Vote to oust GOP chair Dave Williams set for Saturday, but the fight is likely far from over

Critics of Colorado’s embattled Republican state party chair Dave Williams will gather in Brighton Saturday to try, again, to oust him.

A similar meeting was thwarted earlier this summer after Williams filed a restraining order to temporarily block it. While the judge ultimately concluded the courts don’t have jurisdiction over an internal GOP dispute at this stage, Williams continues to call the upcoming meeting illegitimate as he resists calls to step down. 

The leaders of the effort to unseat Williams say they’ve gathered enough signatures to force a meeting of the party’s central committee to vote on their request.

“It’s a pretty phenomenal shift in the central committee,” said former El Paso County chair Eli Bremer of the growing number of party insiders who he said now support Williams’ removal. Bremer has put himself forward as a possible replacement if Williams loses his job.

Election losses, party tumult and frustration with Williams’ leadership spilled into open revolt earlier this summer. He angered many Republicans by changing the party’s long-standing practice of staying neutral in primary races and drew public condemnation for a series of anti-Pride emails and posts.  

“If we can throw him out, it will be great for the state Republican Party. The man is totally unsuited for the job,” said Republican state Sen. Larry Liston of Colorado Springs, who plans to send a proxy to vote at Saturday’s meeting. 

In June, Liston won a primary race against a Williams-backed challenger. Most of the candidates the state party endorsed lost their primary races. Liston also worries about the fundraising under Williams. The GOP recently reported raising just $13,000 in the month of July.

“Why should we trust him?” said Liston. “I mean, no rightful donor, normal big donor to the Republican Party is going to give Dave Williams any money at all.”

However, even if his opponents have the votes on Saturday, removing Williams won’t be easy.

Williams did not return a request for comment for this story but has defended his actions as chair. He and his allies describe Saturday’s meeting as a desperate power grab from RINOS — Republicans In Name Only — who are upset that they no longer control the state party. In a letter to the state central committee, party officials called the meeting fake and illegitimate and said Saturday’s vote will not be the end of things.

“Their invalid and divisive efforts will only ensure the conflict continues for months to come,” states the letter.

One concern shared by many is the timing of this effort, given how close it is to the November election. Former Republican state party chair Steve House said regardless of what some may think of Williams’ leadership, this public infighting is a distraction the party doesn’t need.  

“This is not the time and place to do it right now,” said House. “The focus should be entirely on winning elections where elections can be won in the state of Colorado and any issue of the chairman himself or the chairman and his leadership team should be dealt with after the election.”

Fight may come down to one phrase in party bylaws

For those moving forward with the effort to oust Williams, there is one big complication: party bylaws aren’t entirely clear on how many central committee votes they need to succeed.

The rules state that the central committee can remove any party officer at any time for whatever cause, “by a vote of three-fifths of the entire membership of the CRC eligible to vote at a meeting called for that purpose.” 

Roughly 400 people sit on the committee, a mix of state lawmakers, local elected officials, party organizers and activists. 

The group trying to oust Williams takes that wording to mean they just need the support of 60 percent of the central committee members present at the meeting. Williams, however, could argue the wording actually means a vote of 60 percent of the entire central committee, a much harder-to-reach threshold since meetings are conducted in person and not always well attended.

This ambiguity means that even if Saturday’s vote is successful and those at the meeting select a new chair, it could just further ramp up the turmoil. Two different people could potentially claim that they are the legitimate chair of the Colorado Republican Party. 

Republicans with knowledge of the situation said such a schism could be resolved in a couple of ways. One side could sue and the district court could weigh in, or it could end up in the hands of the Republican National Committee to make a final determination, or both. 

A similar dispute over efforts to oust Michigan’s controversial GOP chair, Kristina Karamo, ended with both the courts and the RNC affirming that she had been properly voted out. Karamo, however, is appealing.

Michigan’s drawn-out fight suggests Colorado Republicans could be looking at a period of limbo and internal party chaos, at a time when candidates up and down the ticket could most use its help.

“The Republican Party is a shell right now. It's not doing anything for candidates other than attacking candidates that disagree with Dave Williams,” said former Republican state party chair Dick Wadhams. He’s no longer a voting member of the central committee but supports the effort to remove Williams, even if it doesn’t succeed immediately.  

“It needs to be shown that a majority of Republicans on the state central committee oppose the corrupt leadership of Dave Williams. And so it is worthwhile to have this discussion.” 

Colorado is not a swing state in the presidential race, and there aren’t any statewide races on the ballot this year. But Republicans do have their eyes on several electoral goals, including flipping a crucial U.S. House seat — the toss-up 8th Congressional District north of Denver — and holding onto the third congressional district, which spans southern Colorado and the western slope and nearly went to Democrats last time around.