Decline of the Colorado GOP State Executive and Central Committees

~by Norman Kincaide

Even in a more than adequate venue, a state wide political party convention is chaotic and complicated. It takes a great deal of organization and planning well beforehand. If, however, the venue is totally inadequate to the purpose of such a large gathering, chaos and confusion only magnify the problems that always ensue with these events. In the case of the 2026 Colorado Republican State Convention, the venue illustrated gross incompetence, lack of planning, and a manifest failure to serve the delegates, alternates, volunteers, vendors and candidates.

Nomination of Michael Allen for Attorney General.

As a delegate from Otero County, I left Rocky Ford at 5:30 AM, April 11, 2026, parked at the Thunder Bowl stadium, walked to the Massari Arena, arriving there at 6:30 AM. The line formed behind me as I stood very near the entry doors on the west side. There the lines continued to grow and we waited, and waited and waited and waited. The lines extended and extended. 7AM came to start credentialing. Nothing. No announcement, the line did not move. 7:30 came. The internet was down, can't check anybody in. At about 8AM, I went to the bathroom at the Student Center. Nothing was open except a coffee shop. I walked back to the truck and drove to Southwest Grill on Highway 50 for breakfast.

 Delegates and alternates wait to enter Massari Arena, CSU, Pueblo, 8AM, April 11, 2026

I drove by the Massari Arena afterwards. Seeing the lines had not really moved, I gassed up my Chevy Colorado and drove to the Pueblo Airport to take in the aircraft museum for an hour or so. When I got there, I decided to drive through the former Sanford Kincaide farm on 33 1/2 Lane, South Road. 

I drove back to CSU, Pueblo and got in! Credentialing was not completed until well after noon. Candidate speeches were cut down from 10 minutes to 5 or 3 minutes in order to get through the process. The venue was too small and visitors and guests had to leave to make room for delegates and alternates. Plus, there were technical issues with the internet at the largest university in southern Colorado. It was ugly, the worst assembly I have ever attended, but the nominations were made and voted on. I attended as delegate or alternate from Otero County in 2010, Budweiser Center, 2014, Coors Event Center, 2016, Broadmoor World Arena, 2018, Coors Event Center, 2022, Broadmoor World Arena & 2024, Southwest Motors Event Center, Colorado State Fairgrounds, these were large enough venues with superlative services.

I don’t know what the solution is for the Colorado Republican Party. Local parties and districts function well. But the state organization is dysfunctional and fractured. There is over riding fear of RINOS. If a representative or senator works with the few rational Democrats to get legislation passed, they are labelled as Republican in Name Only.

Polymarket shows a Democrat winner for Colorado senate, 89%; a Democrat winner for Colorado Governor, 94%. Mark Baisley is the primary winner for Senate at 94%. At this point, it really doesn’t matter who the Republicans put forth for Governor or Senate, they will lose. Polymarket has Rep. Jeff Hurd winning the US House District 3 primary at 96% probability and winning the general at 53%. There are decent individuals running, but can they even lower the odds of losing? It is amazing that the Colorado Republican Party has managed to capture four of the eight US Congressional seats.

The decline and disintegration of the Colorado Republican Party was evident at the 2026 State Convention. I think the decline began with the schism of the party into ultra-right wing (based upon party purity) and those who are realists labelled by the purists as: RINOS. Anybody who couldn’t attain a 100% score on the freedom score card was a RINO. I think the schism became manifest in 2022 during the GOP State Convention when individuals started shouting for paper ballots instead of using electronic delivery clickers that were used during the state convention for state wide and federal offices. Paper ballots were introduced at the 2024 Convention.

Those who did not express support for paper ballots were looked upon with suspicion. This notion of Party Purists versus “RINOS” became ingrained in the body of the party. This situation provided opportunities for individuals who are covetous of position, power and influence, to exploit the weakness and confusion within the State Central Committee to promote themselves into positions they do not deserve nor are they competent to fulfill the requisite responsibilities.

The result was the rise of the Dave Williams clique, 2023-2025, with its party purity platform and control of the State GOP Executive and State Central Committees. The Central Committee became fractured between the factions opposing or supporting the Williams clique. What followed was Dave Williams, as State Executive Committee Chair, endeavored to consolidate power and exclude dissenters from the Central Committee and to influence the 2024 primary by endorsing candidates before the election. While the district and county organizations endorsed neutrality. The in-fighting really began in 2024 with questionable use of State Party funds, a meeting under a bridge near Durango, illegal and legal meetings, court filings and law suits. Added to this is the divisive issue of open versus closed primaries. It was a scene of unworthy individuals scrambling over a diminishing power base, while not aiding or assisting county parties with their representative or senate races.

The outcome of this chaos and confusion was the rise of Brita Horn to State Executive Chair, who appeared to be incapable of any competent leadership or organizational ability as demonstrated in the choice of a very poor venue for the 2026 GOP Convention.

Confusion, chaos and lack of effective leadership in an organization provides ample and fertile ground for covetous individuals to rise within the organization, not to serve the interests of the organization as a whole but to serve their own selfish desires for position, power, influence and control. Differences of opinion are treated as playground disputes instead of rational discussion of issues. Overall, decorum has degraded since 2022.

What is needed is someone who can provide clear, calm, resolved and disciplined leadership to analyze the failings, provide clear direction forward, organize an effective team to deliver some sort of agenda to rectify the current state of the Colorado Republican Party. This requires someone to restore confidence in leadership, revitalize donations, and restore fiscal responsibility to the party and build some sort of respect for a state party organ that is clearly unable to deliver effective performance for the state wide party base. The Colorado House and Senate District assemblies functioned well and got things done. But anything above those levels is totally dysfunctional.

The ultimate result of this dysfunction was clearly evident in scheduling a venue that was clearly unsuited for such a large convention. Was this an issue of available funding or inability to timely schedule a larger venue? Regardless of the reason, the Massari Arena and Student Center venues were disastrous for the Colorado Republican Party. People waiting up to four to five hours to get in on April 11 and fire marshals having to clear some people from both venues.

The Colorado GOP 2026 Convention was not timely, efficient, orderly or reassuring to the delegates, alternates, guests, vendors or candidates. This was a total failure of leadership and organization at the State Executive Committee level. What is it with the state leadership? Is it personality clashes? Ideological incompatibilities? Or merely the rise of incompetent individuals to these positions? Instead of a collegial working relationship, there exists an ingrained, internal adversarial one that benefits neither the county organs or the members at large.

From appearances at the 2026 State Assembly, the paper ballots have not rendered a cure for the substantive divisions within the party. The CSU, Pueblo venues only exacerbated an already critical situation within the Colorado GOP. Perhaps this is a good thing. Now it is clearly established, publicly, that the party is in need of a major overhaul in Central and Executive Committee personnel and some kind of clear agenda and identity the main body can support. Otherwise, county and district organizations will have to shoulder the burden of attempting to elect competent Republicans to state wide and federal offices without aid or guidance from the State Executive or Central Committees. There is no Colorado Republican Party Machine. There are only parts to a machine that do not fit together to form a functioning entity. It is little wonder that whoever will be the Republican nominee for President in 2028 can write off Colorado as a viable swing state in light of a long track record of Republican failure state wide.

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