July 08, 2025 02:19 PM UTC

Colorado Republicans Eat Their Own. Again.

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• by: Colorado Pols

We took note on Monday of the Colorado House Republican caucus election that resulted in the elevation of Rep. Carlos “Who?” Barron as the new House Minority Whip for the GOP micro-minority. The fact that the House GOP elevated someone who just completed his first legislative session to its #3 leadership position is a curious story by itself; equally interesting is that the anti-immigrant party selected a Whip who immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico as a child.

But the Minority Whip election is also example #823 (roughly) of how nobody does more damage to Colorado Republicans than other Colorado Republicans. This job was open in the first place because Rep. Ryan Armagost (R-Berthoud) resigned from the legislature in order to move to Arizona — but also in part because he was savagely attacked online by the “no-compromise” gun rights group Rocky Mountain Gun Owners (RMGO). Armagost was ridiculed and called out by RMGO because he dared to think for himself on several gun safety bills in the 2025 legislative session.

Red on red attacks made it necessary to fill the position of House Minority Whip…and red on red attacks may have also crippled another Republican lawmaker in the process. State Rep. “Boxwine” Brandy Bradley (R-Littleton) wanted the job of Whip but was quickly challenged for the role by Rep. Ron Weinberg (R-Loveland). It is unlikely coincidental that Weinberg is now facing some pretty serious allegations, as Jesse Paul reports for The Colorado Sun:

Two women say state Rep. Ron Weinberg made unwanted sexual advances toward them at a pair of conservative leadership events while he was head of the Larimer County GOP but before he was elected to the statehouse.

The women came forward after Weinberg, a Loveland Republican, announced he was running to be the House minority whip, the No. 3 GOP position in the chamber. Weinberg ended his bid after the allegations were emailed last week by one of his accusers to each of the 22 Republicans in the House. But he vehemently denies the accusations.

“Let me be clear: These claims are completely false and do not reflect who I am or how I have conducted myself in life or in public service,” Weinberg said in a written statement. “They have caused great pain to me, my family and those who truly know my heart and my character. It is hard to view this as anything but a politically motivated attempt to damage my name and prevent me from leading. But I will not be intimidated by falsehoods. I have retained legal counsel and will pursue every available legal avenue to defend my name, protect my family and hold accountable those who seek to weaponize false accusations.”…

…Later, in a written statement, Weinberg questioned why the accusations were being made so long after he took office.

“If these concerns were genuine, why were they not raised when I was elected to represent House District 51?” he said. “Why did they suddenly surface now, at the very moment I announced my candidacy for Republican leadership in the House?” [Pols emphasis]

You can read the allegations yourself in The Colorado Sun or The Denver Post — including some some pretty graphic language from Weinberg (again, allegedly). Weinberg dropped out of the running for Minority Whip after the allegations surfaced, which included a social media thread that Bradley was all too happy to spread around the internet tubes.

Curiously, Bradley ended up dropping out of the race and endorsing Rep. Ken DeGraaf (R-Colorado Springs) for Whip. Sullying Weinberg’s name didn’t end up benefitting Bradley politically, but sexual harassment allegations against Weinberg can’t be put back in the bottle.

[SIDE NOTE: There is some hilarious commentary from DeGraaf from the Whip vote meeeting in which DeGraaf — who is well-known for making inane arguments about everything just to waste time and/or to show off his thesaurus skills — claimed to be cool with Democrats:

DEGRAAF: I also have the respect from the Democrats, with whom I strangely get along very well despite shredding their bills all day, every day. 

Sure thing, Ken. Democrats respect you about as much as everyone else…which is to say, not at all.]

It’s not going to make a whole lot of difference which Republican is in a leadership position in a GOP caucus that is hopelessly stuck in micro-minority status. But it is not without irony to note that one of the reasons Republicans are in such dire straits in the legislature is because they have spent so much time over the years relentlessly destroying each other.

Colorado Republicans eat their own. It’s what they do.