At the national level, Republican leaders pleaded with former president Donald Trump and other GOP candidates to focus on public policy differences and ditch the personal identity attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris. A handful of Republicans had suggested she was a “DEI hire” chosen merely for her race and sex even though she has served in public office five times longer than her opponent.
Guess who didn’t get the “stick to the issues” memo? Colorado GOP Chairman Dave Williams. The party recently sent out a shameful email attacking Vivian Smotherman, the Democrat running for Senate District 6, as a “DEI candidate.” Smotherman identifies as gender fluid and uses female pronouns.
This is not the first time the Colorado GOP under Williams’ leadership has hurled crude personal insults at opponents. The good news is that Republicans, including Smotherman’s GOP opponent, are increasingly rejecting Williams’ tactics and may soon eject him from his leadership position altogether.
After the GOP sent the email, Smotherman’s GOP opponent, state Senator Cleave Simpson called his opponent to criticize the email of which he had no advance knowledge or accord. He told the Colorado Sun, “I’ve been a Republican my entire life and largely a part of the calculus to run for reelection was to demonstrate you can be a conservative Republican under the gold dome and still be effective. If you treat people with dignity and respect you can still build some small wins.”
Simpson was not the only thoughtful GOP member of the General Assembly to put points on the board this last session by engaging meaningfully with the majority on behalf of his district instead of performing cheap and churlish political theater for a fringe audience.
Rather than strive for ethical and effective, Williams and his staff have aimed for ignoble and inept and succeeded wildly. During the primary Williams spent party funds to run his own Congressional campaign — After losing the primary, he reimbursed the party but the damage was already done. He endorsed his buddies in other contested GOP primary races — leaving the many Republicans who won without his endorsement with battle scars for the general election.
Williams also oversaw repugnant messaging against people who identify as LGBT calling them “godless groomers” who want to “harm our children” and inciting Republicans to burn pride flags. Fortunately, Williams and most of his pals lost their primary contests and no one’s property went up in smoke.
Meanwhile, Republican candidates have not received the support the party is supposed to provide such as help accessing donors and volunteers and messaging. In some cases, the messaging the party has provided does not represent the candidate’s values but the chairman’s proclivity for insults and weird obsession with other people’s sexual identity.
Republicans are increasingly fed up. El Paso County Vice Chair Todd Watkins, Jefferson County GOP Chair Nancy Pallozzi and others have been working since June to convene at least 25% of the committee’s membership to meet to remove Williams from leadership for multiple egregious ethical violations.
Watkins and Pallozzi sought a meeting in late July but Williams sued on grounds the meeting was improperly called. Arapahoe County District Court Judge Thomas Henderson granted a temporary injunction. This week, he lifted the injunction and the party will meet this weekend. With any luck, Williams will be applying for unemployment by the time the Sunday paper prints. Maybe a DEI office somewhere is looking for a middle-aged politician with little work experience.
Krista L. Kafer is a weekly Denver Post columnist. Follow her on X: @kristakafer.
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