BRIGHTON — Opponents of embattled Colorado GOP Chairman Dave Williams, including current and former elected officials, voted Saturday to remove him as the party’s leader, setting up a showdown that could further mire Republicans in their internal squabbles as the November election fast approaches.
Williams and the party have said they won’t recognize the results, contending that the meeting, organized by the chairman’s opponents, was improper.
The vote to remove Williams was 161.66-12 among members of the Colorado GOP central committee present or voting by proxy at a church in Brighton. Those gathered also voted to remove Colorado GOP Vice Chairwoman Hope Scheppelman and Secretary Anna Ferguson.
The state party’s bylaws say a party officer can be removed “by a vote of three-fifths of the entire membership of the (central committee) eligible to vote at a meeting called for that purpose.” There are two interpretations of the rule: It could mean 60% of those present at the meeting, or 60% of the entire central committee.
The central committee members at the church voted overwhelmingly to interpret the rule as 60% of those present.
“The chairman has taken extensive, unprecedented action to attack Republican candidates and fellow Republicans,” said El Paso County District Attorney Michael Allen in making the motion to remove Williams.
After Williams was ousted, the meeting attendees elected Eli Bremer, a former El Paso County GOP chair and an unsuccessful 2022 candidate for U.S. Senate, to serve out Williams’ term. Former Routt County Treasurer Brita Horn was elected vice chair, and former Mesa County GOP Chairman Kevin McCarney was elected secretary.
The vote Saturday, organized by El Paso County GOP Vice Chairman Todd Watkins, sets up a conflict with the state party that could end up before the Republican National Committee or even in court.
A similar state party chair controversy in Michigan earlier this year was decided by the RNC.
The National Republican Congressional Committee, the GOP U.S. House campaign arm, said it would recognize the results of Saturday’s meeting.
“It is our understanding that today’s Colorado GOP vote is in accordance with party bylaws,” NRCC spokeswoman Delanie Bomar said in a written statement. “We will recognize the new party leadership and look forward to working with them to grow the Republican House majority.”
Williams, Scheppelman and Ferguson didn’t appear at or participate in the Brighton meeting.
The state party, in a news release, called the gathering in Brighton a “sham,” pointing out that the majority of the 400-plus members of the central committee skipped the meeting. “We won’t be deterred,” the unsigned release said.
The Colorado GOP has been sending emails to members of the central committee saying that it won’t recognize any action taken during the gathering Saturday in part because the party’s executive committee, made up of Williams’ allies, couldn’t verify the legitimacy of the names submitted to force the special meeting. It takes a quarter of the roughly 400 people on the central committee to force a special meeting. If a third of the committee appears at a meeting, that constitutes a quorum.
“Any actions taken at Watkins’ fraudulent meeting will NOT settle whatever dispute exists, and their invalid and divisive efforts will only ensure the conflict continues for months to come,” the party wrote in an email last weekend to central committee members.
GOP leaders said only votes taken at an Aug. 31 meeting in Castle Rock scheduled by the party will be valid.
“If members wish to overturn the state executive committee and remove officers, then they can only pursue those ends at the Aug. 31 meeting,” the email said.
Williams and his allies had tried to stop the Brighton meeting on Saturday by filing a lawsuit, but that effort was unsuccessful.
An Arapahoe County judge ruled earlier this month that he didn’t have jurisdiction to consider the dispute about the validity of the meeting since the Colorado GOP’s bylaws state the central committee is responsible for settling such disagreements. The party appealed the ruling and asked for an injunction stopping the gathering on Saturday, but was denied this week.
“What is clear is that, no matter which side prevails in this internal dispute, the other will dispute the result — meaning that, regardless of any injunction, the dispute will not end and the injury resulting from the uncertainty and disruption of party leadership will continue,” Arapahoe County District Court Judge Thomas Willard Henderson IV wrote Wednesday in his ruling.
The members of the central committee gathered in Brighton on Saturday ruled that their meeting was valid, overturning the executive committee. They also voted to cancel the Aug. 31 meeting scheduled by the Colorado GOP.
Elected leaders show up to oust Williams
The meeting on Saturday in Brighton was attended by a number of prominent Republicans:
- Former Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams
- Former Colorado GOP Chairwoman Kristi Burton Brown
- Weld County Commissioner Scott James
- State Rep. Gabe Evans of Fort Lupton
- State Rep. Mike Lynch of Wellington
- State Rep. Richard Holtorf of Akron
- State Rep. Lisa Frizell of Castle Rock
- State Rep. Mary Bradfield of Colorado Springs
- State Sen. Byron Pelton of Sterling
- State Sen. Rod Pelton of Cheyenne Wells
- State Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer of Brighton
- Danny Moore, 2022 candidate for lieutenant governor
- El Paso County Treasurer Chuck Broerman
- 12th Judicial District Attorney Anne Kelly
Holtorf, who has called for Dave Williams to resign, chaired the meeting, while Burton Brown helped run it. Wayne Williams was the meeting’s parliamentarian. Former Colorado GOP attorney Chris Murray, who represented Watkins in the state party’s lawsuit seeking to stop Saturday’s meeting, served as counsel.
Dave Williams was elected chairman in March 2023 and almost immediately began taking flak for his leadership.
He first faced blowback for the party’s lackluster fundraising and because he was working as a full-time aide to a Republican state lawmaker while leading the state Republican party.
The criticism intensified as he launched an unsuccessful run for Congress this year.
When U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs, announced in January that he would step aside, Williams used the state party email to announce that he would run for the 5th Congressional District seat in El Paso County. Williams rejected calls to step down as party chairman while he campaigned, and then spent party money to criticize his opponent, conservative commentator and activist Jeff Crank.
In April, Williams had a Colorado Sun reporter tossed out of the state party assembly. The party also sent out a homophobic email during Pride month calling for people to burn Pride flags.
Then, for the first time in recent memory, if ever, the Colorado GOP endorsed candidates in competitive primary elections, drawing anger from many in the party. Of the 18 candidates endorsed by the party, only four won their contests.
The party also spent an additional $58,000 in late May and early June sending mailers urging voters to support Williams and criticizing Crank. Williams donated $60,000 to the party from his campaign account in June, which posed questions about whether the mailers and the apparent reimbursement represented a violation of federal postal regulations.
Williams lost to Crank in the Republican primary in the 5th District by roughly a 2-to-1 margin.
Colorado GOP struggles to fundraise during turmoil
Meanwhile, amid the controversy, the Colorado GOP raised a paltry $12,897.89 last month, according to its Federal Election Commission campaign finance report.
The party reported spending nearly $110,000 in July. One of its biggest single expenses was the $10,000 it paid to the firm that filed the lawsuit seeking to prevent Saturday’s special meeting.
The party also reported spending more than $9,000 on a mailer supporting former state Rep. Janak Joshi in his failed Republican primary bid in the highly competitive 8th Congressional District. Joshi, who was endorsed by the party, lost to state Rep. Evans by 55 percentage points.
The spending on Joshi was categorized as an “itemized coordinate expenditure,” the same category used to describe the roughly $60,000 the party spent to help Williams in his failed congressional primary bid.
The Colorado GOP began August with $431,000 in the bank
The Colorado Democratic Party raised $125,000 in July and spent $141,000. It ended the month with $334,000 in cash.
Democrats spent about $60,000 on payroll and associated taxes. The Colorado GOP, by comparison, doesn’t have a paid staff, though the party has occasionally paid Williams’ consulting firm.
With the party’s campaign apparatus in question, three Republican congressional candidates in Colorado have joined together with the National Republican Congressional Committee to form a fundraising coalition.
Grand Junction attorney Jeff Hurd, state Rep. Gabe Evans and conservative commentator and activist Jeff Crank are part of Colorado Red Wave Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee created Wednesday.
Hurd is running to represent the 3rd Congressional District, while Evans is running to represent the 8th Congressional District and Crank is running in the 5th Congressional District.
State parties are usually the conduit for these joint fundraising committees. Hurd, Evans and Crank have all called on Williams to resign, while the NRCC has privately made its distaste for and frustration with the chairman clear.
“Jeff is proud to help raise money to get responsible and serious Republicans elected,” said Nick Bayer, Hurd’s general consultant. “Unfortunately, the state party has failed in being a responsible steward of Republican donors’ money, instead wasting it on David Williams petty and personal revenge. The state GOP leadership has failed to raise money, spend money or be recognized as a serious player in any race across the state. Thankfully, leaders across the state have stepped up to assist each other and fight back against the Democrats.”
In a joint statement, Evans, Hurd, Crank and the Republican nominees in the 1st and 2nd congressional districts, urged the GOP to join them in “recognizing the legitimacy of today’s election.”