In the not-too-distant past, Republicans were well positioned to compete in Colorado. Bob Dole narrowly defeated Bill Clinton in the Rocky Mountain State in 1996, and George W. Bush carried the state in both of his presidential elections. As recently as 2004, both of Colorado’s U.S. senators were Republicans.
To put it mildly, the state moved quickly in a “blue” direction in the years that followed. In the 2022 midterm elections, Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet won easily, while Democratic Gov. Jared Polis cruised to a second term by an even wider margin — and he’s now working with Democratic majorities in the state’s General Assembly. At the presidential level, President Joe Biden won Colorado by nearly 14 points — the first time a Democratic presidential candidate carried the state by double digits since 1964.
Common sense might suggest that the state GOP needs to move in a more mainstream direction if it’s going to start competing again statewide. Evidently, local Republicans don’t quite see it that way. The Associated Press reported:
The Colorado Republican Party on Saturday selected a combative former state representative who promised to be a “wartime” leader as its new chairman, joining several other state GOPs this year that have elected far-right figures and election conspiracy theorists to their top posts. The move in Colorado comes as the party totters on the brink of political irrelevance in a state moving swiftly to the left.
Former state Rep. Dave Williams is perhaps best known for taking on Rep. Doug Lamborn in a Republican primary last year, and during his campaign, Williams unsuccessfully tried to insert the phrase “Let’s Go Brandon” into his name on the ballot. All the while, the legislator continued to tout ridiculous conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election.
He’ll now lead the Colorado Republican Party.
After defeating six intraparty rivals, Williams told local GOP activists on Saturday, “Our party doesn’t have a brand problem. Our party has a problem with feckless leaders who are ashamed of you.” He promised to be “a wartime leader.” If these circumstances sound at all familiar, it’s not your imagination. Revisiting our earlier coverage, Republicans in Kansas recently chose a prominent election denier to serve as the new chair of the state GOP, and Republicans in Idaho did the same thing. In Arizona, the new chair turned to election deniers to elevate his candidacy, while in Michigan, Republicans chose a radical conspiracy theorist to lead the state party. In case this isn’t obvious, the 2022 midterm elections were broadly disappointing for the Republican Party, and much of the electorate has grown weary of election denialism and the GOP’s adherence to the “big lie.” Nevertheless, as Republicans at the state level make important decisions about the party’s leadership and direction, they apparently remain indifferent to voters’ wishes.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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