Dave Williams is the most dangerous candidate in Colorado.
Dictator Dave.
Since a court rejected Williams’ attempt to use sobriquet “Let’s Go Brandon” in 2022, this seems a more fitting title for the Colorado GOP Chair, congressional candidate and budding authoritarian.
Williams’ actions since announcing his 2024 congressional campaign have been nothing short of dictatorial. Literally the very first thing he did was co-opt the Republican Party apparatus to serve his own purposes. His announcement did not come from a typical campaign news release or launch event; it came via the official state party email account.
He followed that up by raiding the already dwindling state party coffers to pay for a mailer attacking his congressional opponent, Jeff Crank. That drew a complaint to the Federal Election Commission by long-time conservative advocate and spokeswoman Kelly Maher. It was a principled stand too few in the Republican Party have been willing to take.
To this point, it sounds like garden variety corruption. On its own, it doesn’t rise to the level of democracy-killing autocracy.
But then Williams had Colorado Sun journalist Sandra Fish thrown out of the Colorado Republican Party Assembly last month. Fish is a reporter renowned for her ability to dig into financial records and find things politicians would rather keep hidden. That is obviously someone Williams cannot have around. The threat to exposing his financial abuse and misappropriation is too high.
Curtailing a free, independent press is critical to the rise of any autocratic regime, whether fascist, communist or totalitarian. It is rightly viewed as a key threat to democratic governance, along with undermining an independent judiciary and vigorous civic groups. Add to that using the legal process to issue overbroad subpoenas to your intraparty opponents — Williams approved just that against former state House Minority Leader Mike Lynch.
Another indicator is breaking political norms to help your allies. That is the most recent autocratic step taken by Williams. For decades the Colorado GOP has refused to take sides in Republican primaries. Candidates ran and won based on the strength and appeal of their own campaign, not a stamp of party approval.
Williams changed that just as he was kicking Fish out of the state assembly. He had his cronies on the executive committee help push through a measure that did away with that long-standing GOP rule. Now he is wielding it as a weapon across the state.
Obviously, he endorsed himself. But he also put the party imprimatur on U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert. And he is likely to continue doing the same after the GOP sent out a questionnaire full of shibboleths to candidates earlier in the week. That has folks across the state bristling.
Several candidates and congressional district chairs have denounced the plan. They likely sense the threat to their own futures Williams poses. He has made a career focusing on intraparty smears and disputes with other Republicans. He has always prioritized his own aggregation of power within a shrinking party over trying to win back seats from Democrats. Those candidates and chairs now realize they are more likely targets for Williams than their Democratic counterparts.
But they should not expect him to suddenly come to his senses.
Williams is dangerous. While Boebert may have grabbed more national headlines, she is not much more than an annoying blowhard. As I wrote last year, when she missed a vote she had championed for weeks, she is “all holster and no gun.”
Williams is different. He takes pleasure in his nastiness toward anyone who disagrees with him. He relishes affirmation from the sycophants he has surrounded himself with. He has no qualms about bringing his heel down on democratic norms in furtherance of his personal interests.
Whether rank-and-file Republicans will join his cause will be determined during the primary election this June. Unlike Boebert — who is benefiting from a slew of candidates splitting the anti-Boebert vote among themselves just as Trump benefited from a similar dynamic to win the Republican nomination in 2016 — Williams has a single opponent in that race. Crank is well-respected and backed by influential people and organizations. While Williams will break every rule to win, Crank is ideally situated to stop him.
The question then becomes whether enough voting Republicans actually want to stop Williams. If not, Dictator Dave will likely take his authoritarian tendencies to Congress, directed right at the heart of our democracy.
Mario Nicolais is an attorney and columnist who writes on law enforcement, the legal system, health care and public policy. Follow him on BlueSky: @MarioNicolais.bsky.social.
The Colorado Sun is a nonpartisan news organization, and the opinions of columnists and editorial writers do not reflect the opinions of the newsroom. Read our ethics policy for more on The Sun’s opinion policy. Learn how to submit a column. Reach the opinion editor at opinion@coloradosun.com.
Follow Colorado Sun Opinion on Facebook.