Brita Horn, former Routt County treasurer, selected as next chair of the Colorado GOP
Horn replaces Chairman Dave Williams, whose two-year term leading Republicans in Colorado was marked by controversy after controversy
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Brita Horn, a former Routt County treasurer, was elected Saturday to serve as the next chair of the Colorado GOP, vowing to unite the highly fractured party, boost fundraising and show up for candidates as Republicans look to right their wayward ship in 2026.
“We have so much division, we have so much distraction,” she told members of the Colorado GOP’s central committee. “Guess what the Democrats are doing right now? They’re winning elections.”
Horn, who ran unsuccessfully in 2018 for state treasurer, won 53% of the party chair vote in the second round of voting over former Weld County Commissioner Lori Saine. There were about 440 members of the Colorado GOP casting ballots at the party’s reorganization meeting in Colorado Springs.
Horn beat out six other candidates for the job, including former Saine, former state Rep. Richard Holtorf, and Darcy Schoening, the state party’s director of special initiatives.
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Horn’s term lasts two years before she must run for reelection.
Horn lives near Steamboat Springs and is the chief of the Rock Creek Volunteer Fire Department. She’s long been active in Republican politica in Colorado.
Next year will be a big one for Colorado Republicans. The statewide offices for governor, attorney general, secretary of state, treasurer and a U.S. Senate seat will be up for grabs. The last time a Republican won a statewide election in Colorado was 2016.
Meanwhile, Republicans will be defending their 8th and 3rd congressional district seats and seeking to flip more state legislative seats.
Horn replaces Chairman Dave Williams, whose two-year term leading Republicans in Colorado was marked by controversy after contreversy.
Williams decided not to seek reelection.
During his tenure as chairman, Williams upset Republicans by taking sides in GOP primaries, albeit unsuccessfully; running for Congress and using party funds to boost his campaign; sending out an email that was offensive to LGBTQ people; and trying to change the party’s bylaws to further his agenda. He also had a Colorado Sun reporter removed from a party gathering last year, stoking a national controversy.
Reporters weren’t allowed at the party’s reorganizational meeting Saturday. Instead, they were forced to watch the event on a livestream.
Republicans flipped three state House and a U.S. House seat while Williams was in charge. But those victories happened mostly in spite of the state party, not because of it.
In the 8th Congressional District, where Republican Gabe Evans won, the Colorado GOP endorsed his primary opponent, Janak Joshi. The party didn’t report any direct spending to help Evans beat Democratic incumbent Yadira Caraveo in the general election.
Evans was so fed up with party leadership that he actually called on Williams to resign in July as part of a push to remove the organization’s entire leadership slate.
As for the three state House seats Republicans flipped last year, the party didn’t report spending any money on those races either. It was the state House Republican caucus campaign arm and independent expenditure committees that were responsible for the bulk of the activity in those contests.
Williams’ detractors sought to remove him as chairman in the leadup to the 2024 election, but their effort fell short after a court battle.
This is a developing story that will be updated.
