January 08, 2024 01:41 PM UTC

There Really is Nobody Left in Charge for Colorado Republicans

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• by: Colorado Pols

Colorado Republicans have had trouble winning elections in Colorado for more than a decade, but the damage has dialed up exponentially in recent election cycles. Republican candidates have been absolutely throttled at the ballot box in every election since 2018, culminating in a 2022 cycle that one ousted lawmaker labeled an “extinction-level event.”

You don’t even need one hand to count the current number of statewide elected Republicans in Colorado (that number is ZERO). The only reason Republicans won’t lose a statewide race in 2024 is because there isn’t anything on the ballot to fumble away.

Republicans currently hold just 31 of the 100 seats in the state legislature. It’s almost mathematically impossible for that number to go any lower.

We’ve often said in this space that the Republican bench in Colorado is small enough to fit inside a phone booth, and that was BEFORE all three Republican-held Congressional districts were abandoned by incumbents: Rep. Lauren Boebert is attempting to move from CO-03 (Western Slope/Southern Colorado) to CO-04 (Eastern Plains), which is an open seat because Rep. Ken Buck isn’t running again, and last week Rep. Doug Lamborn announced that he would also step aside in CO-05 (Colorado Springs). Those three open seats, which exist in what should all be fairly safe Republican districts, have created new opportunities that are draining the last of the GOP leadership in Colorado.

This morning, Colorado Republican Party Chairman Dave Williams announced that he will run for the open seat in CO-05. The unscrupulous Williams used the official email account of the Colorado Republican Party to make his formal announcement, adding that he plans to continue serving as the State GOP Chairman at least through the June Republican Primary (which for all intents and purposes will decide the next Member of Congress from CO-05). Kyle Clark of 9News called Williams’ announcement “ethically gelatinous”:

 

Post by @kyleclark9news

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As you may recall, Williams also ran for CO-05 in 2022 but lost by more than 15 points to “Zombie” Doug Lamborn. He spent a good deal of time in his first few months as GOP Chair bashing Lamborn via Colorado Republican Party platforms. Can Williams really remain as State Party Chairman while he runs for Congress against other Republicans? Legally, it’s not clear. Ethically, the answer is unequivocally “NO,” and plenty of other Republicans are upset about it.

Colorado Republicans are already almost comically fractured and obsessed with fighting internal battles. The open warfare for three Republican-leaning Congressional seats will only make things worse.

The state legislature reconvenes this week, and it will do so with a House Minority Leader — Mike Lynch in CO-04 — distracted with his own run for Congress. At least one other House Republican (Rep. Richard Holtorf) is running for the same congressional seat. That’s a whopper of a conflict of interest for Lynch.

The Assistant Minority Leader, Rose Pugliese, is in the middle of her FIRST TERM in office and is a good bet to also run for Congress in CO-05. If she does jump in that race, she will face Williams and likely also Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen.

In short, the head of the entire State Republican Party and the leadership of both GOP caucuses in the state legislature are focused on their own political careers rather than helping to direct other Republicans in 2024. Meanwhile, Republicans still don’t even have candidates for half of the available State House seats this cycle and only a third of the available State Senate seats. The party caucuses are less than two months away.

Things are just as bad on the federal level. The only Republican Member of Congress who is not retiring (Boebert) will barely have time to pay attention to her own constituents in CO-03 while she worries about finding a place to live 400 miles away and competing in a crowded Republican Primary in CO-04.

This all sounds like a bizarro version of that famous Abbott and Costello routine, except the answer to every question is the same.

Who’s on first? Nobody.

Who’s on second? Nobody.

Who’s on third? You get the idea.