Even in the aftermath of sweeping losses in the past three elections driven by hundreds of thousands of new unaffiliated voters who strongly rejected former President Donald Trump and his incessant stolen-election conspiracies, some Republicans still want to exclude them from participating in Colorado’s Republican primary elections despite the fact they represent nearly half of the state’s electorate.

Unaffiliated voters now account for a whopping 47% (1,748,320) with Democrats at 28% (1,053,588) and Republicans at only 25% (930,814) as of Feb. 2.

For the past three election cycles, unaffiliated voters have had the option to vote in one of the two major-party primaries. They get both primary ballots in the mail and must choose one. Attempting to vote in both primaries nullifies both ballots.

Though unaffiliated voters chose the Democratic primary ballot over the Republican ballot in 2018 by 177,000 to 105,000 and by 383,000 to 138,000 in 2020, Republicans had the clear advantage in 2022 by 231,00 to 162,000.

Though it is obvious a Republican cannot win a statewide election without unaffiliated voters, this is not a new phenomenon. 

For several decades, the electorate was one-third unaffiliated, one-third Democratic and one-third Republican. Only after the infusion of more than 800,000 people into Colorado since 2010 did the number of unaffiliated voters explode to 47%.

There is often a misconception Colorado was at one time a solid “red state” and it was relatively easy for Republicans to win major statewide office for governor and U.S. senator.

Indeed, Republicans won seven consecutive major statewide elections from 1960 to 1970, but the Watergate scandal brought that streak to a screeching halt. Between 1972 and 1994 there were 14 elections for governor and senator and Republicans only won three, when U.S. Sen. Bill Armstrong won in 1978 and 1984 and U.S. Sen. Hank Brown won in 1990. Democrats won six consecutive elections for governor and five of eight elections for the Senate during that period.

There was a brief streak of five Republican wins from 1996 to 2002 with U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard (1996 and 2002), Gov. Bill Owens (1998 and 2002) and U.S. Sen. Ben Campbell (1998). But since 2002, Democrats have won 11 of 12 elections including five straight for governor and six out of seven for senator.  U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner’s victory in 2014 over incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Udall was the only Republican win.

The Allard and Owens wins, both of whom had tough primaries, are particularly instructive as to why Republicans should not shun unaffiliated voters from the GOP primary.

When Brown decided not to seek a second term in 1996, Democrats thought they could easily win the seat with the formidable Brown out of the way.  A very competitive Republican primary to succeed Brown ensued when then-U.S. Rep. Allard beat a popular attorney general.

Underdog Allard never took his eye off the ultimate goal of winning the general election even while running in a conservative primary. He crafted a strong mainstream conservative agenda to pass a balanced budget constitutional amendment, to reduce the tax and regulatory burdens on families and small businesses, and to return power to state and local governments. This agenda appealed not only to Republican primary voters but to the unaffiliated voters who would determine the general election.

Then-State Treasurer Bill Owens faced a very competitive Republican gubernatorial primary in 1998 against a respected state Senate president. Just like Allard in 1996, Owens ran on a compelling mainstream conservative agenda to cut state taxes, reform education and improve transportation. 

This agenda propelled him to the Republican nomination and ultimately he became the first Republican governor to be elected in 28 years, and he remains the only Republican governor to be elected in the past 52 years.

Allard and Owens are the only two Republicans in the past 42 years to win elections for senator and governor after having competitive primaries.  

It is shortsighted and foolhardy to try to exclude 1.7 million unaffiliated voters from having the option to vote in the Republican primary while they would still get the Democratic primary ballot. Having unaffiliated voters voting in the Republican primary is a huge opportunity to build a campaign agenda that can go on to win the general election.

Rather than turning inward to somehow “purify” the Republican Party without regard for the ultimate goal of actually winning the general election, Republicans should embrace unaffiliated voters as a way to draw strong contrasts with the Democrats and their increasingly socialist drift.

Dick Wadhams is a Republican political consultant and a former Colorado Republican state chairman.