A Colorado Republican Party officer said last week that a move by party officials to impose restrictions on state GOP chair Brita Horn and hold a “no-confidence” vote on her leadership can proceed.

Horn, however, told Colorado Politics that the attempt by her critics to convene a meeting of the party’s state central committee has already been ruled invalid, because it didn’t comply with party bylaws.

The Colorado Springs Republican who organized a petition to call a special meeting of the state party’s governing body countered that he’s sticking with state GOP secretary Russ Andrews’ interpretation of the rules and plans to schedule the meeting later this month.

The standoff comes days after state party vice chair Richard Holtorf, a former state lawmaker and congressional candidate, announced that he will step down from the party’s No. 2 position at the end of February, citing his inability to work with Horn.

Holtorf is the second vice chair to resign from the position in the past seven months. His predecessor, Darrel Phelan, a former Las Animas County GOP chair who resigned last summer, also blamed his frustration with Horn for his decision.

Horn called the latest turmoil engulfing the state GOP a “distraction” and said in an interview she remains focused on supporting Republican candidates as this year’s election calendar kicks into gear.

“I’ve said this until I’m blue in the face,” she said. “The reason why I got elected was I said we’re going to elect more Republicans, grow the party and fundraise relentlessly, and anything else deterring from that goal, that mission, that focus, is just a distraction.”

Horn said she’s busy preparing for next month’s precinct caucuses and county assemblies on the way to the GOP’s state assembly in Pueblo in early April.

“We have 270 days to Election Day, right?” she said. “And we’re wasting our time with this distraction.”

Horn dismissed Holtorf’s complaints about her leadership style — in a letter to Republicans announcing his decision to resign, Holtorf said it was “impossible” to work with Horn — and said her fellow officer hasn’t been up to the position’s requirements.

“I just really believe that he didn’t understand the responsibility of the job,” Horn said. “I believe he thought it was going to be ceremonial, and there was so much work that needs to be done. We needed so much help with the (state) assembly that I actually found somebody else to head our assembly committee.”

Holtorf told Colorado Politics on Saturday that Horn was mischaracterizing their interaction.

“I did not consider my job ceremonial. I would do work for her, but I would not do her work,” he said, adding that while Horn never asked him to handle the state assembly, “she did make a lot of demands for me for things that she or other people had not done.”

Holtorf said that Horn’s poor fundraising performance last year underscores the party’s difficulties. According to campaign finance reports filed last week, the state GOP’s federal committee raised just under $100,000 in individual donations in the second half of 2025 and entered the year owing more than $140,000 to the party’s attorney.

“We can’t even get our own members to invest in our party — how are we going to convince the electorate?” he said.

Holtorf said he’s researching whether he can chair the state central committee meeting that Horn has said isn’t authorized, if it takes place before his departure.

“It’s truly about the intent of the delegate body,” Holtorf said. “We are here to serve the state central committee and that delegate body. That is our job as leaders. We are not here to tell the central committee and delegate body what to do or how to do it. We are truly supposed to be servants of the people.”

At issue is whether a petition circulated by Raymond Garcia, chairman of the Colorado Hispanic Republicans and a bonus member from El Paso County to the party’s state central committee, followed party requirements.

In addition to holding a “no-confidence” vote, the petition listed a proposed agenda that includes a motion to freeze party spending until fundraising improves and a motion to “cease all legal action” aimed at former state party officials involved in a series of lawsuits stemming from a monthslong attempt in 2024 by Horn and other Republicans to remove her predecessor, former state Rep. Dave Williams, from the chair position.

“Brita is really grasping at straws now,” Garcia said in a text message. “She can no longer deny the original petition had the required number of (state central committee) members requesting a special election. No two ways about it.”

Andrews, the state party secretary, said Thursday in an email to central committee members that he’d changed his mind about the validity of the petition submitted last fall by Garcia.

“Effective leaders understand that we have two ears and one mouth; we need to listen to the people who elected us into office,” Andrews wrote, adding that he’d decided that an earlier decision to add additional requirements to call a special meeting of the central committee imposed an unnecessary burden on fellow Republicans.

“The new petition required a higher level of due diligence that I now understand made it too difficult to garner signatures, which is not fair to the entirety of the SCC body. I now recognize that I made a mistake, and I apologize to anyone who was deleteriously affected,” Andrews wrote, declaring that as party secretary he “(has) the autonomy to change my mind.”

Added Andrews: “In the name of unity, I now proclaim that Mr. Garcia did indeed garner the necessary signatures to hold his special meeting. A failure by Ms. Horn to call for the special meeting as per the bylaws will have significant consequences for Ms. Horn.”

Horn told Colorado Politics in a text message on Friday that Andrews lacked the ability to reverse an earlier decision that deemed the petition insufficient.

“The Secretary does not have the authority to override a decision made by the Colorado Republican State Executive Committee,” Horn said. “This matter was settled on November 20, 2025, by the Executive Committee. We are focused on electing Republicans, growing the party, and fundraising relentlessly.”

Garcia rejected Horn’s contention, telling Colorado Politics that he is working to find a suitable time and location for the meeting.

“Even in the wake of an abysmal fundraising report, and the loss of donor support and confidence of her fellow Party officers, Brita Horn still arrogantly thinks the rules don’t apply to her while she attempts to block the petition rights of the membership,” Garcia said in a text message. “The meeting will occur and Brita won’t escape accountability.”