(Headline USA) Colorado GOP Chairman Dave Williams was ousted over the weekend in a vote that he called illegitimate, precipitating a leadership standoff as the November election looms.
Williams’s tenure as chair led to party infighting as he leaned into public attacks on RINOs who refused to support GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump and the America First movement.
The growing resistance culminated in Saturday’s vote, with a majority of the 180 or so state party central committee members or proxies in attendance voting to oust him.
In a news release, the Colorado GOP called the meeting a “sham,” noting that the meeting lacked a quorum of the more than 400 committee members. Williams said they can only seek to remove officers at the upcoming Aug. 31 meeting.
“This fringe minority faction knows they cannot get their way in a fair meeting where the rules are fairly administered,” said Williams in a text message.
The conflict comes down to an interpretation of the bylaws, and the decision could end in the hands of the Republican National Committee.
The National Republican Congressional Committee, which works to elect Republicans in the U.S. House, said it would recognize the vote and the newly elected leadership.
But Williams said in a text that the NRCC has “no authority to do anything.”
The drama underscored the challenges that Republicans face in Colorado, a once-red state that rapidly flipped blue after becoming the first to legalize recreational marijuana use. That led to an influx of drug users and enthusiasts in Denver, Boulder and other urban centers. Homelessness and illegal immigration have also been notable scourges.
State GOP politics were further thrown into disarray this year after Rep. Lauren Boebert, a staunch Trump supporter, decided to switch districts.
Boebert moved to the solid-red district held previously by retiring Rep. Ken Buck after a Democrat challenger in her old district campaigned on Boebert’s controversial status to draw big checks from Aspen elites and dark-money billionaires.
After narrowly winning her 2022 race to the same challenger, Boebert argued that remaining in the recently redrawn district would guarantee the loss of a GOP seat. She handily won the primary in Buck’s district, where several other Republicans had already launched their own campaigns and accused her of “carpet-bagging.”
Opposition to Williams grew as the party under his leadership endorsed certain Republican primary candidates over others, a move that state parties tend to avoid, at least publicly.
He was also accused of using state party resources to benefit his own failed congressional primary election bid in the House seat being vacated by retiring Rep. Doug Lamborn, a safe-red district that encompasses Colorado Springs.
Williams, a former state lawmaker, was criticized for refusing to step down as party chair after joining the race.
Emails and posts from the party attacking the LGBT community, including a call to burn “Pride” flags, were also met with disappointment from some fellow Republicans.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
