A planned effort to oust the head of Colorado’s Republican Party this weekend was put on hold by a district court judge on Friday — but not before calls for Dave Williams’ removal reached new peaks.
Williams, whose tenure as Republican Party chairman was marked by controversy and months of growing intraparty frustrations, faced calls Friday to resign from most Republican congressional candidates and Colorado Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen. And U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, who won the state party’s endorsement to represent a new district during the June primary, denounced Williams in a Facebook postalthough she did not call for a change in leadership.
The court ruling on Friday afternoon means a meeting planned in Brighton on Saturday by some members of the party’s central committee cannot take on official business if organizers still meet.
Much of the frustration with Williams stems from the party’s unusual decision to endorse a slate of candidates during the primary. It used party resources to boost its favored Republicans — including Williams in his own race for Congress — and tear down others. The party also faced widespread condemnation over an anti-LGBTQ+ email sent during Pride Month in June.
Nearly all of the party’s preferred candidates in the contentious primaries lost their races, including Williams.
A group of Republican Party leaders, including El Paso County Vice Chairman Todd Watkins and Jefferson County Chairman Nancy Pallozzi, tried for weeks to force Saturday’s meeting of the more than 400-member central committee to replace Williams as head of the party. . Removing him as chairman would require 60% support from the committee.
State party officials dismissed the special meeting as “illegal‘ earlier this month and followed up last week by indicting the party leaders who had called for this. But Watkins and others have argued that party bylaws required a special meeting to be called within 30 days of his petition last month. organized by the party in a remote location Last week – minutes long, without a quorum – didn’t cut it.
On Friday afternoon, Arapahoe County District Court Judge Thomas W. Henderson issued a restraining order against conducting official business at Saturday’s meeting. Allowing this to happen would cause immediate harm, he wrote, because “the leadership of the Republican Party of Colorado would be called into question, leaving the party in disarray approximately one hundred (100) days before Election Day on November 5, 2024 stay behind.”
According to the ruling, the order will be in effect for a maximum of fourteen days, or until a hearing on the party’s request for a preliminary injunction takes place.
The party members who convened the meeting did not return requests for comment Friday. The state party, meanwhile, celebrated the ruling with a splash ad on its homepage.
But the ruling did not reverse growing calls for Williams to resign.
Earlier in the day, six of the eight Republican nominees for Colorado’s seats in Congress this fall signed a letter to Williams, urging him to “resign your chairmanship today. If you choose not to resign, we implore the members of the State Central Committee to impeach you tomorrow, July 27, 2024.”
In addition to Lundeen, it was signed by Valdamar Archuleta in the 1st Congressional District, Marshall Dawson in the 2nd District, Jeff Hurd in the 3rd District, Jeff Crank in the 5th District (who defeated Williams in the primaries), John Fabbricatore in the 6th District and Gabe Evans in the 8th District. Some of those candidates had been endorsed by the party in June.
“It is time for state party leaders who work for the benefit of the party to replace those who have used the office for personal purposes,” Lundeen said in a text message to JS.
While Boebert, who represents the 3rd District and is running for election in the 4th District, did not sign the letter, she wrote on Facebook around the same time that Williams had failed to lead the party after the primaries. That included failing to reach out to candidates and organizations to heal post-primary wounds, she wrote, and to provide support so Republicans could win in November.
She called the last month of infighting between parties and public dissidents “embarrassing to watch.”
“An attempted and likely controversial leadership change at COGOP just 100 days after Election Day will be disruptive and damaging, but Chairman Williams has put himself in this situation,” Boebert wrote. “I stand ready to publicly assist and support Republicans, regardless of whether or not I agree with them on every issue. If Chairman Williams cannot do the same and refuses to field candidates, he will, then Republicans in Colorado and nationally will look in a different direction for leadership over the last 100 days.”
In an unsigned statement, state party officials sought to assuage Boebert’s concerns while lashing out at Lundeen for calling for him to resign.
“We are not sure where Lauren Boebert is getting her misinformation, but Chairman Williams and the State Party have already expressed their full support across the party apparatus to our nominees and we are well on our way to providing resources to get them across the finish line come to help. ” the statement read.
Regarding Lundeen, the party added: “Imagine how morally bankrupt Paul Lundeen must be to go after a conservative like Dave Williams without any evidence of wrongdoing but remain silent when his former House Minority Leader counterpart was caught driving under the influence.” That’s a reference to state Rep. Mike Lynch, who resigned from his leadership position earlier this year following media reports of the earlier arrest.
Several Republicans have filed to run the party. They include Eli Bremer, a former U.S. Senate candidate and former chairman of the El Paso County Republican Party. He told Colorado Public Radio the party needed people to “assess the situation” and that he already had a list of candidates to replace the state party leadership.
Douglas County Republican Chairman Steve Peck threw his hat into the ring on Friday with a statement saying “our state party has lost its credibility” and must “change course” to flip Democratic seats in November.
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