Former state Rep. Dave Williams’ tenure as chairman of the Colorado Republican Party was already a mess before the summer began, but things went from bad to worse a couple of months ago. Indeed, it was in early June when the state GOP chair issued a call to burn all Pride flags, at which point several local party officials decided it was time to show Williams the door.
Two months later, they appear to have done exactly that. Colorado Public Radio reported:
Members of the state Republican Party drove from across Colorado to a church in Brighton on Saturday morning, where they voted to remove state party chairman Dave Williams from his leadership position. They also voted to replace the party’s vice-chair and secretary. The vote was 161.66 votes to remove Williams, with 12 opposed. (Some of those voting only get fractional votes). Only members of the state party’s central committee and their proxies were allowed to cast votes.
The vote was not close, though it is apparently being contested.
In fact, after the vote to remove Williams as the state Republican Party chair, the Coloradan dismissed the meeting as “illegal“ and “illegitimate,” claimed that he was still the state GOP chair, and said the matter would actually be resolved by a separate vote at a different meeting.
His reaction suggests a legal dispute is inevitable, which probably isn’t what party officials want to see as the election season takes shape.
I won’t pretend to know how, when or whether this will be resolved, but the circumstances sure are familiar.
Earlier this year, for example, the Republican Party of Michigan removed Kristina Karamo as state party chair after months of infighting and weak fundraising. Karamo claimed the votes didn’t count, and as of the weekend, she’s still asking the courts to reinstate her.
Soon after, the Republican Party of Florida removed Christian Ziegler as its state party chair after he faced allegations of rape and video voyeurism.
Two weeks later, Republican Party of Arizona Chair Jeff DeWit resigned following the release of a dubious audio recording of a conversation he apparently had with failed gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake.
A month after that, Ronna McDaniel resigned as chair of the Republican National Committee after losing Donald Trump’s support.
Taken together, just this year, three state Republican Parties have ousted their chairs, one state Republican Party’s chair quit, and the Republican National Committee’s chair also quit.
All of which is to say, things could be better in GOP politics.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.
