El Paso County Republicans have elected a new chair who says he hopes to heal discord within the fractured local party. 

“There’s a lot we can accomplish, and we’re not going to do it divided,” said Kendrick Davis, who was elected to the chair position at a party organizational meeting earlier this year. 

The Colorado Springs insurance agent is replacing chair Vickie Tonkins, who did not run again. He is joined by a new vice chair, Saundra Larsen, and secretary Sheila Lapora. 

Tonkins oversaw a divisive period for the El Paso County GOP and the state party, aligning with state chairman Dave Williams. Williams ran an unsuccessful primary campaign for the 5th Congressional District seat in El Paso County last year and has seen challenges from within to his leadership of the party.

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In an unorthodox move, the state party chose to endorse candidates in the Republican primary last year, often pitted against Republicans who did not receive campaign support from the official GOP. Of the 18 candidates endorsed statewide, 14 were unsuccessful in 2024. 

Davis, who moved to Colorado Springs in 2008, said he became involved in politics at his local church. In 2012, he started and still leads a class called “Understanding the Constitution” at Church for All Nations, based on a curriculum from Texas-based conservative organization Patriot Academy. 

In his first weeks as chair, Davis said he has reached out to Republicans who have cleaved from the official party. That list includes members of Peak Republicans, set up in 2022 to campaign for candidates who did not receive support from the GOP. The GOP has censured Peak Republicans and in some cases taken action against party members involved in the group.

Davis said “dialogue is happening” with the informal campaigners. 

“We should be utilizing talented people. Some of the people at the Peak Republicans are talented people.” 

Davis said he was also open to the efforts of the newly formed El Paso County Young Republicans, whose leader Kolby Zipperer received the second-most votes for party chair. Zipperer has in the past been critical of the party’s perceived lack of campaign support for local candidates. 

Davis said he had reached out to elected officials in the county, many of whom are Republicans who did not receive previous backing from the party. Davis said he would not support the party endorsing candidates in the primary going forward. 

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Davis said that he was also taking applications from Republicans “on both sides of the divide” for committees within the party on training, outreach and legislative liaisons. 

Whether Davis would support Williams in another term as state chair remains to be seen, though Williams did back Davis’ campaign for the El Paso County role. Davis said he did not accept official endorsements but did have the “support” of Williams. 

Before becoming chair of the county party, Davis was the Republican chair for Colorado House of Representatives District 15, which was Williams’ district when he served as a state legislator. Republican Scott Bottoms now represents the district in eastern El Paso County. 

Davis said Williams had not yet declared his intentions to run again at the state’s organizational meeting later this spring, but he would be considering all candidates for chair in any case.  

“If I feel he’s the best candidate, he’ll get my vote. I don’t think Dave would expect any different from me,” he said. 

Todd Watkins, the former vice chair of El Paso County Republicans who was a leader in efforts to remove Williams from the chairmanship, said he thought Davis’ election meant the party leadership was heading “further extreme right” in terms of ideology. Watkins said Davis was not known to have a definitive affiliation with Williams. 

“I don’t know if Ken takes a strong stand either way,” he said.  

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Controversies within the local GOP have negatively impacted the involvement of registered Republicans, Davis said. 

“We want to minimize the fire and be a little more inviting.” 

Davis said he expects canvassing efforts from the party to resume in late spring to early summer. He said the party is also working on updating its social media presence, which has been largely inactive since November. 

“We want to work on getting people more active in our caucuses,” he said.