Representative Richard Holtorf, a Republican, is running for the congressional seat that was previously held by Ken Buck. On Tuesday, he called on Colorado GOP Chairman Dave Williams to step down because the state party officially backed U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert in the primary and attacked another Republican who was also running for the nomination.
Holtorf told Colorado Politics that Williams was using the state party to further his own political goals. Williams was doing this by pushing for changes to party rules that let the party back candidates who qualify for the primary at party assemblies instead of petitioning to get on the ballot.
“Dave Williams should resign so a fair and impartial Republican primary campaign can take place,” said Holtorf. “The State Central Committee should revoke all individual candidate endorsements in all contested races to return the Republican process to a fair and transparent election cycle.”
The Akron politician also said this about Williams: “His harsh leadership is now setting a very bad example for the Colorado Republican party to follow.” Because he is the State Party Chair, no one person should be able to use his power to unfairly influence or indirectly force a chosen slate of candidates onto the primary ballot. This could make hundreds of thousands of Republicans dislike the process.
There have been a lot of accusations, insults, and demands between Republican candidates and party leaders since the state GOP made the unusual decision to take sides in primaries.
Williams, a former state lawmaker from Colorado Springs who is now running in a close primary in a nearby congressional district, told Colorado Politics on Tuesday that he has no plans to leave the race.
“If Holtorf wishes to stand against the near unanimous majority of convention delegates and President Trump, then he’s definitely going to lose in June,” a text message said.
Trump supported Williams in a post on Truth Social, the social media site he helped create. Trump has backed both Boebert and Williams’ campaigns for Congress.
“Dave Williams, the Chairman of the Colorado Republican Party who also, fortunately for the people of Colorado, happens to be running for Congress, is under Fake News assault because he is doing such a strong job as an advocate for MAGA,” Trump wrote. Williams and others will help Mr. Trump “WIN COLORADO.”
The state used to be brown, but since Trump’s election in 2016, Republicans haven’t won a single statewide race. And new polls show Trump well behind Democrat Joe Biden.
The day before Holtorf asked Williams to step down, the state GOP said on social media that they were “proud to endorse” Boebert, calling him “the only candidate in the race with a backbone & proven record of success fighting the corrupt media & failed establishment in Washington, D.C.”
Boebert was named the front-runner in the 4th Congressional District primary on Friday at a GOP meeting in Pueblo. She moved earlier this year from an area that was more competitive to Buck’s district, which is mostly Republican.
It was not possible for Holtorf or former state Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg of Fort Lupton to get into the primary at the assembly, but they did get enough delegate votes to qualify if the petitions they turned in last month have enough legal signatures. Four more Republican candidates for the seat are also waiting for decisions on their petitions.
The Colorado GOP criticized Deborah Flora, a primary candidate who has already been added to the ballot by petition, in the same tweet that backed Boebert on Monday. The state GOP said the Republican was lying and that she was “boot-licking fake journalists who only help Democrats.” They also said she was like “dishonest, say-anything politicians.”
Flora had earlier said on social media that the state party was wrong to kick a reporter out of the state assembly because Williams thought the reporter’s coverage was “very unfair.”
“This is wrong and a violation of the First Amendment,” Flora wrote on Twitter, linking to a story from a Colorado Politics writer about how the reporter was fired. We need to make people proud of our party and use our shared ideas and values to win over Coloradans. “What this does goes against that.”
In a later response to Flora’s criticism, Williams agreed with state Rep. Brandi Bradley, R-Littleton, that Flora was “on the wrong side of this.”
Williams tweeted: “There’s no justification to support the fake news media who are nothing more than an extension of the Democrat Party.”
Flora replied to Williams in a letter to Colorado Politics.
“I’ve been fighting for the principles of this party long before Lauren Boebert and Dave Williams’ antics have been turning voters away,” she said. “They are attacking me because I am the clear alternative to their drama and division as the ‘Conservative Fighter’ CD4 can be proud of bringing real solutions to the hard-working families of this district.”
Holtorf told Colorado Politics that he is going to keep up the pressure on Williams and what he called the party chairman’s “unethical endorsements and changes to bylaws and resolutions.”
“That’s not what the state party’s supposed to do, and that’s not what the leader of the state party’s supposed to do,” said Holtorf. “That son of a bitch only cares about himself.” It’s not about the party or the people, it’s all about Dave.
