THE ANDERSON FILES The state of the Republican Party in Colorado is dire

BY DAVE ANDERSON

The Colorado Republican Party has suffered a big decline in contributions and currently has no paid staffers. The party recently elected a chair, Dave Williams, a 2020-election-denying, former threeterm state representative from Colorado Springs.

In 2022, Republicans lost every statewide office by big margins and now have the lowest share ever of the state legislature. Williams claims this is because the party isn’t right-wing enough. He promises to be a “wartime” leader. He asked Tina Peters to join the leadership. She’s the anklemonitor wearing former Mesa County clerk indicted for election crimes. A number of prominent Republicans promptly announced they were leaving the party.

From 1968 to 2004, Colorado backed the Republican presidential nominees, except for Bill Clinton’s 1992 victory over then-president George H.W. Bush. Independent candidate Ross Perot won almost 24% of the Colorado vote.

Then, beginning in 2008 when Barack Obama ran, Democratic nominees won Colorado. In 2020, Joe Biden won the state in a 13.5-point landslide.

Colorado’s had a Democratic governor since 2006 after years of Republican dominance. Democrats hold the two U.S. senate seats. MAGA-supporting U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert won re-election in 2022, but by a tiny margin.

In May, the Republican stronghold of Colorado Springs surprised many when independent candidate Yemi Mobolade was elected mayor in a runoff. He is a Nigerian immigrant who moved to the Springs in 2010 to help start a church. He also co-founded two local coffee houses. Mobolade is the city’s first elected Black mayor and the first who isn’t a Republican in four decades.

In April, a dozen candidates ran for mayor. Mobolade garnered the most votes, with Wayne Williams coming in