Assembling behind Donald Trump in the wake of the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision on Tuesday to disqualify him from the state’s Republican primary ballot, the Colorado Republican Party is vowing to abandon the primary for a caucus system should the decision be upheld.
The party announced the potential move on Tuesday night, replying to a tweet from Vivek Ramaswamy in which the Colorado businessman pledged to withdraw from the state’s primary ballot until Trump was allowed back on it.
“You won’t have to,” the Colorado GOP’s X account replied, “because we will withdraw from the Primary as a Party and convert to a pure caucus system if this is allowed to stand.”
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Later that night, Dave Williams, the chairman of the state party, reaffirmed the plan. “I’m not going to let these sons of bitches dictate who we’re going to nominate,” he said in an X Spaces virtual event, according to The Colorado Sun.
On white nationalist Laura Loomer’s online show, he added, addressing the Colorado Supreme Court, “Go fuck yourself. To quote Elon Musk.”
The interview with Loomer was one of several Williams gave in the wake of the announcement, variously explaining the party’s decision and decrying the court’s “election interference.” To the Sun, Williams said that the party would first ask the state to cancel its Republican presidential primary should Trump be excluded. If the Colorado Department of State refused to cancel it, he said, “we will ignore the primary” results.
The caucus system—unlike a primary system, which is overseen by a state government—is run by the political parties themselves. A caucus is an in-person meeting allowing attendees to publicly align with and choose their own candidate, with a presidential caucus being used to pick delegates who agree to vote for the chosen candidate at a nominating convention.
Used in a handful of states, including Iowa and Nevada, the caucus system typically favors candidates with a passionate and organized following, according to PBS. It was used in Colorado until 2020, when state voters approved the switch to the primary system.
The Colorado Department of State clarified in a statement to the Sun that state law would not allow its Republican party to withdraw from or cancel the primary.
“If the Colorado Republican Party attempts to withdraw from the Presidential Primary or ignore the results of the election, this would likely be a matter for the Courts,” the statement warned.
The state sends 37 “electorally unimportant” delegates, as the Sun labeled them on Wednesday, to the Republican National Convention every four years. A decidedly blue state, Colorado is unlikely to swing for a Republican presidential candidate, with Joe Biden having beaten Trump soundly there in 2020.
Colorado’s Republican primary is scheduled for March 5, 2024. Williams told CNN on Wednesday that he’s “counting on” the U.S. Supreme Court to have struck down the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision by then.
“We feel that if this is dragged on there’s going to be… other cases that are going to be brought across the country to remove Donald Trump, and that’s something that we can’t abide,” he added.
The Colorado Supreme Court put its ruling on hold until Jan. 4 to allow the Trump campaign to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. It is unclear whether the matter will reach the high court before then, but the campaign has indicated that it plans to appeal quickly.
Nevertheless, Williams told NBC News that the Colorado Republican Party would look to kick off the process of putting together a caucus in “the next week or two,” requesting a waiver to convert the system from the Republican National Committee.
Still, he said, state Republicans are hoping the Supreme Court will side with them, eliminating the need for the waiver. “We’re figuring it out as we go,” Williams said.
