Colorado state GOP chair Dave Williams has taken credit for the victories Republican candidates enjoyed in the recent election, especially in the 8th Congressional District, but nothing could be further from the truth. If anything, Mr. Williams and the state party actively worked against many of our winning GOP candidates. As the chairman of the Adams County Republicans, I’ve been privy to many of the machinations and political workings within the party over the past several years. I’ve stayed silent up until now because I like to think of myself as being a problem solver not an instigator, but after what I experienced in the November election, I feel I must now speak out.
Let me be clear from the start, the following are my opinions and my opinions alone. They do not represent the Adams County Republican Party, nor any other person or party.
Williams interference in primaries
The 8th Congressional District was one of the most contentious races in Colorado right from the start. Scott James from Weld County stepped up to run for the seat against Democrat incumbent Yadira Caraveo. Then Gabe Evans stepped up to run, followed by Joe Andujo. Each of these candiates spoke with me at great length, soliciting advice about running for office. I told each of them that I could not endorse any of them against the other in their primary. James stepped out when it became apparent to him that Gabe Evans would be able to raise more money and elicit more support for his campaign.
Then Janak Joshi announced his candidacy, claiming to be a political activist in Thornton. I had never heard of Mr. Joshi’s involvement in Thornton politics and I have lived in this area for nearly 18 years. It turns out that Mr. Joshi moved to Thornton from the Colorado Springs area to run for CD8. It appears to me that Chairman Williams wanted Mr. Joshi to enter the race because he believed Gabe Evans was not sufficiently MAGA and thus unqualified to serve, even though Evans received the endorsement of Donald Trump over Joshi. This is indicative of an attitude that continues to divide Republicans. Half of our party believes if you are not fully MAGA, then you are not Republican. The other half believes that the MAGA movement is too extreme and therefore does not represent the Republican Party.
In the spring of this year, Dave Williams entered the race for the 5th Congressional District against Jeff Crank. He put out several statements after the state GOP assembly against child groomers, homosexuals, and transgender ideology that many considered extremely offensive, and what I would consider to be unbecoming of an officer of the state party. He claims he made these statements at the behest of the delegates at the assembly. These comments led many of our Adams County candidates for state and county office to distance themselves from Mr. Williams and the state GOP. Several refused to accept the state party endorsements. He also released at least two mailers utilizing the state GOP non-profit discounted postage program. One of these mailers was a direct assault on Gabe Evans in favor of Janak Joshi. Mr. Williams not only lost the primary against Crank, he also repeatedly worked to undermine several of our GOP candidates including: Gabe Evans, David Archiletta, Jeff Crank, and Kristi Burton Brown. He did this by endorsing others in their respective races or by putting out messaging disparaging the candidates.
State party missing in action
During the CD8 campaign, House Speaker Mike Johnson, arguably the second most powerful Republican in the country, came to a rally in Thornton to support our great candidate, Gabe Evans, which neither Dave Williams or anyone else from state GOP leadership bothered to attend.
Dave Williams now claims that the state GOP worked to get all of the Republican candidates elected and that “we” had some success. And we did indeed enjoy some victories. We retained three of our congressional seats in CD3, CD4 and CD5 as well as flipping CD8 into the GOP column. We also flipped or retained several seats for local and state offices within CD8 and in Adams, Weld and several other counties. I believe Dave Williams and the state GOP can take NO credit for any of these victories. All of the credit for these wins goes entirely to the great candidates who stepped up to run for office, their campaign teams and especially to the volunteers who gave countless hours to walking and knocking doors in their precincts, making thousands of phone calls, attending rallies and festivals, writing postcards, waving signs, and donating money, time and talent.
If anything, Williams and the state party either did nothing to help any of our candidates in Adams County or actively worked against them. None of our Adams County or CD8 candidates received any financial help from the State party except for Mr. Joshi. None of the state GOP leadership visited the battlefield office in Thornton set up by the NRCC. None of the state GOP leadership attended any rallies for any of our local or congressional district candidates. None of the state leadership attended candidate forums held for our CD4 and CD8 candidates in Bennett and Northglenn. In my humble opinion this is NOT the kind of leadership we need to move our party forward.
We have another set of very important elections coming up as we decide our next Governor, Secretary of State, State Attorney General and US Senator. I submit that we need either a change in state party leadership now or in March at our state GOP reorganization meeting.
Daniel V. Belfontaine is chairman of the Adams County Republican Party.
