COLORADO, USA — Colorado Republican Party Chairman Dave Williams will face a reckoning on primary election day next Tuesday.
Voters might validate his leadership by electing candidates he and the party have endorsed when the GOP dropped neutrality rules to back Williams and his handpicked allies in their races for Congress or voters will reject the power grab.
The Colorado GOP has endorsed Ron Hanks in Congressional District 3, Lauren Boebert in Congressional District 4, Williams in Congressional District 5 and Janak Joshi in Congressional District 8.
Williams is facing demands to resign for anti-gay messages sent to the party and posted on social media this month, including a call to burn all Pride flags.
There is also an ethics complaint accusing him of misusing party funds to prop up his run for Congress.
At a Colorado GOP luncheon in Arapahoe County on Tuesday, 9NEWS politics guy Marshall Zelinger spoke with Dave Williams about the controversies surrounding his campaign.
Editor's note: This interview has been edited for context and clarity.
Zelinger: How much has the Colorado GOP spent to help you beat another Republican? And how much has the party spent to help the three other endorsed candidates win their contested primaries?
Williams: There has been no direct spending from the party for myself or any of the other candidates.
Zelinger: Take ‘The [Colorado] Trumpet,’ for instance, that's on the table here. It has an article about you and Trump and is negative toward your opponent, Jeff Crank, and it’s paid for by the Republican Party. Is that not? Do you not consider that?
Williams: No, that's a publication that we've revived, and the editor-in-chief is Eric Grossman from Mineral County, so you can talk to him about it. I had no decision-making authority over that publication whatsoever, and it does not say vote for, vote against any of those candidates.
Editor’s note: Political mailers paid for by the Colorado Republican Party tell voters to “Vote Dave Williams for Congress” and to “Vote No” on Williams’ opponent Jeff Crank
Zelinger: So, when the finances come out, we're going to see $0 spent to benefit Dave Williams’ CD-5 campaign, and $0 spent for any of the other endorsed candidates?
Williams: You're not going to see anything like that.
Zelinger: There's an effort to oust you as chair after you called for the burning of all pride flags and using the term ‘godless groomers.’ Did you go too far?
Williams: We make no apologies; we're going to fight to protect children, and we're going to make sure that we fight against this effort to confuse children into thinking that they can be something opposite than what they were born. And, we make no apologies for saying the truth and why we need to ensure that people remain vigilant over what we feel is an effort to get your children to convince them that they're the opposite sex of what they truly are, and to, ultimately, ruin their lives and harm society.
Zelinger: Do you think that can incite hate crimes?
Williams: No, words cannot incite hate crimes.
Zelinger: Your anti-gay hate is at odds with former President Trump's welcoming views toward the LGBTQ community. Do you think that Trump approves of your approach?
Williams: I mean, I wouldn't characterize what I said as ‘hate.’ I mean, this is sort of the problem that I have with the media, and of course, my critics, is they want to mischaracterize what was said. I think what was said was very clear. We're going to stand against this Pride movement that seeks to indoctrinate children and convince them to do things that ultimately harm them.
Zelinger: Do you think former President Trump would approve of that speech?
Williams: I’m not sure if he would or would not, but the beauty of being in this country is we all get to say what we think is important that people want to pay attention and do join us in protecting children. And we hope that's what happens.
Zelinger: Following Trump's conviction, you fundraised off that in direct defiance of the Trump campaign’s stated wishes and the fundraising email, which said {to] donate to support Trump and the Colorado GOP [which] went to a page to only donate to the state party. Do you know if former President Trump knows that you did that? And, do you think he would approve of that?
Williams: I don't think there's anything wrong with what we did. We put out a communication saying, 'support Trump' and 'support our efforts to ensure that we win in 2024.' That's completely in line with what he was asking.
Zelinger: Did they know that you did that? Because they said do not campaign off this conviction.
Williams: I cannot say what they know or do not know. But, we certainly haven't received any backlash, and we're here to raise funds to help him get reelected.
Zelinger: How much was raised for the state party via that fundraising push and how much was raised for Trump?
Williams: You're going have to ask our treasurer. Put in an inquiry for that. You’ll know. I don't have those figures off the top my head.
Zelinger: If you win your congressional district primary next week, will you accept the election results?
Williams: (Laughs) No matter what the election results are, I think everyone's going to accept them, win or lose.
Zelinger: If Jeff Crank wins, you'll accept those election results?
Williams: He’ll be the nominee. I don't. I don't know what accept or not accept is.
Zelinger: Will you fight them and say it's an illegitimate election.
Williams: We lose by, like, one vote, and we want to recount, I think you can understand that, but no, it’s going to be settled one way or the other.
Zelinger: Being the head of any organization relies on results. If most of the candidates that the party has endorsed do not win, do you step down?
Williams: I have no plans to step down. I'm sure that's a conversation that my critics are going to have in light of the Pride comments. But, regardless, I'm here to fulfill the entirety of my term. And that's it.
Zelinger: If voters reject the endorsements of you and the party, do you deserve to still be party chairman?
Williams: I don't know if that's the way to look at it. Again, you have millions of dollars coming into this race manipulating voters on a campaign platform and rhetoric that we are already saying. So, if they win, it's going to be a function of voters being tricked.
Zelinger: If there is an effort to oust you, if the county parties get enough signatures, will you call for a vote or do you try to reject that somehow?
Williams: We have no problem calling for a meeting. In fact, we've said this early on, if people want to have a special meeting to discuss what happened with the Pride email and whether or not they want to continue to have me in current leadership, we're more than happy to have that debate.
Zelinger: And no communication from former President Trump on your views of that email earlier this month or of fundraising off the conviction?
Williams: Not at all. I think he's busy just trying to instantly win over swing states.
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