ASHE IN AMERICA — OPINION
The U.S. House of Representatives of the 118th Congress made history and headlines by taking four days and 15 rounds of voting to elect the Speaker of the House.
The nation was captivated by the affair, which took place from January 2-8. C-SPAN averaged 1.2 million viewers, Fox News 1.4 million, MSNBC 950,000 and CNN 740,000. Washington Post’s livestream on YouTube has 1.2 million views and counting. PBS was close to 800,000.
ESPN finished second in overall ratings with 1.2 million viewers. A congressional proceeding had more viewers than sports.
In contrast, the livestream of the vote for the Speaker of the House of Representatives for the 74th Colorado General Assembly had a little over 2,000 views. The proceeding took place on January 9, 2023.
For years, the Democrat Party in Colorado’s legislature has enjoyed a super majority, and this Assembly is no different. With a majority of 46 to 19, no matter how the Republicans vote, the Democrats will prevail. They have more than double the votes they need. The Republicans have no power and, with that margin, little influence.
They have only principle.
During the uniparty performance, Democrat Julie McCluskie (HD-13) and Republican Scott Bottoms (HD-15) were both nominated for the presiding position.
Republican Ken DeGraff (HD-22) nominated Bottoms, who is the Pastor of Briargate Church in Colorado Springs, a reserved and thoughtful community leader, a PhD, and a candidate behind which any Republican could symbolically align.
In his speech accepting the nomination, which he inexplicably had to “second” himself, Bottoms said:
“I believe that it is important that we stand on our principles, and we stand on our values. If the roles of this were reversed, and the super majority was Republican, I would expect a Democrat to nominate a Democrat and vote for a Democrat… My Republican voters sent me here to vote for Republicans, and that’s what we’re trying to put forward today: That we stand on principle, and we stand on Republican values.”
The Republicans didn’t plan to nominate anyone. The status quo dictated that they just vote for the Democrat and move on. These two freshmen Representatives put the uniparty in the spotlight and, better, they did it with a recorded vote.
When the vote took place, 11 out of 19 Republicans voted for Representative, now Speaker, Julie McCluskie. Republican Minority Leader Mike Lynch (HD-65) even seconded her nomination.
For over a decade, our state’s Republican Party has hemorrhaged support. It used to be that the party establishment and elected officials would pretend to hold Republican values. Or any values.
Instead of voting for the Republican in a strong show of unity to their constituents, and the opposition, Republicans once again split the vote.
During the 2022 election season, the Republican Party pretended to support conservative values. They claimed to be principled leaders. They feigned belief in the party platform.
Worse, they gaslit right-leaning voters to come together and align behind the Republican candidates — no matter what. Uniparty Republicans admonished America First, grassroots conservatives that they must “unite and heal the Republican party,” and that “a bad Republican is better than a good Democrat.” Don’t split the vote!
Grassroots Republicans running for office were eviscerated just for running, for not bending the knee, for not supporting whoever’s turn the party decided it was. They were eviscerated for entering the arena during a time of peak government corruption and mistrust.
This vote was these Republicans’ first official action, after all that gaslighting got them “elected.” In that first action, 11 Republicans voted for the Democrat. No matter how these Republicans vote, the Democrat will win, so this vote is purely symbolic.
Symbolically, 11 Republicans cast votes to reject traditional Republican principles; that is, conservative principles.
In other words, a Christian Conservative Pastor is a non-starter for Colorado Republicans, even in a purely symbolic, unity vote.
Symbolic or material, this vote was revealing for right-leaning voters.
Bottoms concluded with, “We’re not going to have any power this session… But we do have principles, and that’s what we’re going to be standing upon.”
The principle of the matter is Colorado Republican legislators are only “Republican” when they’re campaigning.
Is it any wonder they keep losing?
Ashe Epp is a writer and election integrity activist. Read her work at asheinamerica.com and follow her on Telegram and other socials @asheinamerica.