Colorado Republican Party Chairman Steve House isn’t seeking a second term heading the state GOP, and he isn’t going to run for governor, either, he said Monday.

Instead, House said in a statement he plans to focus on improving the health care system and raise money to support next year’s Republican nominee for governor.

House said after the November election he would disclose his plans once President Donald Trump had been inaugurated on Jan. 20. House was among the Coloradans who attended the festivities in Washington, D.C., this past weekend.

House’s announcement leaves two candidates in the running for state Republican Party chair – former congressional candidate George Athanasopoulos and El Paso County GOP Chairman Jeff Hays – although the current vice chair, Derrick Wilburn, has also said he’s considering running for the top spot and will announce his plans by the end of January. Republicans pick statewide officers at a meeting of the state central committee in March.

“It is vital that after eight years of lost opportunities by Gov. John Hickenlooper that Colorado has a sound conservative leader as its next governor,” House said in a statement. “2018 is going to be a turning point for our state, and I want to ensure that as a party we do the fundraising necessary so that our general election candidate will win.”

House ran for governor in 2014 but didn’t make the primary ballot. That year, former U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez narrowly lost a bid to deny Hickenlooper a second term after emerging from a four-way primary. House had been considering a run for governor in 2018 in what is shaping up to be a crowded field. While no major Republicans are officially in the race, potential candidates include State Treasurer Walker Stapleton, 18th Judicial District Attorney George Brauchler, state Sens. Tim Neville and Ray Scott, former state Rep. Victor Mitchell and DaVita Healthcare Partners Inc. CEO Kent Thiry.

Citing challenges he said are facing Colorado – including improving the education system, “a transportation crisis,” redistricting after the 2020 Census and budget woes – House said the state “will require a strong leader who has a vision for solving our state’s problems and protecting our unique western way of life.”

House added that he was thankful for the political experience he’s had since serving as an aide to state Sen. Kent Lambert in 2010. “Combine this with the invaluable experience as county and state party chairman, I am even more certain that – as a party and Coloradans – we can accomplish any goals we choose to unite around. Republicans win the philosophical battle of ideas every time. We fail only if those ideas aren’t clearly shared with the voters of Colorado.”

House, a former Adams County GOP chair, ousted two-term Republican Party Chairman Ryan Call in March 2015. He was engulfed in controversy a few months later when three of his strongest past supporters – former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, Attorney General Cynthia Coffman and Pueblo Republican Becky Mizel, who headed the county GOP at the time – called on him to step down. A few weeks later, after the dispute over whether House should stay on as chair became a national story, he won the unanimous support of the state Republican Party Executive Committee. Last spring, House was the target of numerous death threats after Texas Sen. Ted Cruz won nearly all of Colorado’s Republican National Committee delegates.

In his statement announcing his plans, House sounded a note both nostalgic and optimistic.

“Representing Colorado Republicans as their state chairman has been a tremendous honor,” he said. “Over the last two years, I’ve had the privilege of traveling our great state to meet Coloradans who care deeply about their families, communities and Colorado’s future. As I leave my current position, I take with me their hopes and prayers for a better Colorado ahead.”

– ernest@coloradostatesman.com