Why would the Colorado Republican Party choose Kari Lake, one of the country’s leading election conspiracists, to headline its annual fundraising dinner?
You’d think such a choice will keep potential donors about as far away from the Republicans’ fundraising dinner as they can possibly get.
But Colorado Republicans have the opposite mindset. They think that spotlighting an election denier like Lake, who still doesn’t believe she lost the governor’s race in Arizona last year, will help them win elections in Colorado.
And they can point to themselves to prove it.
Colorado Republican activists elected one of Colorado’s leading election conspiracists, Dave Williams, as their leader. And Republicans also elected conspiracists to serve as vice chair and secretary of the Colorado Republican Party. (Williams then appointed a treasurer, Tom Bjorklund, who actually attended the Jan. 6 insurrection, and hired Trump Attorney John Eastman to file a lawsuit to exclude unaffiliated voters from voting in Colorado’s primary election.)
Colorado Republicans elected Randy Corporon, an outspoken election conspiracist, to be Colorado’s Republican national committeeman.
In red districts in Colorado, Republicans elected conspiracists to the Legislature, including state Sen. Mark Baisley (R-Roxborough Park), State Rep. Kenneth DeGraaf (R-CO Springs), state Rep. Stephanie Luck (R-Penrose), state Rep. Ty Winter (R-CO Springs), and state Sen. Kevin Van Winkle (R-Highland Ranch).
U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, who represents a GOP-dominated district in Colorado Springs, backed a Texas lawsuit to overturn the results of the 2020 election and refused to certify electoral votes on Jan. 6, saying that “the serious irregularities and improprieties marring the 2020 general election threaten America’s confidence in our electoral system.”
Colorado Republicans apparently look at these office-holding conspiracists and conclude that being an election denier actually helps them win elections, even in Colorado, forgetting of course that it only appears to work if Republicans are mostly the ones voting.
But in at least one critical red zone in Colorado, GOP voters may be turning away from election conspiracy.
U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), who represents a district widely considered to be GOP territory, almost lost her seat in the last election and looks to be vulnerable next year.
Boebert openly embraces election fraud conspiracy theories and has said that “the American people deserve secure and fair elections. Unfortunately, the 2020 election was neither of those things.” On the day of the insurrection, Boebert tweeted, ‘Today Is 1776’
Maybe the Colorado Republican Party sees Boebert reflected in someone like Lake? If so, they’re right, and it might help usher Boebert out of office next year.
