Two separate groups of Colorado activists will gather outside the state Republican Party headquarters on Friday: A group largely made up of Trump supporters, calling themselves “Colorado Votes Matter” will be protesting the state party, while another group will hold a rally in support of the Colorado GOP.
“You can disagree with the caucus process and the decision not to have a binding straw poll. You can advocate for a primary in Colorado. Reasonable minds may differ on these subjects. But lying, deceiving, smearing, and threatening lives is totally unacceptable,” said organizer of the “Stand with COGOP Rally” Jimmy Sengenberger, a 25-year-old Colorado radio personality who was recently elected to be an alternate delegate at this summer’s Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
Trump and his supporters were outraged after rival candidate Sen. Ted Cruz won all of Colorado’s 34 delegates at the state convention last weekend, increasing the likelihood that the two may face off in a contested convention.
Trump supporters are getting worried that their candidate will be unable to secure the 1,237 delegates needed to avoid a contested convention. Some GOP delegates and party leaders have even claimed they have received death threats from Trump supporters.
Trump has also lashed out against the RNC over Colorado’s delegate selection rules, which are not typical, and do not involve a primary.
Colorado Republicans select their national delegates through a caucus-convention process, which critics argue puts the election largely in the hands of party insiders and activists, while supporters contend that this system is nothing new, and it’s up to the campaigns and Colorado citizens to know the rules.
“The people out there are going crazy — in the Denver area and Colorado itself — and they’re going absolutely crazy because they weren’t given a vote, this was given by politicians,” Trump said in an interview on Fox News. “It’s a crooked deal.”
Trump supporter Larry Lindsey caused a stir on social media when he posted a video burning his voter registration form and claimed he was disenfranchised by the Republican Party.
Lindsey was elected delegate at a local precinct caucus on March 1. He mistakenly believed this meant he would be a delegate for the state convention, when in reality, he was required to attend the county assembly first in order to run for a state delegate spot.
The county assembly meeting was held on March 19 and Lindsey missed it.
“The GOP caucus as it is currently in place in the state of Colorado is archaic, confusing and too easily manipulated so that the GOP can get the outcome instead of the outcome desired by voters,” Lindsey told Fox Business.
The Colorado caucus system has been around since 1912, aside from a brief period from 1988-2004 when the state tried a primary system. The rules were not changed this cycle to benefit Cruz as the Trump camp has suggested, the only difference in procedure this year was the elimination of a non-binding straw poll.
“There is a lot involved in the election of delegates and alternates, as candidates have to campaign for the position,” Sengenberger explained. “I, for example, campaigned extremely hard in outreach to the state convention delegates and was up against a very formidable slate of 16 candidates endorsed by the Cruz campaign.”
