This year was the second year in a row that Colorado Republicans have attempted to pass legislation criminalizing abortion in Colorado. Rep. Scott Bottoms’ (R-CO Springs) bill, “Abolishing Abortion in Colorado,” was a repeat of former Rep. Dave Williams’ (R-CO Springs) bill in 2022. Both bills featured testimony from Jeff Durbin of End Abortion Now and members of Colorado Right to Life, and both bills died in Democrat-controlled committees.
The future of the Colorado Republican Party appears to be focused on restricting voting and perpetuating the unfounded claim of widespread election conspiracy. The six candidates vying to head the state’s GOP spoke last Wednesday night at a forum held in Parker on the direction they would take the party–all of whom vowed to close primaries to unaffiliated voters and investigate voter fraud within the state.
Anti-LGBTQ rhetoric is on the rise across the U.S. and in Colorado, and drag shows have become a central target of the right. Conservatives have attacked and vilified drag shows and performers, saying they are part of a left-wing effort to indoctrinate children through grooming.
This year, leading conservatives have waged war on LQBTQ people in Colorado. Here is a sample of recent stories in the Colorado Times Recorder about hostility or outright bigotry toward members of our LGBTQ community.
In a radio interview this month, Priscilla Rahn, vice chair of the Colorado Republican Party, urged GOP voters to cast their ballots along party lines, regardless of whether they share candidates’ values and positions.
In El Paso County, home of more Republican voters than any other county in Colorado, one might assume that the winner of the Republican primary would have a clear path to victory in November, but you would be wrong.
In the wake of Colorado’s primary elections last week and the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and return abortion laws to state authority, Republicans and conservatives continue to push anti-abortion policy via legislation, ballot initiatives, campaign rhetoric, and leadership elections. Despite recent failures in enacting their agenda and a demonstrated lack of support from the state’s voters, the Colorado GOP is undeterred.
Republicans are waging an all-out war on the rights and existence of transgender people this election cycle, and that battle is being carried into Colorado by legislators like state Representatives Mark Baisley (R-Roxborough Park) and Dave Williams (R-CO Springs), among others.
The Jan. 6 Committee held its second of seven hearings Tuesday, continuing to present the results of their investigation into the former President Donald Trump’s voter fraud conspiracy claims and the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
The U.S. Senate race between Colorado state Rep. Ron Hanks (R-Cañon City) and businessman Joe O’Dea is highlighting a growing divide amongst Republicans on the subject of abortion. The debate over how extreme GOP politicians should be on abortion has not just affected Colorado’s Senate race, but was also front and center in Louisiana, where earlier this month House Bill 813, a near duplicate of Rep. Dave Williams’s (R-CO Springs) failed personhood bill, was blocked not by pro-abortion Democrats, but by Republicans and anti-abortion groups that felt it went too far.
