Today is Jan. 3, 2024, and here’s what you need to know:

Colorado House Republican Leader Mike Lynch says his concern about the caliber of representation in Congress prompted his decision to throw his own hat in the ring.

Just a week after U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert announced she’s ditching her competitive reelection bid to seek another term in the heavily Republican 4th Congressional District, Lynch said Wednesday he’s joining the crowded GOP primary field to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Ken Buck, a Windsor Republican.

“For the same reason I ever got into this business is that I was sick of idiots freaking representing me in the different levels,” Lynch said in an interview with Colorado Politics before declaring his candidacy. “That’s kind of a core thing of why I even do any of this.”

Conceding that his idealism might be “old school,” Lynch, a West Point graduate and small business owner serving his second term in the legislature, added, “I believe that you’ve got to know what you’re doing, and I’ve spent the last three years doing that – figuring out how to legislate. I’ve done it. You know, unfortunately, right now, there’s also a secondary need, which is to bring some stability to the dadgum Republicans in the state.”

The Colorado Republican Party is scheduled to decide whether to endorse former President Donald Trump’s reelection bid later this month, more than seven weeks before state voters cast ballots in the state’s Super Tuesday presidential primary, the party announced Monday.

In a break from the party’s longstanding policy of staying neutral in contested primaries, the state GOP’s central committee plans to consider formally endorsing Trump in a special meeting held via a teleconferencing app on Jan. 14, the eve of the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses.

Organizers behind the endorsement proposal say the Colorado Supreme Court’s recent ruling declaring Trump ineligible to appear on Colorado’s primary ballot on constitutional grounds “lit a fire” under the effort.

As things stand, Trump is one of seven Republicans set to appear on the state’s March 5 president primary ballot – but that could change if the U.S. Supreme Court either declines to hear appeals in the Colorado case or decides against striking down the Colorado ruling.

A federal judge heard arguments and testimony beginning on Tuesday over whether Colorado’s new universal pre-kindergarten program unconstitutionally forces a pair of Catholic preschools to violate their religious beliefs about sexual orientation and gender identity in order to participate as providers.

In August, the Archdiocese of Denver and other plaintiffs brought suit against the state, arguing the preschools under the archdiocese’s control wished to participate in the publicly funded pre-K program but could not do so as long as they are prohibited from discriminating on the basis of LGBTQ status.

The plaintiffs are seeking a declaration that the non-discrimination requirements violate their First Amendment rights, and a court order prohibiting Colorado from denying Catholic preschools the opportunity to participate – notwithstanding the church’s disapproval of same-sex relationships or gender identity that does not adhere to a person’s sex assigned at birth.

“Many families who come to these schools are specifically seeking a Catholic education. And that’s why they chose these schools,” attorney Nicholas R. Reaves said in his opening statement.

President Joe Biden is experiencing a decline in support from key demographics at the start of the election year, including young voters and voters from the Black and Hispanic communities.

A new USA Today/Suffolk University Poll released this week shows former President Donald Trump is leading Biden by 2 percentage points overall. Among Hispanic voters, Trump is polling at 39%, compared to Biden at 34%. Biden holds the lead at 63% among Black voters, around 24 points less than he did in 2020 – and 1 out of 5 Black voters surveyed said they would support a third-party candidate in November.

The election in 2020 had the largest voter turnout of the 21st century, and young voters were a key group that helped deliver Biden to the White House. In the last presidential election, the turnout among voters under 35 was 57%, according to the Census Bureau, an increase of about 8 points from the same group in 2016.

However, the president is seeing a drop-off in the age group that typically skews toward Democrats, as Trump holds 37% of the support among voters under 35, compared to Biden’s 33%.

Authorities on Tuesday arrested a man who allegedly breached the Colorado Supreme Court building, fired shots and tried to start a fire shortly after midnight, heavily damaging one of the offices.

Authorities said they do not believe the incident is related to previous threats the Colorado Supreme Court received after concluding former president Donald Trump is ineligible to appear on the state’s presidential primary ballot.

The police said the man, identified as 44-year-old Brandon Kyle Olsen, crashed a vehicle in an adjacent street and then made his way into the government building, where he pointed a gun at security guard.

Responding officers surrounded the building and reported shots fired from inside, a dramatic scene detailed in the arrest affidavit, which redacted Olsen’s answers to investigators’ questions.

Olsen ultimately surrendered to the officers, the police said.