Face The State Staff Report
Saturday's leadership election for the Denver County Republican Party was full of optimism despite an abysmal 2008 election for the party. Those elected to leadership positions concluded that now is the time to reinvest and reevaluate the party's approach in Denver, emphasizing a new strategic approach for 2010 elections.
Ryan Call and Mary SmithFTS Staff Photo
Ryan Call, an attorney who already represents the state party in litigation, was elected to replace outgoing chair Mary Smith. Call faced off against party activist Chris Maj (pronounced May) for the post. Call, however, steamrolled the election, garnering 89 votes to Maj's 15.
In a recent interview with Face The State, Call said that in order to win statewide, a candidate needs to get at least 30 percent of the vote in Denver. On Saturday, he renewed his commitment to make 2010 voter turnout a primary focus for the new leadership.
Kelly Maher, elected Saturday as secretary, echoed the sentiment. “With a U.S. Senate seat and the governor’s office at stake, Republicans need to maximize turnout in Denver County,” she said. "If we can pick up even one or two percent in Denver that's huge because there are just so many voters."
Republicans make up just 17 percent of the registered voters in Denver, and unaffiliated voters make up 29 percent. Democrats, meanwhile, make up 53 percent of the county’s registered voters. According to Maher, who runs her own political consulting firm in Denver, statewide elections are typically won or lost in Jefferson and Arapahoe counties, where Republican turnout has been falling in recent elections. The two counties, once considered Republican strongholds, both saw voters elect Democrats to the state legislature.
The GOP's new Denver leadership also includes three co-vice chairmanships, which is a change from previous years when there was just one. Former Marine Toby Hurd, Republican blogger Josh Sharf, and party activist Sam Freeman won this shared responsibility in a four-way race, beating out Patricia Springmeyer.
Overall, the Denver GOP's executive committee challenges conventional wisdom about the Republican Party being a good old boys club. “We welcome individual diversity, but we look to merit and that’s what we’ve done here,” said Call. “That aside, you can see it is a very diverse group. We’ve got folks that are Jewish, Catholic, raging conservatives, libertarians and social moderates. It’s a great group that is representative of what, I think, the best of the Republican Party stands for.”