Crowds come, but elected Colorado Republicans shun Nikki Haley rally in Centennial

This story by Colorado Community Media was originally published here.

CENTENNIAL | Not a single elected Colorado Republican appeared at presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s rally in Centennial on Tuesday. 

Several hundred people came to cheer Haley on as she swung through the metro area on as part of a national whirlwind presidential primaries tour, and very few of them were notable Republicans. The notables included former Arapahoe County GOP Chair Suzanne Staiert, political strategist and former GOP State Party Chair Dick Wadhams and former Secretary of State Wayne Williams. 

Staiert introduced Haley, saying it’s the first time in a while that she is excited about a presidential candidate. 

“The last eight years have been bleak,” Staiert said. “We’ve lost membership from the Republican Party. We’ve lost races up and down the ticket. I am just so excited to have a candidate that’s going to concentrate on actual issues instead of settling personal scores.”

Haley spoke at length about how Donald Trump, the former president who is the frontrunner for the GOP’s presidential nomination in 2024, has damaged the party, causing division and consistent losses.

“I’m looking at the fact that no Republican has gotten over 45% statewide since Donald Trump was president,” Haley said of Colorado. 

The state party leadership, including its chair, Dave Williams, has moved away from moderate positions and recently broke party bylaws to endorse Trump before the primary began. 

Haley said many in the Republican Party idolize Trump and that has caused “the party to move in a direction that’s not us.” She said the party has lost focus on fiscal responsibility, abandoned foreign allies and dismissed down ballot races. 

“When you’re running for president of the United States, your job is to bring people into the fold, not push them out of the club,” Haley said. 

Haley argued that she could also remove the “tent of anger, division and hatred” over America. She said she would focus on lowering government spending, improving relationships with allies, investing in veterans’ services and reducing taxes on the middle class and small businesses. 

“Imagine a country where you can sit at the dinner table with your family and not have a political fight,” Haley said. “Imagine a country where you can go to work and say what you need without fear of being demoted. Imagine a country where we can strongly disagree but we don’t have to hate each other.”

But Haley’s vision isn’t resonating with many Republicans. The former governor of South Carolina even lost her own state primary by 20 percentage points on Saturday. 

A Global Strategies Group poll of Colorado Republicans found 76% viewed Trump favorably, while two-thirds of unaffiliated voters view Trump unfavorably. Unaffiliated voters are 48% of Colorado’s registered voters and are able to vote in the Republican primary. 

In an interview with 9News after the rally, Haley said she wasn’t concerned about the lack of support from Colorado elected officials. 

“We don’t try and get the political class, that’s never been anything I’ve done in my entire career,” she said. “I’ve always focused on real people, regular people.”

Colorado’s primary is March 5. It’s too late to mail ballots in, so they must be dropped in a ballot box by 7 p.m. March 5. In-person voting is also available.