Outgoing state GOP chair Kristi Burton Brown takes policy job at Advance Colorado

Outgoing Colorado Republican Party chair Kristi Burton Brown starts work this week as a senior policy advisor at conservative advocacy organization Advance Colorado, the nonprofit's president said Tuesday.

Burton Brown, an attorney, told Colorado Politics she plans to focus on promoting school choice and protecting the state's Taxpayer Bill of Rights in her new role.

"We’re going to be working on a lot of education, and school choice issues," she said. "I'll also work on protecting TABOR and lower taxes — basically all the good policy we think the legislature should be doing in Colorado but they’re not doing."

She's handing off the state GOP to former state Rep. Dave Williams, the Colorado Springs Republican who won election as state chair on Saturday. Burton Brown, who served a term as vice chair before her election as chair two years ago, declined to seek reelection to the top job.

Burton Brown was the youngest Colorado Republican chair in history and only the second woman to lead the party.

"We're excited to have Kristi Burton Brown join us at Advance Colorado. Kristi excels at uniting people around conservative principles," Advance Colorado President Michael Fields said in a statement. "Colorado is at a crossroads — and Advance Colorado plans to continue to engage in important policy discussions at both the state and local levels."

Founded in 2020, the group backed last year's successful statewide ballot measure to reduce Colorado's income tax rate and helped launch a bid to recall state Sen. Kevin Priola after the Brighton lawmaker left the Republican Party and became a Democrat, though after suffering a setback in court, the group dropped the recall effort.

Under its umbrella, the nonprofit operates a policy institute, runs a leadership training program and initiates litigation. It's also associated with Advance Colorado Action, which works to influence legislation and ballot measures.

Burton Brown rose to prominence in her teens when she co-sponsored the first attempt to pass a "personhood" amendment in 2008. She spearheaded a failed campaign to recall then-state Rep. Tom Sullivan over the Centennial Democrats support for gun-control measures in 2019 and served as lead policy advisor for U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert before the Silt Republican won office in 2020.

During her tenure as state GOP chair, Republicans made off-year gains on school boards and city councils but Democrats swept the ballot last year, winning every statewide race and increasing their majorities in the General Assembly and the state's congressional delegation.