U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert and her three fellow Republican members of Colorado’s congressional delegation are backing rival candidates to fill the state GOP’s vacant vice chair position in next month’s party election.

The state party’s central committee is scheduled to convene on the Zoom teleconferencing platform on July 21 for a special meeting to replace Darrel Phelan, a former chairman of the Las Animas County Republican Party, who was elected to the state GOP’s No. 2 position in March and resigned earlier this month.

In a sharply worded email to party officials, Phelan complained that, since his election, he’d been “systematically sidelined and deliberately ignored” by state Republican Chair Brita Horn, who was elected on a slate with Phelan and state party secretary Russ Andrews.

Horn didn’t respond to requests for comment but noted Phelan’s resignation in a public post to social media.

“Transitions within any organization, especially one as dedicated as the Colorado Republican Party, can be challenging, but they also present opportunities for growth and renewed strength,” Horn said.

Boebert, the state’s senior elected Republican, last week made her pick to replace Phelan known when she endorsed Mark Hampton, a founder of the Parker Conservatives group and a persistent critic of Horn’s leadership.

“I’ve known Mark Hampton for years and it’s true, he is a Honey Badger: relentless, fierce, and loyal,” Boebert said in a Facebook post. “He stepped up to nominate me at Assembly and had my back through some tough fights; I know I can trust him to fight for the future of our state. He’ll be a great addition to the Colorado GOP as Vice Chair!”

Days later, first-term U.S. Reps. Jeff Hurd, Jeff Crank and Gabe Evans issued a joint statement endorsing former state House Minority Whip Richard Holtorf, a former congressional candidate and unsuccessful candidate for state chair, for the vice chair position, saying he offers a “positive message that unifies our party and uplifts all Republican candidates across the state.”

“Richard Holtorf has 29 years of military service, rising to the rank of Colonel,” the three Republican House members said. “A longtime rancher, he had also served in the Colorado State Legislature for five years, including in a leadership role as Minority Whip. He supports the Republican team and brings the necessary experience and energy to help the CO GOP effectively carry our message of less red tape, lower taxes and fees, better public safety, and lower costs of living. We enthusiastically support and endorse Richard Holtorf for Vice Chair of the Colorado Republican Party.”

Boebert and Holtorf, who faced off in last year’s 4th Congressional District primary, have a history of high-profile clashes.

Holtorf labelled Boebert a “carpetbagger” early last year when she moved across the state into the 4th CD from the Western Slope-based seat she’d been representing for two terms after her new district’s then-incumbent, Ken Buck, announced he wouldn’t run for reelection.

After telling a talk radio host that he thought Boebert dressed like a prostitute, Holtorf refused to back down during a primary debate a year ago when 9News anchor Kyle Clark asked if Holtorf regretted making that and other potentially offensive comments.

“Most people know that I’m a straight, no-nonsense conservative, and I say things that are oftentimes misinterpreted and misunderstood,” Holtorf said before Clark pressed him to answer the question.

“I have five daughters,” Holtorf said. “Women, in my humble opinion, particularly if they’re a congresswoman, need to dress respectfully and professionally.”

Given the opportunity to respond, Boebert said she didn’t “have a comment on his dress code.” She added, “I’m happy with my clothing options and I don’t dress —” before Holtorf interrupted her with a reference to Boebert’s ejection from a performance of the musical “Beetlejuice” at a Denver theater the previous summer.

“Especially at the theater, right?” Holtorf said. “You’re really happy with those options, right?”

The two leading vice chair candidates embody the rift that divided the state GOP last year, when a group of Republicans — including Holtorf — spent months trying to oust then-Chairman Dave Williams from office in a battle that involved lawsuits and competing central committee meetings, including one held by Williams’ critics that a district court judge later ruled violated party bylaws.

Williams survived efforts characterized by his supporters as a months-long “coup” attempt but decided against seeking a second term running the party.

Hampton regularly slammed the Republicans who tried to unseat Williams, and in a series of Facebook posts in recent months has rained down criticism on Horn and her fellow state party officers — including Phelan before his departure — in one instance describing them as the “Three Stooges of Sellout.”

Horn and her cohorts, Hampton wrote in early May, “strut around claiming they’re ‘of the people.’ Pleeeze! Their ‘principles’ shift faster than a Rocky Mountain Spring snowstorm, bending to the milquetoast whims of their deep-pocketed puppeteers.”

In another post, Hampton said a progress update from Horn was “so uninspiring that it makes a zoo monkey look like a Fortune 500 CEO” and urged potential donors to contribute to conservative candidates and causes, “rather than to these jokers currently leading the Colorado GOP.”

Before making his run to fill the vacancy official, Holtorf told Colorado Politics that he would only run if sitting party leaders were comfortable with welcoming him aboard.

“I want the current, established leadership to be comfortable with me on their team, and if they weren’t, then I wouldn’t want to disrupt what they’re starting, as they try to rebuild and retool and refit the Republican political ship, if you will,” Holtorf said.

Phelan is the second state GOP vice chair in as many years to step down just months after taking office.

Republican Priscilla Rahn resigned from the position almost exactly two years ago to run for Douglas County commissioner, citing a party requirement that candidates in contested primaries can’t hold state party office.

Hope Scheppelman, who was then a La Plata County GOP officer, was elected to fill the vice chair position. Rahn, however, lost the primary to then-state Sen. Kevin Van Winkle, R-Highlands Ranch, who went on to win the election to the county office last November.