Colorado Republicans have voted to remove their party’s chairman amid mounting internal criticism of his leadership, including over recent posts that attacked the L.G.B.T.Q. community and accusations that he had fueled divisions within the party.
Dave Williams, a hard-line state representative who was elected to helm the Colorado Republican Party last year, was ousted on Saturday, two months after dozens of state Republican Party members signed a petition to hold the vote. Party members selected Eli Bremer, a former chairman of the party in El Paso County in Colorado, to serve out Mr. Williams’s term.
According to Michael J. Allen, a Republican district attorney in Colorado Springs, about 88 percent of the 182 or so eligible members voted for the motion at the Saturday meeting to remove Mr. Williams.
“There has been an open revolt to his leadership of the party across the state,” Mr. Allen said in an interview. “It has been an accumulation of things at the expense of party unity and real electoral progress.”
Mr. Allen, who prosecuted a 2022 mass shooting at an L.G.B.T.Q. nightclub in Colorado Springs, said he was particularly sensitive about what he criticized as Mr. Williams’s “hate-fueled” posts and emails that vilified the L.G.B.T.Q. lifestyle, which included a call to burn all Pride flags.
In a statement on party letterhead, Mr. Williams denounced the meeting, which was held at a church in the municipality of Brighton, near Denver, as “fraudulent” and a “sham,” arguing that it was not legitimate based on procedural grounds.
“These people are definitely making things up as they go along but we won’t be deterred,” the statement said. It also described those behind the vote as “a fringe element” and said that another vote will be held next Saturday at a “properly called” meeting.
Mr. Williams’s tenure has also been blemished by other problems that have caused fractures within the party, according to Mr. Allen and other party members. He was under fire for diverting party resources intended for candidates across the state to help his own failed congressional bid. And members have complained that Mr. Williams has assailed Republicans running for office who he believes are not totally in sync with his agenda.
“The chairman has taken extensive, unprecedented action to attack Republican candidates and fellow Republicans, rather than support them,” Mr. Allen said at the meeting. “The chairman’s actions have alienated candidates and grass-roots activists, and he cannot lead us to victory in November due to his failure of duty and unethical behavior.”
Mr. Williams had been facing calls to resign for months. In a statement on X in June, State Senator Barbara Kirkmeyer said it was “time to part ways” with him..
“Instead of focusing on what unites us, under the leadership of Dave Williams the message from the state GOP has been one of division fueled by hateful narratives,” she wrote, adding that, “His tactics are undermining our ability to lift up Colorado.”
At Saturday’s meeting, members also voted to remove the state party’s vice chairwoman, Hope Scheppelman, and secretary, Anna Ferguson, who were seen as acting in concert with Mr. Williams. Ms. Scheppelman and Ms. Ferguson could not immediately be reached for comment on Sunday.