Colorado Politics: D.C.-based GOP elections group targets Colorado General Assembly

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The Republican State Leadership Committee has drawn a bead on the Colorado General Assembly, primarily the state Senate, in this year's election.

Colorado is one of two states where the RSLC intends to flip one or more chambers. The other is Minnesota.

Mason DiPalma, RSLC's deputy communications director, told Colorado Politics the state Senate is a target, although his group is hoping to make progress on electing Republicans in the state House, as well.

Most political observers believe that, with a 41-24 Democratic advantage, the House is out of reach for the GOP in 2022, but the 20-15 Democratic advantage in the state Senate is not insurmountable, particularly given the resignation of Senate President Leroy Garcia, who last month took a job at the Pentagon. 

The Pueblo-based Senate District 3 is one of at least six targets for the GOP in 2022. One Senate seat, in the new Senate District 4, is already a foregone conclusion. Sen. Tammy Story, D-Evergreen, who represents the current district, isn't running for re-election, given that the new SD4 is projected to lean heavily in GOP favor. 

The other districts on the list include three without incumbents: SD20 in Lakewood; SD27 in Centennial; and, SD8 in northwest Colorado. 

In a statement Thursday, RSLC, a 527 political organization made up of Republican state leaders, said the current political environment puts certain chambers in play "that were out of reach at the beginning of the cycle." Those chambers, the group said, offers "numerous opportunities to make meaningful gains in liberal strongholds across the country." 

In a memo, the RSLC said early data suggests that Democrat-controlled chambers in Colorado and Minnesota are increasingly vulnerable.

"Two separate state surveys commissioned by the RSLC in January found that Republicans in Colorado lead by one point on the legislative generic ballot and by four points in Minnesota," the group said. "While Republicans already hold a slim one seat advantage in the Minnesota Senate, we believe that both chambers in Minnesota and Colorado could end up in Republican hands come November if everything breaks our way."

The Colorado Democratic Party, not surprisingly, has a different take.

In a statement to Colorado Politics, Democratic State Party chair Morgan Carroll said that under Democratic leadership, "Colorado has improved its ability to function, govern, and address meaningful reforms that make people’s lives better."

She said Republicans lack vision and face problems, including yesterday's grand jury indictment of Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters, who is running for secretary of state, on multiple felony charges related to allegations the Grand Junction Republican tampered with voting equipment. And in an extraordinary joint statement issued hours after prosecutors released the 13-count grand jury indictment, the state GOP's top officers asked Peters to "consider what is best for the Republican Party in Colorado" while facing the charges.

Carroll said the GOP has "only concentrated their efforts on limiting personal freedoms of Coloradans."

"So far, we have seen a Republican Clerk indicted, a Republican State Party Chair who was on payroll for organizations promoting violence," Carroll said. The Democratic party official also cited state Rep. Ron Hanks, R-Cañon City, a candidate for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, "blowing up an office copier," a reference to a campaign ad in which he shot up a copier labeled as Dominion Voting System election equipment.

"They may take their millions of dollars in attack ads to this state, but that can't hide the fact that they have no plan and are out of step with Colorado values," Carroll said.

The RSLC hasn't spent money in Colorado since 2018, when its independent expenditure committee put $100,000 into the race for secretary of state.