Colorado Republicans made strides in 2024 despite an insidious state chairman who tried to defeat successful Republican candidates.

Newly elected U.S. Reps. Gabe Evans, Jeff Hurd and Jeff Crank fought off unethical opposition from their own state party chairman, making the Colorado congressional delegation a 4-4 partisan split.

Strong state legislative leadership resulted in the pickup of three seats in the House of Representatives, while Senate Republicans held their number which denied Democrats super majorities in both houses.

But as the 2026 midterm election approaches in just seven months, there are four potential threats to Republican efforts to remain relevant and build on those victories in a state that has had total, failed Democratic control at all levels since 2018.  

Three of these threats loom within the party where extreme voices would undermine every Republican candidate in a competitive race. A fourth threat is a blatant, partisan national Democratic powerplay to steal those hardwon three congressional seats.

The leadership of the Colorado Republican State Central Committee has been in chaos for the past year. Chairwoman Brita Horn resigned after being under constant political assault by those who yearn for the glory days of the divisive state chairman who undermined Republican candidates in 2024.  

A new state chair will soon be elected to succeed Horn. One of the leading candidates is Joe Oltmann, who has a long history of inflammatory rhetoric that alienates the vast majority of Colorado voters.

Oltmann advocates the execution of elected officials he claims are members of the “Synagogue of Satan Jews” because of their Jewish heritage. Oltmann says Gov. Jared Polis, Attorney General Phil Weiser, Secretary of State Jena Griswold, Mesa County District Attorney Dan Rubenstein and state Sen. Michael Weissman should be “tried for treason in military tribunals and hang.”

If Oltmann is elected state chairman, he would have a prominent position for his hateful attacks that will infect every Republican candidate for the next seven months.

Two candidates for the Republican nomination for governor have their own problems, which would not only guarantee a huge defeat in November but also put Republican candidates on the defensive in other races.

A Colorado Springs ministry leader, Victor Marx, and state Rep. Scott Bottoms both claim God directly inspired them to run for governor and strongly imply an endorsement from God for governor.

Marx was largely unknown in political circles before entering the race, and he has avoided traditional campaigning except for tightly scripted events his campaign organizes. Many Republicans are skeptical about his professional background.

Bottoms recently claimed the governor’s office and the state legislature are infested with pedophile sex rings while offering no proof. He said he would reveal that proof if he is elected governor. In the meantime, he is presumably comfortable with this alleged criminal activity continuing until the election.

Marx and Bottoms are out of the mainstream of a Colorado electorate that now has a majority of unaffiliated voters who have repeatedly rejected extreme candidates.

A recent federal court decision will make it easier for the state central committees of both parties to “opt-out” of a primary election and only nominate candidates through the sparsely attended, ideologically skewed caucus-assembly process.

Republicans who are obsessed with stolen-election conspiracy theories have repeatedly tried to “opt-out” of a Republican primary but have fallen short. Though it is too late to “opt-out” in 2026, there will certainly be an effort to go on the record this year to do so in 2028.

If Colorado Republicans vote to “opt-out” of a primary, more than 900,000 Republicans would have no role in their nomination process. More than 2 million unaffiliated voters would only get a Democratic primary ballot in the mail. Talk about isolating a political party on the far fringe of Colorado politics.

Though the election for state chairman, the governor’s primary and the possible “opt-out” are internal threats to Republican efforts in 2026, there is an external threat led by national Democratic groups to steal three Republican congressional seats.

The House Majority PAC led by U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York and the National Democratic Redistricting Committee of Washington, D.C. are lavishly funding an effort to repeal the Independent Congressional Redistricting Commission which was created by 71% of Colorado voters in 2018.

These two Washington groups have hired a Colorado-based front man, Curtis Hubbard, a leftist Democratic consultant who previously masqueraded as a journalist, to run their campaign to steal three Republican congressional seats to make the Colorado delegation a 7-1 lopsided Democratic split which these Washington groups would impose on Colorado through the next decade.

Between exclusionary, unelectable Republicans who are on the fringe of Colorado politics and national Democrats who want to steal congressional seats, Colorado Republicans face looming threats to their ability to be competitive in 2026 and beyond.

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 in 2004 when Thune unseated Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle.