Conservative expects Colorado Republicans to blow it in 2026

Conservative columnist Jim Geraghty told Republicans that they need to get it together ahead of the November elections because they're about to lose a lot in Colorado.

Writing for the Washington Post, Geraghty noted that there are a number of House races, as well as significant statewide races and two U.S. Senate seats up for grabs, with Sen. Michael Bennet running for governor.

It isn't just the U.S. Senate and governor; however, it is the lieutenant governor, attorney general, state treasurer and a new secretary of state. This adds to the typical federal races for the state and federal House, half of the state senate, three seats on the state board of education, three more on the University of Colorado board of regents, one state supreme court justice and six intermediate appellate court judges, listed Geraghty. This doesn't count the ballot measures up for a vote.

"A bit more than a decade ago, this state seemed purplish-blue: Republican Cory Gardner won a U.S. Senate race and former congressman Bob Beauprez at least made Democrats sweat in a gubernatorial race," he recalled.

Today, however, Democrats appear to dominate the state. The GOP's biggest headwind is one of its own making: President Donald Trump, whom Geraghty described as an "albatross." The last time a Republican won a statewide race was in the Colorado University Regents board seat. Trump consistently pulls in 42-43 percent of the vote since 2016.

There are just four months until the primary election, and Geraghty said one would assume the GOP would be coordinating to field candidates more in line with voters.

"Okay, no. What they’re actually doing is engaging in a favorite pastime: spectacular infighting," he wrote.

He mentioned that earlier this month, GOP Rep. Jeff Hurd lost Trump's support after voting against Trump's tariffs on Canada. Trump endorsed Hurd's opponent, Hope Scheppelman, instead. Hurd won the seat in 2024, 50.8 to 45.8 percent, and the south and western part of the district went for Trump, 54 to 44 percent.

Perhaps the worst part, said Geraghty, is that the state Republicans don't have much money to shoulder an election, with only $63,978 in cash on hand. Earlier this month, the party's vice chairman resigned, lamenting that he found the chair "impossible to work with." Members of the central committee delivered a vote of no confidence last weekend.

The conservative columnist argued that there's a movement for Republicans to do well if they have it in them. The challenge, he closed, "[is] Colorado Republicans need to nominate serious candidates with concrete plans. After so many years in the wilderness, are they capable of it?"

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