Dave Williams (Colorado politician)

David Alan Williams^[1] (born July 20, 1986)^[2] is an American far-right^[3][4][5][6] politician from Colorado Springs, Colorado, who has served as the Chair of the Colorado Republican Party since 2023. He previously represented Colorado House of Representatives District 15 from 2017 to 2023, which encompassed Colorado Springs and Cimarron Hills in El Paso County.^[7]

Dave Williams
Williams in 2022
Chair of the Colorado Republican Party
In office March 11, 2023 – March 29, 2025[a]
Preceded by	Kristi Burton Brown
Succeeded by	Brita Horn
Member of the Colorado House of Representatives from the 15th district
In office January 11, 2017 – January 9, 2023
Preceded by	Gordon Klingenschmitt
Succeeded by	Scott Bottoms
Personal details
Born	David Alan Williams (1986-07-20) July 20, 1986 (age 39) Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Education	University of Colorado, Colorado Springs (BA)
Website	Campaign website

Williams was a candidate for Colorado's 5th congressional district in the 2024 elections, running to replace the retiring Doug Lamborn.^[8] He lost the primary election to Republican Jeff Crank.^[9][10][11] Williams ran with the endorsement of former President Donald Trump.

Career

Between 2008 and 2020 Williams was a vice president of logistics for MKW Global, a family business.^[12][13]

Williams was first elected to the State House in 2016 after winning 67.84% of the vote.^[14]

Williams in the Colorado House of Representatives

Williams was the first Latino elected to House District 15.^[15] His mother's maiden name is "Sanchez" and their family has roots going back to Mexico and Southern California.^[16]

A supporter of Donald Trump, Williams has questioned the results of the 2020 presidential election and has promoted false claims of voter fraud.^[17][18][19]

On December 7, 2020, Williams and seven other Republicans requested to the Speaker of the House KC Becker that a committee be formed on "election integrity" to conduct an audit of the Dominion Voting Systems used in Colorado's 2020 elections in spite of no evidence of issues. The request was rejected, with Becker criticizing it as a promotion of "debunked conspiracy theories."^[20]

In July 2021, Williams and Ron Hanks held a town hall at Colorado Springs in which both made multiple false claims of election fraud. Williams claimed that 5,600 dead people voted in the 2020 Colorado elections and that fraud played a role in Democrat John Hickenlooper's victory against Republican Cory Gardner.^[18]

In December 2021, Williams announced his campaign bid aimed at challenging Rep. Doug Lamborn.^[21] He attempted to get listed on the ballot as Dave "Let's Go Brandon" Williams, but this was rejected by Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold.^[22] In the 2022 Republican primary election for Colorado's 5th congressional district, incumbent representative Doug Lamborn defeated Williams and two other Republican Party challengers.^[23]

During the 2022 legislative session, Williams and the majority of Republicans rejected a resolution passed by the state house meant to urge congress to pass voting right legislation. Williams proposed two failed amendments to the resolution which included calling for an audit of the 2020 election, thanking the pro-Trump rioters that stormed the Capitol and decertifying the election results in favor for Trump.^[24]

On March 11, 2023, Williams was elected chair of the Colorado Republican Party for a two-year term.^[25] Williams' position as chairman of the party has been controversial among several other Republicans.^[26][27] Under his leadership, the party has faced a significant loss of funding, and an increase in infighting.^[28][29][30]

On January 8, 2024, Williams announced that he was again running for Colorado's 5th congressional district in the 2024 elections, running for the seat of retiring congressman Doug Lamborn.^[8] In March 2024, he was criticized by campaign opponents for MKW Global's importation of Chinese products during his tenure as vice president.^[12]

On April 6, 2024, Colorado Sun reporter Sandra Fish was disinvited to a state GOP assembly in Pueblo because a spokesman for Williams said he considered "her current reporting to be very unfair". Fish came to the event and presented her press credentials to gain entry, but was escorted out of the assembly by law enforcement who told her, "You have to be invited here. They don't want you here". Soon after, Williams called Fish a "fake journalist" and her newspaper "just an extension of the Democrat Party’s PR efforts".^[31]

In early June 2024, the Colorado GOP sent out a mass email signed by Dave Williams titled 'God Hates Pride,' and reading in part “The month of June has arrived and, once again, the godless groomers in our society want to attack what is decent, holy, and righteous so they can ultimately harm our children.” The email message contained an image reading “God Hates Flags”, which was widely viewed as a reference to the Westboro Baptist Church. Colorado Republican Congressional candidate Valdamar Archuleta “renounced the GOP’s endorsement as a result.”^[32] Aurora city councilman Curtis Gardner renounced his membership in the Colorado GOP and issued a post on Facebook condemning the party for its anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.^[33][34]

In June 2024, Williams lost the primary election for Colorado's 5th congressional district to Republican Jeff Crank. This race was characterized as a "battle" for the "soul" of the GOP in Colorado,^[35][36] with Williams representing the far-right, election-denying side of the party, and Crank representing the a more traditional conservative version of the party.

On August 24, 2024, Williams was removed as Colorado Republican Party chairman during a meeting in Brighton, Colorado.^[37] Then on September 25, 2024, a court invalidated this action, leaving Williams still the chairman.^[38]

Colorado Politician Accountability Act

During the first year of his first term (2017), Williams introduced a bill (HB17-1134) titled the "Colorado Politician Accountability Act". The bill was designed to crack down on sanctuary cities by allowing public officials of sanctuary cities who had not sought to overturn the local sanctuary law to be sued by citizens if an illegal alien committed a crime, and also by making elected officials of sanctuary jurisdictions liable to penalties for "rendering assistance to an illegal alien".^[39][40][41] The bill was defeated in the House but Williams and two Senate co-sponsors reintroduced it with few changes in 2018 as HB18-1178,^[42][43] where it failed to become law.^{[citation needed]}

2024 party schism

In 2024, the Colorado Republican Party called on parents to remove their children from public schools in Colorado, arguing that the schools "turn more kids trans.”^[44] The mailer and social media posts provoked widespread bipartisan condemnation, and triggered a crisis within the Colorado GOP. Log Cabin Republican Valdamar Archuleta renounced the party's endorsement of him in the Colorado's 1st congressional district election as a result.^[45] Aurora city counsellor Curtis Gardner renounced his affiliation with the Colorado GOP, saying that their rhetoric on LGBTQ issues demonstrated that "[the party] no longer stands for the issues that I care about - individual rights, fiscal responsibility, restraint of government, limited foreign intervention, and encouraging economic mobility."^[46][47] The Jefferson County Republican Party, speaking on behalf of “numerous Colorado Republican County Chairs, other county party officers, members of the Colorado State Central Committee in all 64 Counties, and many Republican candidates” called for Dave Williams to resign immediately.^[48]

The leadership of the Colorado GOP has so far stood by its actions. The state vice-chair responded to a request for an interview with the Colorado State GOP chairman with the following:

We make no apologies for standing against pride month as it's a destructive agenda that harms children and undermines parental authority and if certain weak Republicans like [Jefferson County GOP chairwoman] Nancy Pallozzi want to side with a movement that promotes transgender chemical castration and genital mutilation then we look forward to notifying their base membership of that disgraceful act.

— Colorado Republican Party vice-chair Hope Scheppelman, ^[49]

Williams lost the primary election for Colorado's 5th congressional district to Republican Jeff Crank. This race was characterized as a "battle" for the "soul" of the GOP in Colorado,^[50][51] with Williams representing the far-right, election-denying side of the party, and Crank representing the a more traditional conservative version of the party. On August 24, 2024, Williams was removed as Colorado Republican Party chairman during a meeting in Brighton, Colorado.^[52] On September 26, 2024, El Paso County Judge Eric Bentley ruled that the August 24, 2024 meeting was illegitimate and the vote to remove Williams as chairman was voided. ^[53]

Notes

1. Eli Bremer was elected as chair of the state party by the party’s central committee. However, a lawsuit in El Paso County, Colorado lead to the results being overturned and thus Williams has remained the party’s chair.