Weeks after Republicans suffered widespread defeat during Colorado’s midterm election, Kristi Burton Brown announced that she will not run for reelection as chair of the Colorado Republican Party. 

In an email, Burton Brown announced she plans to shift to policy work and remain heavily involved in the Colorado GOP, but she will not seek another two years as party chair when her term ends in March 2023. 

“It’s been an honor to serve as chair of our great party and to be able to visit you in your homes, workplaces, communities, and your special area of our great state,” she said. “I’ve been blessed to meet so many patriots who have joined us in this passionate fight for our state and country. I’ve honestly loved every minute of it.” 

Democrats in November won every statewide office, increased their majorities in the General Assembly, won five of eight congressional seats and nearly unseated U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert in the 3rd Congressional District – a massive series of defeats that some party insiders referred to as the death of the Republican party in Colorado.

However, Burton Brown said she believes Coloradans will “eventually” turn against the “failed, far-left ideology” of the Democratic party.  

“I’m excited and optimistic about the future of Republicans in Colorado because I know our people,” Burton Brown said. “We will Never Surrender, and we will retake our state and country.”

Burton Brown served only one term as Colorado GOP chair, having been elected to lead the party in 2021 after working as vice chair. She was the first woman to chair the state Republicans since the 1970s. 

Burton Brown rose to prominence when she co-sponsored the state’s first attempt to pass a “personhood” amendment as a teenager in 2008. She also worked as an attorney, spearheaded a failed 2019 recall effort against Democratic state Rep. Tom Sullivan over his support for gun-control measures and served as lead policy adviser for U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert in 2020.

The leader of the Colorado Democratic Party, Morgan Carroll, also announced last month that she would not be seeking re-election as party chair.