Kristi Burton Brown won’t seek second term as leader of Colorado GOP

Kristi Burton Brown announced she will not seek a second term as chair of the Colorado Republican Party next year, less than two months after the party experienced widespread defeat in the midterm elections.

“I look forward to focusing on policy once again, after my term ends in March of 2023. As a grassroots conservative like you, I know how important it is to continue to fight tooth and nail for our party and our values,” she wrote in an emailed statement on Monday afternoon.

In November, Democrats won every statewide office, increased their majority in the state Legislature, won 5 of 8 congressional seats including the newly created one in the 8th Congressional District, and held onto Michael Bennet’s seat in the U.S. Senate.

It was not the so-called red wave Republicans expected.

Burton Brown, however, wrote that she is optimistic about the future of the party.

“Democrat policies continue to undermine our basic freedoms and liberties and are making this state less affordable, less safe, and a harder place to live and raise a family. Coloradans will eventually recognize that fact and look to Republican leaders and candidates as the antidote to this failed, far-left ideology,” she said.

Burton Brown was elected in March 2021 to lead the party, the first woman to do so in decades. The party launched its “commitment to Colorado” with her at the helm, aimed at courting unaffiliated voters.

Republicans will select a new chair in March. Casper Stockham, who ran unsuccessfully for chair in 2021, put his name in to be considered.

Morgan Carroll, the leader of the Colorado Democratic Party, is also not seeking another term as chair next year.