OPINION

against Wayne Williams came not from liberals or progressives, but the rabid faction of election-deniers and ‘RINO hunters’ who have supported Dave Williams and embattled El Paso County GOP Chair Vickie Tonkins. Wayne Williams’ ties to Runbeck Election Systems have made him, and his wife, El Paso County Commissioner Holly Williams, central figures in local election conspiracies and the target of perennial defamation lawsuit defendant Joe Oltmann, whose vocal support for fringe candidates like Tina Peters and Ron Hanks have proved disastrous for Colorado’s Republican Party.”

In recent years, the fights in the El Paso County Republican Party have been so fierce that the state GOP has intervened to mediate.

In 2022, Secretary of State Jena Griswold asked Wayne Williams if he would appear with her in a bipartisan public service TV ad. Williams was the secretary of state from 2015 until 2019, when Griswold, a Democrat, defeated him. They told the audience Colorado’s elections are secure and not subject to fraud. They warned voters to be alert to election disinformation.

This ad angered many Republicans.

Former Colorado GOP chair Dick Wadhams told Beedle that the El Paso County party “can be charitably called a dumpster fire for the last several elections.” He said Mobolade’s victory was due more to unaffiliated voters than Democrats.

He said that all over the state, “unaffiliated voters cut against us in the last three election cycles because of their antipathy to Donald Trump.”

Unlike many Republicans these days, Wayne Williams conceded the election early and left his watch party to congratulate Mobolade in person.

This opinion does not necessarily reflect the views of Boulder Weekly.