Colorado’s Republican Party blasted the legal system on Thursday after a New York jury convicted former President Donald Trump on all 34 counts in a criminal hush money trial.

At the same time, the state’s Democratic Party cheered the verdict as demonstrating the rule of law while conceding that the only way to prevent the presumptive Republican nominee from returning to the White House is at the ballot box.

Elected officials and candidates staked out positions along party lines, with Republicans echoing Trump’s characterization of the trial as “rigged” and a “witch hunt,” and Democrats declaring that the historic verdict proves that no one is above the law.

Trump became the first U.S. president to be convicted on felonies, culminating a nearly seven-week trial on charges he falsified business records to conceal payments to a porn star as part of a scheme to influence the 2016 election. The court set the sentencing for July 11, just days before the Republican National Convention is set to make Trump the GOP’s 2024 presidential nominee.

In a fundraising email to supporters sent less than an hour after the guilty verdicts were announced, state GOP Chairman Dave Williams derided the trial as “an unprecedented example of election interference and a blatant disregard for the rule of law” and predicted Trump’s felony convictions will be overturned on appeal.

“This is a constitutional crisis and another troubling example of the weaponization of the legal system against law-abiding citizens,” Williams said. “This entire process, from start to verdict, has been rigged and a disgraceful political maneuver by desperate Democrats who know crooked Joe Biden is losing the 2024 election.”

Calling Trump’s campaign “a dangerous threat to our country,” Colorado Democratic Chairman Shad Murib said in a statement to Colorado Politics that the party is committed to defeating the Republican in November.

“Donald Trump’s grievance campaign is a dangerous threat to our country given his pledge to be a dictator ‘on day one’, give the wealthy even bigger handouts, and strip away our freedoms,” Murib said in a text message.

“No one is above the law as today’s ruling shows, but the only way to keep Trump and his dangerous agenda out of the Oval Office is at the ballot box. We’ve already put organizers on the ground, and are scaling bigger every day to make sure Trump and his enablers are defeated this fall.”

Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert ripped the verdict in a series of social media posts, at one point celebrating that a national GOP fundraising platform had crashed, presumably because donors were overwhelming the website.

“As we all knew, this was ALWAYS about election interference and stopping President Trump from winning his rightful re-election to the White House,” Boebert tweeted. “The American people see through the Democrat games and know this is a sham verdict.”

Noting that WinRed, a donation portal for Republican candidates and causes, had gone down, Boebert tweeted: “The Democrats have NO IDEA what they’ve just started.”

“Say it with me: ELECTION INTERFERENCE,” Boebert later tweeted.

That drew a response from Trisha Calvarese, one of the Democrats who could face Boebert in Eastern Colorado’s 4th Congressional District this fall.

“Say it with me,” Calvarese said, quoting Boebert’s tweet. “No one is above the law.”

Greg Lopez, the Republican facing Calvarese in a special election to fill the remainder of former U.S. Rep. Ken Buck’s term, called Thursday “a sad day for America” on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

“The Judge, a Biden donor, should never have taken this case,” Lopez tweeted, adding: “I stand with, and will be voting for, President Trump.”

Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, said the jury’s verdicts send a message.

“No one is above the law,” Polis tweeted. “Coloradans have faith in our justice system and the guilty convictions from a jury of his peers show the former President lacks the moral capacity to lead our country.”

Republican congressional candidate Jeff Crank, who is running against Williams, the Republican state chairman, in next month’s GOP primary in the El Paso County-based 5th Congressional District, took to Twitter to label the trial a “witch hunt” and called Thursday’s outcome “an affront to our justice system and our American way of life.”

“Unfortunately, the Left’s abuse of our justice system was successful today,” Crank added. “President Trump will have the last laugh in November.”

Democratic U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette took the opposite view.

“The wheels of justice turn slowly, but they do turn,” DeGette said in an emailed statement. “No one is above the law, and today’s ruling is a step towards ensuring that no American can exploit our legal system for personal gain. I commend the jurors for doing their civic duty as well as Judge Merchan for diligently overseeing this trial and ensuring it was a fair, equitable, and smooth process.”

Republicans running for the open 3rd Congressional District seat in Western Colorado derided the verdict.

“This is a sad day for America,” Jeff Hurd told Colorado Politics in an email. “Our country is so divided, and today’s verdict will only divide us further. From the start I was skeptical that anyone other than former President Trump would have been indicted in this way, and I fully expect him to appeal.”

Hurd added that he wants the election to be about issues that mater to rural Colorado, “not the political theater that dominates the media.”

Former state Rep. Ron Hanks, one of Hurd’s primary rivals, struck a more ominous note in a text message to Colorado Politics.

“Of course, there is an appeals process, but the People’s patience is not endless,” Hanks said.

Russ Andrews, another 3rd CD candidate, called the trial a “distraction” and a “scam.”

“This trial is not about justice; it’s a deliberate distraction from the real issues like Biden’s failure to secure our border and the skyrocketing inflation devastating American families,” Andrews said in an emailed statement. “These scam trials are a desperate attempt by the Democrats to shift focus from their own failures. It is an outrage.”

The two Republicans facing off in a primary in the battleground 8th Congressional District, north of the Denver metro area, described the proceedings as politically motivated and flawed.

“We are in an unprecedented era in which one party seeks to silence and punish political opponents,” said state Rep. Gabe Evans, R-Fort Lupton, in a social media post that went on to compare Trump’s prosecution with the majority Democrats’ prohibition at the legislature on his use of the phrase “illegal immigrants.”

“Power-hungry Leftists are using censorship, cancel culture, politicized DA’s, and weaponized courts to hold on to political control,” Evans continued.

“Donald Trump was indicted on these charges, which relied on the testimony of a convicted felon, because he is the Republican presidential nominee,” Evans said. “We now have a two-tiered justice system, depending upon your politics. It’s shameful, and is NOT the justice system I served as a cop. Like many Americans, this process and verdict motivates me more than ever to defeat Joe Biden.”

Former state Rep. Janak Joshi, R-Colorado Springs, Evans’ opponent in the primary, said in a text message to Colorado Politics: “This a sad day for America. This verdict was given by a weaponized judiciary under corrupt Democrats and Biden administration.”

Joe Reagan, one of the Democrats running in the 5th CD, said he didn’t think Colorado Springs residents spend as much time thinking about Trump’s legal travails as they do about the paltry legislative track record of “MAGA extremists in Congress.”

“We are a nation of laws,” Reagan told Colorado Politics in a text message. “The former president was found guilty on all counts by a jury of his peers, and he has every right to an appeal.”

Democratic U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, who represents the Aurora-based 6th Congressional District, called Trump’s guilty verdict “a somber moment for our country.”

“It’s also a moment to reaffirm our dedication to the rule of law,” Crow said in a statement. “A jury heard the evidence, weighed the arguments, and unanimously decided to convict.”

Added Crow: “Trump has repeatedly disregarded the law. But in America nobody is above or below the law, even a former president.”

Crow’s Republican challenger, John Fabbricatore, slammed the prosecutors who brought charges against Trump.

New York City can’t prosecute rapists, murderers, and violent criminals, but they can spend millions in prosecuting Donald Trump,” Fabbricatore tweeted. “They got the verdict they wanted in the rigged game they planned.”