Congratulations to newly elected Colorado Republican Chairwoman Brita Horn for ending the two-year nightmare of the former chairman, Dave Williams.

Chairwoman Horn defeated a Williams clone by promising to support all Republican candidates in general elections and not irresponsibly spend party funds to endorse and attack Republicans in contested primaries. She wants to open the party up rather than pursuing endless purges.

She also strongly opposed canceling the 2026 Republican primary election which would have conferred total power to nominate candidates on the sparsely attended caucus-assembly process, which excludes military personnel, law enforcement officers, health care workers and a host of other professions who cannot participate during evenings and weekends.

Even as he was finally leaving the stage as state chairman, Williams could not resist one final, classless insult to those successful Republican leaders he despised and tried to defeat.  He refused to even acknowledge, much less introduce to speak, newly elected U.S. Reps. Jeff Crank, Jeff Hurd and Gabe Evans, along with U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, state House Minority Leader Rose Pugliese, state Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen, and other Republican legislators and elected officials.

Williams did have time to allow criminally convicted and jailed Tina Peters to call into the state party dinner the night before.

Chairwoman Horn is off to a strong start to restore credibility and relevance to a state party previously intent on becoming an exclusionary, irrelevant sect under Williams.

But the state party appears to still be committed to a federal lawsuit to try to overturn Proposition 108 and Proposition 107 which were passed by voters in 2016.

Prop 108 gave unaffiliated voters the right to vote in one of the major party primaries and Prop 107 reestablished a presidential primary which also allows unaffiliated voters to participate in one primary.

Prop 108 was approved by voters in 2016 by a margin of 53 to 47 while Prop 107 passed by 64 to 36. 

Unaffiliated voters have now had the right to vote in primaries for the past four elections in 2018, 2020, 2022, and 2024. They have had the right to vote in presidential primaries in 2020 and 2024. The federal lawsuit would rip those rights away from unaffiliated voters.

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Taking those rights away defies common sense and logic given the dramatic changes in the Colorado electorate in the past 10 years and the struggle for Republicans to win.

After decades of Colorado being almost evenly divided into partisan thirds, unaffiliated voters now represent 49% of the electorate (1,990,552), with Democrats at 26% (1,041,598), and Republicans a distant third at 23% (942,120).

Chairwoman Horn’s commitment to unifying Colorado Republicans rather than dividing the party is laudable but the brutal reality is that Republicans will never be competitive in statewide elections or most competitive legislative and congressional districts unless Republicans can appeal to half of the electorate that is unaffiliated.

Sticking unaffiliated voters in the eye by going into federal court to try to rip away their right to vote in party primaries is a strange way to broaden the appeal of Republicans. 

A federal judge totally rejected an attempt last year at a preliminary injunction in favor of the lawsuit. It is highly doubtful that same judge will overturn Prop 107 and Prop 108 later this year, but even pursuing the lawsuit will damage Colorado Republicans.

The media headlines will be some version of this: “COLORADO REPUBLICAN LAWSUIT SEEKS TO TAKE AWAY THE RIGHT TO VOTE OF UNAFFILIATED VOTERS IN PRIMARIES.”

What a wonderful message to send to nearly 2 million voters who represent half of the electorate.

Any Republican campaign worth its salt understands appealing to unaffiliated voters in the primary strengthens the ability to win a general election.

President Donald Trump won the 2016 Republican presidential nomination largely due to open primaries. Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz defeated Trump in closed Republican presidential primaries while Trump rolled up big victories in open primary states. 

Finally, the Colorado Republican Party is struggling financially and spending tens of thousands of dollars to pay attorneys, who have already lost once in federal court, to pursue this lawsuit is foolhardy.

The Colorado Republican Party has a lot to clean up after two years of insidious leadership. Pursuing this anti-unaffiliated lawsuit will overshadow the worthwhile efforts of a new leader. 

Dick Wadhams is a former Colorado Republican state chairman who managed campaigns for U.S. Sens. Hank Brown and Wayne Allard, and Gov. Bill Owens.  He was campaign manager for U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota when Thune unseated Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle in 2004.