Colorado Republicans' New State GOP Chair outrages the Mainstream Media

By Valerie Maez 3.23.26

Photo by Bente Birkland/ CPR News Dave Williams on 3.11.26

Some of the headlines that flowed out of Loveland, Colorado on March 11th, were to say the least, entertaining. A common theme was that Colorado Republicans now joined three other states who elected an election denier as Chairman of their State Executive Committee.

Dave Williams, a former Colorado State Representative from Colorado Springs, is a Conservative Republican. Stop the presses! Say it ain’t true!! Soon followed by gleeful proclamations that this event would forever seal the fate of the Colorado Republican Party.

For the record, in case you have not heard or do not follow politics, this is who now leads our Republican Party in Colorado. It did take three ballots to elect Mr. Williams State Chair. The process was somewhat time consuming since paper ballots, not electronic devices were utilized. After the second ballot, Tina Peters and Kevin Lundberg threw their support to Dave Williams, as they bowed out. Dave Williams won 54.8% on the third ballot. Eric Aadland received 45.2% Vice Chair Priscilla Rahn won decisively on the first ballot with 64.4%. In addition to serving as Vice-Chair, Priscilla Rahn is a music teacher with an amazing voice. She performed an acapella version of God Bless America that had all joining in. Truly inspiring. Secretary Anna Ferguson won on the second ballot in a three person race with 52%. Everybody I spoke to thought the paper ballot process was fair and worth the time it took.

Chairman: Dave Williams

Vice Chair: Priscilla Rahn

Secretary: Anna Ferguson

As Chairman Williams settles into his office and assembles the rest of his staff, it may or may not shed some light on the direction he will pursue. I was at the State GOP Organizational Meeting, and a great many elections were held for all kinds of executive boards besides the State Gop Executive Board. As with any political party, the State of Colorado is divided into districts with executive boards that are defined by the State Senate, State House, Congressional, and Judicial units.

Locally, Montezuma County Republicans are represented in Denver by State Senator Cleave Simpson for SD6. Allen Maez was elected to Chair the Executive Board for SD6 which primarily concerns itself with administrative duties that serve Republican interests. Our elected Congressional District Representative (CD3) is Lauren Boebert. Allen was re-elected to serve as Secretary on the CD3 Executive Committee. Montezuma County is split into two separate State House Districts. Our State House Representative for HD58 is Republican Marc Catlin of Montrose. House District 59 is represented by Democrat Barbara McLachlan. Montezuma County voting precincts 1, 3, and 4 fall into HD58 with the rest of the precincts being in HD59.

The division within the Colorado GOP is real. Some political pundits blame “far-right” conservatives for losing elections. I disagree. The left leaning, big government Republicans who have dominated the Party previously are waging a turf war with a new generation of Republicans who feel a course correction is absolutely needed to win elections. Why vote Republican, when there is little to no difference between them and a Democrat?

Transparency, outreach, messaging, and candidates who mean what they say will win us elections. Trying to copy the Democrats is a losing hand, as I suspect more voters will just up and leave the party.