This story was first published by the Colorado Times Recorder. Read the original here.
Despite having no statewide elected officials and dwindling numbers in the Colorado House and Senate, Republicans in Colorado are optimistic about the midterm elections.
“[U.S. Sen.] John Hickenlooper [D-CO] is being challenged by the most radical of state senators,” said Colorado Sen. Mark Baisley (R-Roxborough Park) during an El Paso County Republican Women meeting in Colorado Springs Tuesday. “[Colorado Sen.] Julie Gonzales [D-CO] is challenging Hickenlooper in the primaries, so he’s got to have that battle — I appreciate that. Another good reason why I think we’re going to have a good year this year: Because if you look at how the slate is working out — even locally for you in your house district and senate districts — we’re up against [Colorado Sen.] Jessie Danielson [D-Wheat Ridge] for Secretary of State, and Jena Griswold for Attorney General, and maybe Julie Gonzales. Think of the crazy that they’re putting up. Phil Weiser. Who’s crazier than Phil Weiser? Up against the slate that we’re putting together, we will look like the adults have finally arrived and they’re about to take this state back.”
Baisley also hopes that a slate of ballot initiatives targeting transgender people will help Republicans get elected. “We have four wonderful ballot measures — maybe there’s more than that — but four that I know of that will really turn out the conservative vote, especially those unaffiliated who lean conservative,” he said. “So that will help us a great deal.”
The activist group Protect Kids Colorado is behind three initiatives on the 2026 ballot: #108 aims to increase the penalty for child sex trafficking to life imprisonment; #109 would effectively ban students who are trans from playing sports; #110 would ban certain gender-affirming care procedures from being performed on anyone under 18. Protect Kids Colorado founder Kevin Lundberg described the effort as an attempt to “stop the transgender plague in Colorado.”
At yesterday’s meeting, Rep. Chris Richardson (R-Elbert County) highlighted what he saw as two vulnerable seats in El Paso County. “There are seats in this county that do need to be flipped and can be flipped,” he said. “[State Rep.] Regina English [D-Colorado Springs] needs to go. [State Rep.] Amy Paschal [D-Colorado Springs] needs to get up. When we’re up there talking about preserving the family and parental rights, Amy is there coloring on her iPad. That is not a representative of the people. Regina’s a special person all to herself, but she needs to be all to herself. If we can pick up those two seats in this county, we will be good. It is a numbers game.”
While Republicans are hoping to flip Democrat-controlled seats in El Paso County, they also need to hold on to the hotly contested House District 16, which Rep. Rebecca Keltie (R-Colorado Springs) won by just three votes in 2024. Keltie is not seeking reelection, and there is a primary between Colorado Springs School District 11 Board of Education Vice President Jill Haffley and Charis Bible College staff member Jamie Koch.
Koch elaborated on her role at the unaccredited Christian university. “I actually do teach two courses,” she said. “I teach the Seven Mountains of Influence course, which if any of you know who Lance Walnau is, that’s based on his teaching of how important it is that we take back the mountains as Christians. Because when we vacate a mountain, such as media, arts and production, arts in — anyways, government, religion — when we vacate those mountains, somebody has to take its place. And what we’re seeing in this country right now, who’s taking the place? Because Christians have vacated those mountains. So it’s time to take those back. So I teach students that. I also teach a course on socialism. It’s the history of socialism from past to present. What it has done in nations, how many deaths it’s caused, and what we can do to look out for it and to fight against it.”
Haffley described how God told her to run for the Colorado House seat. “I believe that the Lord was leading me into that role, and I said, ‘If that’s what you want,’” she said. “I have to be obedient to that. My only answer when the Lord says do something is, ‘Yes, sir.’ I’ll do it. So I believe I was led into this race, and I’m going to be obedient to that. I will let Him figure out the mess that it may create later for other people.”
As the minority party, Republican legislators have little recourse against Democratic policy agendas. “It’s not because we don’t have strong Republicans out there,” said Rep. Ava Flanell (R-Colorado Springs). “In fact, I think we have incredibly strong people. Imagine having to go to work every day, you’re outnumbered, and you have to go and do it again the next day and fight like heck and do it all over again. The problem is we don’t have strong representation because we are so outnumbered.”
Troy Vanderhule, who is challenging Flanell in the primary, expressed frustration at what he sees as compromising conservative principles. “How many of you are tired of electing Republicans only to have them go to the Capitol and act like Democrats?” he asked. “Conservative means you’re conserving something, you’re conserving a way of life, you are conserving the heritage, a tradition — something that has worked for millions of people for thousands of years. In our case, conservatism means you’re trying to conserve the biblical way of life, western civilization, the constitution, right? So you’re looking for what does this mean when it’s applied to families, to sexuality and marriage, to jobs. That’s what a conservative is — you’re looking for someone who is going to work with inside that framework.”
Flanell noted that sometimes bipartisanship is required. “I realized pretty quickly, in order to stop some of these bad bills, we had to convince Democrats to vote no,” she said. “And so I started meeting with a lot of the Democrats, and I was actually successful in getting some of these Democrats to vote no on some of these bills, and, as a result, we were able to kill them.”
The primary election is June 30.
