Leading Democratic officials in Colorado on Tuesday ripped President Donald Trump’s announcement that the U.S. Space Command will move from Colorado Springs to Huntsville, Alabama, as a politically motivated decision meant to reward Republican friends while putting the nation’s military readiness at risk.

The barrage of criticism aimed at Trump emerged hours after the entire state congressional delegation issued a bipartisan statement vowing to fight to keep the combatant command headquartered at Peterson Space Force Base, though it was unclear what tools lawmakers from either party have at hand to pressure Trump to reverse the decision.

At the same time, the state’s Democratic Party and Democratic candidates running against Republican House members blamed GOP incumbents for failing to protect the installation and its significant impact on the economy.

U.S. Rep. Jeff Crank, the Colorado Springs Republican who represents the 5th Congressional District, home to Space Command, however, said that although he was disappointed in Trump’s announcement, he was confident that “important assets and jobs related to the Space Command mission” aren’t going anywhere.

Space Command’s permanent location has been a political football since Trump announced in the final days of his first administration in January 2021 that its headquarters would relocate from the temporary site in Colorado to Redstone Arsenal in Alabama. At the urging of Colorado’s congressional delegation and state officials, the Biden administration put the move on hold for more than two years and ultimately reversed it in July 2023. Later that year, the Air Force said the base had become fully operational.

Calling the president’s move “an abuse of power and a blatantly political decision from the Oval Office,” Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet told reporters Tuesday afternoon that when Trump mentioning during the announcement that he’d won the vote in Alabama by a wide margin “says it all and, I think, captures his approach to this decision.”

Trump carried Alabama by 30 percentage points over Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, but Harris defeated Trump by an 11-point margin in Colorado.

“This is political retribution because Coloradans don’t like Trump — and that makes me proud,” U.S. Rep. Brittany Pettersen, a Lakewood Democrat, said in an emailed statement.

U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse, a Lafayette Democrat and the assistant House minority leader, made a similar point in a post on X.

“Let’s be clear — this is a blatant and brazen act of political retribution, nothing more,” Neguse tweeted. “Trump’s reckless decision to move Space Command headquarters out of Colorado will undermine our national security. Shameful.”

Bennet maintained that the delegation had “demonstrated for years that it is in the national security interest of this nation to keep Space Command in Colorado” and said that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle were “ready to fight this decision every step of the way.”

Crank said in a post to social media that while he opposes the move, he doesn’t anticipate it will have the negative impact on the local community that some are predicting.

“While such a move will take years to implement, I am confident that this is not an across-the-board move and that important assets and jobs related to the Space Command mission will remain in El Paso County,” Crank tweeted.

Adding that he is having “productive discussions with the Administration to minimize the impact on our community,” Crank said he was confident that “when the dust settles,” the region will wind up with more jobs and more military missions than it has today.

Jessica Killin, an Army veteran and one of the Democrats hoping to challenge Crank in next year’s election, however, didn’t cut the incumbent any slack, calling Trump’s announcement “a massive loss for El Paso County.”

“Jeff Crank has utterly failed to fight for Colorado,” Killin said in a statement. “He refused to fight for Coloradans’ healthcare, he refused to fight against higher prices, and now he’s refused to protect Space Command and our economy.”

Added Killin: “Since the moment he was elected, Jeff Crank has put pleasing Donald Trump ahead of serving this community, and the people of El Paso County are paying the price.”

Joe Reagan, another Democrat running in the 5th CD primary, told Colorado Politics that he was “disappointed, but not surprised” by what he characterized as a politically motivated decision and its potential effects, including lost job opportunities and wasted tax dollars.

“This is yet another example of the Trump administration putting politics over sound policy,” Reagan said. “Uprooting U.S. Space Command from Colorado Springs will diminish our national security, weaken military readiness, waste taxpayer dollars, and disrupt military families. As someone who has served alongside our military space community, I know firsthand the importance of keeping Space Command here in El Paso County.”

Colorado Democratic Party Chair Shad Murib took aim at Crank in a lengthy statement alleging that Trump had decided to move Space Command from Colorado Springs “out of pure political spite.”

“Make no mistake: this is politically-motivated retaliation,” Murib said. “The president is punishing Colorado for conducting free, fair and efficient elections that have elected Republicans and Democrats alike — including our Republican members of Congress: Gabe Evans, Lauren Boebert, Jeff Crank and Jeff Hurd. One has to wonder if the president is insinuating that their elections are illegitimate.”

During his announcement Tuesday, Trump said that Colorado’s all-mail voting system was a “big reason” he’d decided to move the command.

Through a spokesman, Colorado GOP Chair Brita Horn declined to comment on the announcement.