This is a developing story and will be updated. Further information on the background to Saturday’s vote can be found here.
Members of the state Republican Party drove from across Colorado to a church in Brighton Saturday morning, where they voted to remove party Chairman Dave Williams from his leadership post. They also voted to replace the party’s vice chairman and secretary.
The vote was 161.66 in favor of removing Williams and 12 against. (Some of those voting received only fractions of the vote.) Only members of the state party’s Central Committee and their deputies were allowed to vote.
Party members elected Eli Bremer as interim chairman. Bremer, a former U.S. Senate candidate and chairman of the El Paso County Republican Party, called himself an interim chairman to get the party through the November election.
It is the most turbulent chapter yet in the already contentious tenure of Williams, who took over as leader of the state Republican Party in 2023 and has angered many in the party with his far-right stance and willingness to attack other Republicans.
“We Republicans have a chance today to chart a new course, throw off the shackles of corruption, and stabilize our party for this election season,” said Michael J. Allen, district attorney for the 4th Judicial District, in requesting Williams’ dismissal.
Before the impeachment vote, several speakers sharply criticized Williams for his lack of leadership and unwillingness to work with others. Several criticized him for his homophobic and transphobic messages. Many stood and applauded when one man criticized Williams for his call to “burn all the pride flags.” Others said Williams simply did not help Republicans win.
Williams continues to resist calls for his resignation. Even before Saturday’s vote, Williams said the Brighton meeting was illegitimate and vowed to stay in power. His allies said it was a “fake” power grab by people who are not true republicans – even though the attendees included some of the party’s most prominent and longest-serving members.
And while the Brighton rally that led to his recall was underway, Williams was involved in a counterattack at another rally in Colorado Springs, where local party members were attempting to oust El Paso County Vice Chairman Todd Watkins, a key organizer of the campaign to unseat Williams. But that effort fell far short of expectations.
The day’s events will leave the party in uncertainty two months before the parliamentary elections.
Bremer vowed to immediately take control of the party.
“You will have exactly zero seconds of downtime,” Bremer promised those attending the meeting. “We will make sure that the phones are answered first thing Monday morning: ‘Welcome to the Colorado Republican Party, we are here to help you.'”
But with Williams showing no signs of accepting Saturday’s vote, Colorado’s Republican Party could find itself in a position similar to that of the Catholic Church during the Western Schism in the 14th century, when two rival leaders both claimed power. While the church is divided between the cities of Rome and Avignon, Bremer and Williams will operate from the same place: Colorado Springs.
