Colorado Republicans are gearing up for the 2026 election, and with a clean slate of newly-elected leaders the party is optimistic. Colorado GOP Secretary Russ Andrews joined El Paso County Commissioner Russ Andrews, Rep. Rose Pugliese (R-El Paso County), and Sen. Rod Pelton (R-Cheyenne Wells) to raise funds for Pueblo Senate candidate Dana Charles, a health care administrator and first-time candidate, in Fountain last Thursday.
“We are going to flip at least five, maybe six [House district] seats this time, and two-to-three Senate seats,” said Andrews. “That’s coming for me, and if it doesn’t happen I won’t run for secretary again.”
Once again, the state Senate is still their best hope to make significant gains, if only due chamber’s smaller seats. One of those seats is Pueblo’s Senate District 3 seat, currently held by Sen. Nick Hinrichsen (D-Pueblo). Hinrichsen was appointed to the seat in 2022 after LeRoy Garcia resigned for a job in the Biden administration. Hinirichsen won election to the seat in November 2022, defeating Republican Stephen Varela by 1,669 votes.
“Sen. Hinrichsen is one of the most liberal, communistic senators at the gold dome,” said Pelton. “He runs bills that will make you cringe. He tried to moderate a little bit this year because of re-election coming up, but it didn’t work.”
Long considered a Democratic stronghold, Republicans have made inroads in the Steel City in recent years with a series of wins at the school board, municipal, and county level.
“The overall middle class —the overall working people of Pueblo — has historically been blue,” said Charles, the first — and only, so far — Republican to announce candidacy for SD2. “I think in recent years you have seen this shift away from that more to common sense values. How are we going to make it affordable for the middle class to live in Colorado? More of those common sense values that look at things like school choice. I want to have a right — I have two children that I have raised in Pueblo, and they have done private school, they’ve done public school, charter schools, and so I believe in schools of choices. I believe in parental responsibility, and I think there has been a shift in mentality of really, ‘What is common sense?’ We have started to lean a little bit more moderate.”
One of the driving forces behind the conservative political victories in Pueblo has been the Christian activist group Forging Pueblo. In 2022, Forging Pueblo partnered with Mark Lee Dickson, the director of Right to Life of East Texas and founder of the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn Initiative, to push Pueblo’s City Council to adopt a municipal anti-abortion ordinance. The effort failed, but the following year Forging Pueblo’s political committee, Forging the Future, supported multiple candidates for Pueblo D60 Board of Education. Two of those candidates won: Sue Pannunzio and Brian Cisneros. Also winning election in 2023 was Pueblo City Council candidate Mark Aliff, who appeared in a promotional video for the group in 2019. This summer, the Pueblo City Council voted 5-1 to spend $1,500 on a fundraiser for Tamra Axworthy’s anti-abortion center. Axworthy, alongside Rep. Stephanie Luck (R-Penrose), was listed on the board of Forging Pueblo. Aliff was also one of the supporters of recent efforts to reintroduce the failed 2022 anti-abortion ordinance. In 2024, Forging Pueblo board member Paula McPheeters was elected to Pueblo’s Board of County Commissioners.
“I think that Forging Pueblo does what a lot of organizations do — they fight for the beliefs of the people who belong to that organization,” said Charles, who donated $100 to Forging the Future in 2023, and was a regular financial supporter of McPheeters. “That is school of choice, that is a parent’s right to make decisions for their children, so [I] certainly support those beliefs as well … Forging Pueblo I think does amazing things for the Pueblo community.”
While Charles identifies as “pro-life,” she recognizes the political reality of Colorado. “The legislature is pro-choice and we follow what the people of the state of Colorado have voted for,” she said. “I personally am pro-life. I don’t back down from that. I don’t shirk from those beliefs, but I’m also aware that we represent the people of the state Colorado, and the people in the state voted those laws into place.”
In her pitch to donors, Charles reflected on the recent legislative session. “This is the number one targeted state senate seat, and this seat has statewide impact,” she said. “[This year’s] legislation has ended, and it truly was an attack on our Second Amendment rights with bills like SB 25-003. Anybody remember that one? That was just the beginning. That bill was a sign of the continual erosion of what we are guaranteed in the United States Constitution. And really, what are we doing, Colorado? As Coloradans, we now have fewer rights, we have more fees, and apparently we can’t make decisions for our own children. So I believe very strongly that Colorado can do better.”
Charles was hosting a fundraiser nearly an hour north of her district, but Republicans are hoping that by pooling resources across the state to target vulnerable seats will pay off. “That’s really why I’m also in El Paso County, because they’re not only hurting the community that I love, they’re hurting this community as well,” she said. “These decisions that are being made at the state capitol have statewide impact.”
Pugliese emphasized the importance of getting Republicans elected. “I’m a House leader, not the Senate, but as Sen. Pelton said, the House and the Senate together, we continuously fight together for more seats, for more Republicans to restore balance in Colorado,” she said. “And so t”This isn’t just a Senate issue, it’s also a House issue, because it’s a legislature issue.” [00:08:26][21.1]”
Andrews, who described Charles as a “perfect candidate,” thinks voters are ready for a change. Since the election, Democrat favorability rating in this state is down from 52% to 39%,” he said. “We have our opening, so we’re gonna take it.”
