Republican Party’s list in June with the subject line, “Fake conservatives sold you out.”
I used to warn people about drinking the Donald Trump Kool-aid and finding themselves drowning in the former president’s lies. But not even the water is safe in the Colorado Republican Party’s drinking well.
Megan Schrader is the editor of The Denver Post opinion pages. Contact her at mschrader@denverpost.com.
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