| | | | |  | | By Madison Fernandez | | | The Colorado Republican Party is the latest state party to be plagued by infighting, with an effort underway to oust the party chair. Dave Williams, who has been chair of the state GOP since last year, has drawn the ire of local Republicans in recent months. Critics point to an email he sent from the state party account that attacked Pride Month, and others have taken issue with how he used the position to boost his failed congressional campaign. (Williams ran with former President Donald Trump's backing for CO-05, a deep red seat being vacated by outgoing Republican Rep. Doug Lamborn. He lost by 30 points to conservative commentator Jeff Crank.) Williams also led the party to break from precedent to endorse candidates in contested primaries this year — many of whom ended up losing last month.
|  Colorado Republican Party Chair Dave Williams is facing calls for his ouster. | Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP | But the move to kick Williams out from party leadership hit a speed bump over the weekend. A meeting scheduled for Saturday to vote on his ouster was blocked by a state court judge on Friday. Williams had sued to halt the meeting, which he argued would have been invalid. "This just shows how dishonest the minority of anti-Trump fraudsters in the GOP really are,” Colorado Republican Party Vice Chair Hope Scheppelman said in a statement to Score. “They have to lie about Chairman Williams because their smears have no validity and they know he’s been fighting for the grassroots Trump supporters who elected him, just as he promised he would do." Instead, discontent Republicans gathered on Saturday for a rally to express their dissatisfaction with Williams’ leadership. El Paso Republican Party Vice Chair Todd Watkins, who is leading the charge to remove Williams along with Jefferson County GOP Chair Nancy Pallozzi, told The Colorado Sun’s Sandra Fish that they are planning to appeal the judge’s decision — indicating that the drama is far from over. (Watkins and Pallozzi have since faced blowback from their respective parties for their attempt to oust Williams.) The strength of a state party isn’t always indicative of electoral wins or losses, especially as some candidates distance themselves from party infrastructure. But having a well-functioning one could be an extra boost for candidates, especially in tough races. Colorado isn’t seen as much of a battleground on the presidential level, although it is home to a competitive House race in the 8th District — a seat that President Joe Biden won by less than 5 points in 2020 and is currently held by Democratic Rep. Yadira Caraveo. Caraveo’s opponent, state Rep. Gabe Evans, is one of the Williams detractors. Evans attended Saturday’s rally and signed onto a letter, along with the state Senate minority leader and the GOP nominees in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th Congressional Districts, urging Williams to resign. When reached for comment, a spokesperson for Evans said he will let the letter speak for itself. Evans, who was national Republicans' top choice for the seat and easily defeated the state GOP-endorsed candidate in his primary, previously spoke out against the party for its primary endorsements, saying it was not “the best way to show that we're trying to bring unity.” Some of the signers of the letter were endorsed by the party in their primaries. Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert, who received the party endorsement for her campaign in the 4th District, also voiced concern about the infighting. “Instead of uniting and focusing our message on securing our border, unleashing American energy, and getting President Trump back to the White House, we've seen lawsuits, threats, and censures, resulting in a failure to come together fueled by all sides of the party,” she wrote on Friday. “An attempted, and likely contested, change in leadership at COGOP just 100 days out from Election Day will be disruptive and damaging, but Chairman Williams has put himself in this situation.” Other state Republican parties across the country have recently faced leadership crises — one of the most high-profile being in Michigan. There, Republicans had a long-running legal battle where they kicked out their chair as the party faced significant financial struggles and physical altercations at party meetings. Florida Republicans also ousted their party chair earlier this year over rape allegations. (The now-former chair denied the allegations and criminal charges were ultimately not filed.) And the Arizona GOP chair resigned amid controversy over a leaked audio recording in which he appeared to attempt to bribe Kari Lake to not to run for Senate. A handful of Republicans have announced their intentions to replace Williams, including Eli Bremer, a former county chair and failed 2022 Senate candidate, unsuccessful CO-04 candidate state Rep. Richard Holtorf, former county treasurer Brita Horn and county chair Steve Peck. Happy Monday. Reach me at mfernandez@politico.com and @madfernandez616. Days until the Arizona primaries: 1 Days until the Tennessee primaries: 3 Days until the Kansas, Michigan, Missouri and Washington state primaries: 8 Days until the Hawaii primaries: 12 Days until the Connecticut, Minnesota, Vermont and Wisconsin primaries: 15 Days until the Democratic National Convention: 21 Days until the Alaska, Florida and Wyoming primaries: 22 Days until the 2024 election: 99
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| | SETTING THE STAGE — Presidential candidates looking to make the stage for the Sept. 10 ABC News debate must hit at least 15 percent in four national polls fielded and released between Aug. 1 and Sept. 3, the network said on Friday. Candidates must also be certified by Sept. 3 to appear on enough ballots to earn 270 electoral votes. GROWING PAINS — Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) had a “difficult week, and some Republicans aren’t hiding their frustration,” POLITICO’s Irie Sentner and Jared Mitovich write. Despite momentum after being named Trump’s running mate, Vance “started receiving unwanted attention after old clips resurfaced of him calling some Democrats ‘childless cat ladies’ and suggesting parents should have more political power than non-parents.” Democrats are putting his attacks against Vance and other Republicans quite simply: they’re just “weird.” ASSASSINATION AFTERMATH — Trump will “continue to do outdoor rallies,” he said over the weekend. He also noted that the Secret Service has “agreed to substantially step up their operation.” His rally over the weekend in Minnesota was indoors. And on Friday, he said that he’s planning to go back to Butler, Pa., where he got shot earlier this month.
| | ENDORSEMENT CORNER — Trump rolled out a new slate of endorsements over the weekend, including a dual endorsement in the contentious GOP primary between Abe Hamadeh and Blake Masters in red AZ-08. Trump endorsed Hamadeh for this race in December, though Masters has been leaning on the former president’s endorsement from his 2022 Senate bid in his campaigning for this seat. On Sunday, Trump wrote that both Masters and Hamadeh have his endorsement and “they will both be spectacular.” A handful of other candidates are running for the open seat, including state House Speaker Ben Toma and former Rep. Trent Franks. … Trump pulled a similar move in the race for Missouri governor, where he endorsed Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe and state Sen. Bill Eigel in the GOP primary. “Choose any of them — you can’t go wrong!” he wrote. … Former Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt also secured a Trump endorsement as he runs for KS-02, an open safe red seat. … MI-08 candidate Paul Junge, who unsuccessfully ran in the midterms, has a boost from Trump as well ahead of his primary for this open battleground. ... Trump also backed Joe Kent in battleground WA-03. Trump supported Kent in 2022 as well, when he lost to Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez. FOR YOUR CALENDAR — Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) and Republican Sam Brown agreed to a debate on Oct. 17 hosted by 8 News Now.
| | PRESIDENTIAL — NATIONAL — In a head-to-head matchup, Trump has 49 percent of support and Vice President Kamala Harris has 47 percent in a Wall Street Journal poll conducted by GBAO and Fabrizio Lee. With independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on the ballot, Harris earns 45 percent; Trump gets 44 percent; and Kennedy receives 4 percent (1,000 registered voters, July 23-25, MoE +/- 3.1 percentage points). … MICHIGAN — Harris and Trump are tied with 49 percent each in a Fox News poll conducted by Beacon Research and Shaw & Company Research. On a full ballot, Trump has 45 percent, Harris has 43 percent and Kennedy has 7 percent (1,012 registered voters; July 22-24; MoE +/- 3 percentage points). … Harris has 42 percent and Trump has 41 percent in a Glengariff Group poll for The Detroit News and WDIV-TV. Kennedy earns 10 percent (600 likely voters, July 22-24, MoE +/- 4 percentage points). … MINNESOTA — Harris leads Trump 52 percent to 46 percent according to Fox News. With third-party candidates included, Harris has 47 percent, Trump has 41 percent and Kennedy has 7 percent (1,071 registered voters, July 22-24, MoE +/- 3 percentage points). … PENNSYLVANIA — Harris and Trump have 49 percent each per Fox News. On the expanded ballot, Harris has 45 percent, Trump has 43 percent and Kennedy has 7 percent (1,034 registered voters, July 22-24, MoE +/- 3 percentage points). … WISCONSIN — Trump has 50 percent and Harris has 49 percent in the Fox News poll. The two are tied at 46 percent each when third-party candidates are included, and Kennedy earns 5 percent (1,046 registered voters, July 22-24, MoE +/- 3 percentage points). AZ-Sen — Lake has a substantial lead over Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb ahead of this week’s GOP primary, per a Noble Predictive Insights poll. Lake has 50 percent of support, and Lamb has 38 percent (438 likely Republican primary voters, July 22-23, MoE +/- 4.65 percentage points). MI-Sen — Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin has a narrow lead over former GOP Rep. Mike Rogers, 51 percent to 46 percent in the Fox poll. Both face primary challengers but are the favorites. … Slotkin has 46 percent to Rogers’ 41 percent in the Glengariff Group poll. MN-Sen — Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar has a wide lead over Royce White, the leading Republican looking to face her, with 57 percent support to his 40 percent in the Fox poll. PA-Sen — Democratic Sen. Bob Casey has 55 percent of support, while Republican Dave McCormick has 42 percent. WI-Sen — Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin is leading Republican Eric Hovde with 54 to 43 percent in the Fox poll.
| | | | The space economy is already woven into our lives in ways we don't always appreciate, creating a global backbone for communications, media, data, science and defense. It's also becoming an increasingly competitive zone among nations - and a venue for complex and important public-private partnerships. Join POLITICO on July 30 for a conversation about what Washington needs to understand is at stake – which sectors of the global economy see their growth arc in space, and what the role of government leaders is in both growing and regulating the explosion of orbital ideas. REGISTER | | | | | | | | | ROUNDUP TIME — You can tell campaign season is in full swing, because we’re now being inundated with ads. Instead of bogging down the newsletter with dozens of ads, we’ll now regularly publish a roundup for our Pro subscribers. Have no fear — Score will still feature a handful of exclusive or interesting ads every day. Our first roundup is here. FIRST IN SCORE — DE-Gov — Citizens for a New Delaware Way, a PAC that is opposing Democratic Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long, is launching a $500,000 onslaught against her. A TV spot accuses her of campaign finance scandals, referencing a report that she made undisclosed payments to her husband using campaign funds and that she took donations above the legal limit. Last week, a report from the state’s elections department found that “Hall-Long’s political campaigns repeatedly violated Delaware law by not disclosing $298,000 in payments to her husband, and by failing to record advances the couple made to her campaigns as loans,” WHYY News’ Chris Barrish reported. The state elections chief “informed the lieutenant governor in writing that he would not pursue criminal charges.” Citizens for a New Delaware Way has since called on Hall-Long to resign and drop out of the race. The group, which is backed by Phil Shawe, CEO of translation services company TransPerfect, is also sending mailers to more than 50,000 primary voters highlighting her campaign finance missteps. The PAC said it is planning to spend $1 million ahead of the September primary. Hall-Long is facing off against New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer and former Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Secretary Collin O’Mara in the primary. … DLGA PAC is running a biographical spot for Hall-Long and highlights her endorsement from outgoing Democratic Gov. John Carney and the state Democratic Party. PRESIDENTIAL — Preserve America PAC, a pro-Trump super PAC backed by GOP megadonor Miriam Adelson, attacks Harris over the Southern border. … MAGA Inc., the main super PAC supporting Trump, calls Harris a “liberal San Francisco prosecutor.” Another spot blames Harris for the “chaotic mess” at the border, and accuses her of “lying” about “Biden’s obvious mental decline.” … FF PAC, the leading pro-Biden (and now Harris) super PAC, highlights her biography as a district attorney, attorney general, senator and vice president. AZ-Sen — Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego is up with a Spanish-language spot saying that he’ll support immigrants, and that Democrats and Republicans need to work together to solve issues at the border. … Lake leans into her endorsement from Trump ahead of the primary. HOUSE BATTLEGROUNDS — “House Majority PAC is adding $24 million to its initial $186 million in TV and digital reservations in April,” POLITICO’s Ally Mutnick scoops. “Most of that new money will bolster the original buy,” though the Democratic group is also newly targeting IA-01, where Democrat Christina Bohannan is targeting Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks; WI-01, where former Democratic Rep. Peter Barca is looking to unseat Republican Rep. Bryan Steil; and WI-03, where Democrats are competing to take on Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden. HMP is also “reserving $1.7 million to help Democratic Rep. Angie Craig , who was the first battleground Democrat to call for Biden to bow out of the race. That’s an earmarked donation from a group of donors who sought to reward her for doing so.” MO-01 — Democratic Rep. Cori Bush features the father and sister of Michael Brown, who was killed by a police officer in 2014. “I feel like he lied to us,” Mike Brown Sr. said of Bush’s primary opponent Wesley Bell, the St. Louis county prosecutor. “He used my family for power, and now he’s trying to sell out St. Louis,” he added. … Justice Democrats, the progressive group backing Bush, pushes back against “Republican lies” attacking Bush. … United Democracy Project, the American Israel Public Affairs Commitee’s super PAC, says that Bush “has her own agenda” as “Democrats need to stick together to get things done” in a closely divided Congress. CODA: QUOTE OF THE DAY — “I’ve got nothing against cats.” — Vance in response to criticism he’s received for 2021 remarks about “childless cat ladies.” | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
