The death Sunday of House Minority Leader Hugh McKean will result in a significant leadership shakeup, with every leadership position within the House Republican caucus now up for grabs.

The GOP caucus is planning to hold its leadership reorganization on Nov. 10, a few days after the midterm elections. 

In addition to minority leader, the caucus will need a new assistant minority leader, Joint Budget Committee member, caucus chair and caucus whip.

Rep. Rod Pelton of Cheyenne Wells, the minority whip and the third-ranking member of the caucus, is likely to win his race for the open southeastern Colorado senate seat. Sources said Tuesday he would serve as minority leader until the 2023 session starts on Jan. 9. 

Rep. Tim Geitner of Falcon, the assistant minority leader, resigned his seat last month, and a vacancy committee failed to come up with a replacement for those two months over the weekend. 

The caucus chair, Rep. Janice Rich of Grand Junction, is expected to win her race for the state Senate seat held by term-limited Sen. Ray Scott.

The odds-on favorites for the top two positions are Reps. Colin Larson of Littleton as minority leader and Mike Lynch of Wellington as assistant minority leader. Larson had been mulling a run for the Joint Budget Committee, given that Rep. Kim Ransom of Littleton, the caucus’s current representative, is term-limited. But McKean’s death changed just who’s running and for what.

Rose Pugliese, who’s running for the seat held by Rep. Shane Sandridge of Colorado Springs, who chose not to run for another term, is on the short list for caucus chair. That could reflect the new look of the 2023 caucus, where two-thirds of the members will be first-time lawmakers. 

Rep. Richard Holtorf of Akron is also being mentioned for caucus whip.

As for JBC, Rep. Matt Soper of Delta, who ran for it in 2020, said he isn’t interested this time around. Given that Larson had been the most likely to take the seat, a new candidate has yet to emerge.

The 2022 version of the House GOP caucus has 13 members, out of 24, who aren’t coming back, either due to term-limits, running for other elected office or choosing not to seek another term in the House.

Of those 13, at least eight or nine were considered to be to the right of McKean who challenged his leadership regularly. They were aligned with Rep. Patrick Neville of Castle Rock, McKean’s predecessor as minority leader, as well as Rep. Dave Williams of Colorado Springs. Eight of those nine won’t be back.

TRACER contributions show the work that McKean and others in his wing of the caucus put into the campaigns for incoming House GOP members. Candidates for at least four of those eight seats took contributions from leadership political action committees controlled by McKean, Larson, Soper and Rep. Rod Bockenfeld of Watkins, the latter two considered part of the McKean wing.

Much of the work by McKean and his allies took place during the primaries – meant to support candidates who would likely be more aligned with their agenda. Every GOP House candidate who had a contested primary and backed by the McKean wing won their races. 

In addition, those leadership PACs, as they’re known, have contributed to eight campaigns for Republicans who hope to wrest seats away from Democrats, ranging from candidates in House District 59, which is based in Durango and held by Rep. Barbara McLachlan; House District 26, held by Rep. Dylan Roberts of Eagle, who’s running for the Senate; and the seat in House District 38 in Littleton currently held by Rep. David Ortiz. All but two of the eight are rated among the most competitive by the state redistricting commission.

A more cohesive GOP caucus will make life easier for their agenda in 2023, according to several members. 

Lynch told Colorado Politics that he’s excited “by the quality of folks coming in and seeing how well this caucus works together.”

“It’s an embarrassment of riches,” Larson said of the estimated incoming first-year class of lawmakers. 

With an expected addition of several seats, Larson said the new Republican caucus will be the culmination of McKean’s work over the last two years and one that is “reflective of his pragmatic, business-oriented, low-tax and light regulation” philosophy and which adheres to classic Republican values.

“He was so thrilled for the future of the Republican caucus,” Larson said, adding it’s sad that McKean will not get to see the final results of that work.