GOP advances candidates as convention backs effort to limit primary ballots to Republicans

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice

Colorado Republicans came to Pueblo to choose candidates.

They left having done that—and still debating who should have a say in choosing them.

What unfolded over the course of a long delayed and at times contentious assembly produced clear outcomes in major races while also setting in motion a legal step that could reshape how those candidates are selected in the future.

Candidates emerge with distinct paths to the ballot

Two different approaches carried through in the governor’s race.

State Rep. Scott Bottoms led with 968 votes (45.13 percent) while Victor Marx followed with 837 votes (39.02 percent). Both cleared the 30 percentage threshold required to advance.

Supporters raise signs for Scott Bottoms as delegates react on the convention floor during the governor’s race at the Colorado GOP assembly in Pueblo. Photos by Jen Schumann.

Bottoms framed his campaign around past political fights pointing delegates back to recent years.

“Where were they in 2020?” Bottoms asked. “Did they stand up and actually fight for you?”

He also outlined a policy-driven approach saying, “We will remove sanctuary policies and work with ICE.”

Marx struck a different tone.

“Colorado does not need another politician,” he said. “We need a leader.”

“What’s happening in this state is not a trend,” he added. “It’s a free fall.”

Victor Marx signs certification paperwork securing his place on the primary ballot following the Colorado GOP assembly.

Baisley stands alone as others fall short

In the U.S. Senate race, State Sen. Mark Baisley cleared the 30 percentage threshold with 950 votes (45.94 percent), the only candidate to advance.

Congresswoman Lauren Boebert stepped to the microphone to nominate him.

“He doesn’t read a room—he reads the Constitution and follows that.”

State Rep. Perry Will also spoke in support while several elected officials—including State Rep. Matt Soper—stood near the stage as attendees waved signs backing Baisley.

“America is experiencing a renaissance,” Baisley said. “But Colorado is not part of it.”

“We do not need a senator with a steep learning curve,” Baisley said. “We need leadership that does not back down.”

Sean Pond picked up 455 votes (22 percent) and George Markert 442 votes (21.37 percent), with neither reaching the threshold to move on.

Allen leads, Willson surges in split result

The attorney general race revealed a clear contrast between early support and late momentum.

El Paso County DA Michael Allen led with 1,323 votes (63.97 percent), entering the assembly with backing from law enforcement and party leaders.

Douglas County Sheriff Dan Weekly pointed to Allen’s record.

“He does not make excuses—he enforces the law.”

“Crime is not just a public safety issue,” Allen said. “It’s a cost-of-living issue.”

Speaking at the party’s Centennial dinner Friday night, Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen warned, “Where Montana was about 10 years ago is where you folks are now.”

He pointed to rising violent crime and fentanyl that reshaped Montana’s political landscape, arguing that stronger enforcement and Republican leadership helped reverse that trend.

“Congress talks. Attorneys general act,” Knudsen said.

“This is the real deal… he’s got the correct message.”

But the attorney general race did not end there.

David Willson, who entered the contest just days before the assembly, received 736 votes (35.58 percent) and advanced alongside Allen.

“If you want status quo, vote with my opponent,” Willson said. “If you want change, vote with me.”

“We can’t just deal with election integrity—we have to address election fraud,” he added.

Wiley dominates secretary of state race as election integrity emerges as central theme

In the secretary of state race, James Wiley was the only candidate to advance, receiving 1,459 votes (70.55 percent).

“We can’t have division within our own party,” Wiley said. “It’s not about who has better ideas—it’s about who unites to win.”

“I believe we need to eliminate the automatic voter registration in this state,” he said.

“I want to make sure that our voter rolls are clean… that there are no illegals and no one else who’s supposed to not be voting on our rolls.”

“I want to institute a plan for whistleblowers… to report fraud… without risk,” he said.

J.J. McKenzie received 478 votes (23.11 percent). McKenzie warned that Colorado’s election system needs to be “transformed,” calling for the elimination of automatic voter registration, cleaner voter rolls and changes to how elections are administered, including stronger oversight of the process.

In the state treasurer race, Kevin Grantham advanced unopposed by voice vote. He later received 1,763 votes (85.25 percent) when ballots were counted.

Grassroots pressure moves from turnout to accountability

Before voting began, the message from the stage shifted from turnout to pressure.

Scott Presler, who has traveled the country registering voters and working to boost turnout, stepped to the microphone with a warning for federal lawmakers.

“If he does not give us what we want, then we will take away what he has,” Presler said, referencing John Thune and the SAVE Act.

“That is the single most important piece of legislation that the American people want,” he said.

“We don’t want just placeholders—we demand action and results,” he said.

His remarks tied primary participation to pressure on elected officials—linking what happens at the ballot box to decisions made in Washington.

Credentialing breakdown delays and disrupts start

Before any votes were cast, the assembly struggled to begin.

The meeting was presided over by RNC parliamentarian Al Gage, who served as acting chair and oversaw procedural decisions throughout the day.

Delegates entered through multiple access points and not all were properly scanned, creating what was described as an “over-vote situation,” where about 80 more ballots were cast than the number of delegates recorded through badge scans at entry.

A motion was raised from the floor to investigate the credentialing breakdown including how it occurred and who would oversee a review. Debate followed over who would conduct such an investigation and how it would be funded.

The motion ultimately failed.

State GOP Secretary Russ Andrews said Credentials Committee Chair Adrian Sandoval took responsibility.

“She did stand up and take culpability for it,” he said, adding that “it wasn’t her fault.”

“Thank God for Al Gage,” Andrews said. “Had he not done that we’d still be there.”

“I thought everything went well after the first 4 or 5 hours,” he said.

Primary fight moves from committee to convention floor

Days earlier, the party’s executive committee had voted 15–9 against pursuing an emergency injunction to close the Republican primary to unaffiliated voters.

At the assembly, delegates voted to override a ruling from the chair that the motion was out of order—a move requiring a two-thirds majority—clearing the way for the opt-out proposal to proceed.

The convention then voted to support efforts by Republican National Committeeman Randy Corporon and attorney John Eastman to pursue a preliminary injunction aimed at preventing Republican ballots from being sent to unaffiliated voters.

“Yes, it did,” Andrews said about the confusion on whether the censure passed. “I was sitting next to Richard Keck, and I said, it looks like we both just got censured.” Keck serves as the state party treasurer.

Supporters argued the convention had authority to act while in session. During floor debate, Laurel Imer cited Colorado statute C.R.S. 1-3-106(2), saying it allows a party convention to assume certain powers of the state central committee while convened.

Mesa County GOP Chair Alice Bumgarner, who voted against the proposal Thursday night, said her concerns centered on timing and execution.

“They were pressuring us to make a decision that night… without thinking about the consequences in June,” she said.

Bumgarner said the proposal moved ahead without answers to what she called basic questions.

“Who’s going to pay for it? The state doesn’t have any money,” she said. “I don’t think they know how this is going to shake out.”

She said the timing could discourage unaffiliated voters who often vote Republican in the general election.

Others who opposed the measure said that concern came up repeatedly as the discussion unfolded.

“I just think it’s a mistake,” Andrews said.

“I’m passionate about winning elections… that’s what I really care about.”

At the same time, he said allowing the issue to be decided by the full convention could help move the party forward.

“If you’re going to do it, you’re going to do it… I’m happy if we just get it behind us and move on and win elections,” he said.

Corporon frames urgency and scope

Corporon, who said that today he is speaking only in his role as National Committeeman, explained that “the only thing the Party would be asking a judge to do is stop the Secretary of State from placing Republican primary ballots in unaffiliated envelopes. Period.”

“Nothing else changes.”

He said that, in his experience, “courts are reluctant to take disruptive action close to an election,” which is why “the issue is time-sensitive.”

“People argue that this action will push unaffiliated voters away from Republican candidates in November. But the statistical evidence I’ve seen, and have previously presented in court as an attorney, doesn’t support that. What supporters of returning to a closed primary are trying to do is protect the already established Constitutional right of a private organization, like the Colorado GOP, to select their own candidates, and to drive Republican turnout in November by getting us excited about voting for candidates we believe in.”

Right or wrong, as National Committeeman, my job is to advocate for the vast majority of members of my Party who support this action, not the outgoing Chairman and three members of the Executive Committee, all of whom continue to disregard the repeated explicit directions of the voting members of their Party.”

Resolution dispute mirrors broader tensions

That same tension surfaced again during the resolutions portion of the meeting.

Attorney and delegate John Case argued that language included in prior resolutions—requiring in-person voting, hand-counted ballots and precinct-level control—had been removed from the version presented to delegates.

“These resolutions are incorrect,” he said.

He moved to amend the language from the floor, but the effort stalled.

“You would first have to have a motion to suspend the rules to be able to amend it,” Gage said.

Delegates did not reach that threshold, and the resolutions were approved as presented, all in a single vote.

The question that remains

By the end of the night, the candidates were set.

One question remained—who participates in choosing those candidates, and how those decisions are made.

That question now moves beyond the convention hall into the courts, election offices and the broader electorate.

For many who made the trip to Pueblo, it may matter just as much as the names that will appear on the ballot.