Dozens of Republican elected officials, candidates and party officers are throwing a rival fundraiser next month in Colorado Springs on the same night the El Paso County GOP is holding its annual dinner across town.

The dueling soirees are the latest demonstration of a widening rift between the county Republican Party’s leadership and the party’s old guard, who swept primary races in the county last month by overwhelming margins, but bristle at being tagged the “establishment,” noting that their fellow partisans have controlled the local GOP apparatus for years.

Set for the night of Aug. 13, both fundraisers are expected to sell out and bring in lots of money for Republicans, their organizers said, but that’s where the similarities end.

The county GOP’s Lincoln Day Dinner, traditionally the party’s largest fundraising event, is slated to take place inside a ballroom at the downtown Antlers Hotel. The evening features a keynote speech by the state’s most prominent elected Republican, U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, who represents Colorado’s western slope and parts of southern Colorado and won last month’s primary for a second term, defeating a moderate Republican state lawmaker by a wide margin.

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The invitation suggests guests wear “cocktail party” attire to the gala, which features silent and live auctions and commences with a VIP reception at 4:30 p.m. Donors can choose between a grilled salmon fillet with lemon burr blanc, flat iron steak with wild mushroom demiglaze and roasted vegetable tart with fresh tomato basil sauce. Tickets start at $120 and go up to $2,500 for a table of 10 with VIP status.

Billed as a gathering for “serious Republicans” — some of whom say they can’t count on support from the local county party ahead of the fall election — the fundraiser announced this week counts among its hosts nearly every elected Republican in the county, including the eight-term congressman who represents the region, four state lawmakers, three county commissioners and five countywide officials, according to an invitation to the event obtained by Colorado Politics. Top legislative leaders, officials from surrounding counties and a trio of congressional nominees from Denver-area districts will also be on hand.

The competing fundraiser is scheduled to be held in a spacious backyard that backs onto a golf course, with a beach-party theme in a nod toward the wave election Republicans are anticipating in this year’s midterms. A local restaurant is donating what organizers described as “heavy appetizers,” and guests will be welcome to enjoy a well-stocked bar, including fine wines and specialty beach drinks. Ticket prices for the less formal event haven’t been finalized, organizers said, but should come in around half the price of the county party’s dinner. Festivities don’t start until 7 p.m., giving donors who want to attend both bashes the opportunity.

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The El Paso County Republican chairwoman is not happy that the GOP’s premiere annual event is sharing the calendar with competition.

“It is sad that this group would purposely have an event the same day as an annual fundraiser done by the local party for decades,” Vickie Tonkins told Colorado Politics in an email.

“Our date was on the calendar for some time yet they choose to be divisive and once again boycott the official and only Lincoln Day Dinner for the El Paso County Republican Party. These are the individuals causing division as they could have chosen another date for their event. Truly sad to see this from people who call themselves leaders.”

Added Tonkins: “True leaders are good followers…. it is not the case with these people.”

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Offering donors an alternative event is a different approach than some prominent local Republicans took a year ago when they boycotted the county party’s Lincoln Day Dinner and its keynote speaker, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia lawmaker who was stripped of her House committee assignments last year in a bipartisan vote after earlier racist and anti-Semitic remarks surfaced.

The chief organizer of the backyard fundraiser said there was nothing coincidental about the scheduling.

“There were a lot of our elected officials who are very excited about the prospects of the upcoming election, and they wanted to put their effort into supporting Republican candidates,” Eli Bremer, a former chairman of the El Paso County GOP, told Colorado Politics. “We want to have an event, and we want the money to go toward the Republican wave election in Colorado.”

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Bremer, who ran unsuccessfully for this year’s U.S. Senate nomination, said funds raised at the event will support “competitive races in Colorado on the federal side” via a political entity he’s in the process of forming.

Republican congressional candidates Erik Aadland, Barb Kirkmeyer and Steve Monahan — running in the 7th, 8th and 6th congressional districts, respectively — will be in attendance.

Bremer said statewide GOP candidates are also expected to make appearances, though campaigns contacted by Colorado Politics said it was too soon to confirm attendance at an event nearly a month out.

Elected officials signed on to the host committee for the party at the Bremers’ house include U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn; state House Minority Leader Hugh McKean; state Sens. Paul Lundeen, Bob Gardner, Larry Liston and Dennis Hisey; state Reps. Mary Bradfield, Andy Pico, Tim Geitner and Colin Larson; El Paso County Commissioners Cami Bremer, Stan VanderWerf, Holly Williams; District Attorney Michael Allen; Sheriff Bill Elder; County Clerk Chuck Broerman; County Coroner Leon Kelly; County Assessor Steve Schleiker; University of Colorado Regent Ken Montera and Colorado Springs City Councilman Wayne Williams, a former secretary of state and a candidate in next year’s mayoral election.

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Organizers said they’ve invited Boebert to stop by the party while she’s in the area, but haven’t heard one way or the other. Her campaign didn’t respond to an inquiry about her plans from Colorado Politics.

The invitation also lists legislative candidates Shana Black, Ken DeGraaf, Rose Pugliese and Don Wilson, and county sheriff candidate Joe Royal. Others on the committee are Fremont County Commissioner Kevin Grantham; Teller County Commissioners Dan Williams, Erik Stone and Bob Campbell; Commerce City Mayor Ben Huseman; former state Rep. Lois Landgraf; El Paso County GOP Vice Chairman Karl Schneider; 7th CD GOP Chairman Gregory Carlson; and a slew of municipal officials from Monument and Woodland Park.

The county party’s Lincoln Day dinners have been major draws over the decades, with keynote speakers in recent years including former presidential nominee and current Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, Republican strategist Karl Rove, South Dakota Sen. John Thune, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan and conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

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