Chuck and Julie Show

Chuck And Julie Show with Chuck Bonniwell and Julie Hayden

Colorado GOP Betrayal, Open-Primary Battles, and the Grassroots Fight for Party Control in Colorado

Is Craig a con man?  It appears we were duped by newly elected CO GOP Chair Craig Steiner…. Who assured us he was for opting out of the disastrous open primary but then stacked his committees with RINOs who hate the idea of opting out.

Chuck Bonniwell and Julie Hayden Open with an Apology

In this episode of The Chuck and Julie Show, hosts Chuck Bonniwell and Julie Hayden open by apologizing to listeners for having briefly trusted newly elected Colorado Republican Party Chair Craig Steiner. They explain that after hearing Steiner speak and after hearing support from figures such as Ted Harvey, they believed he might genuinely support the Republican opt-out effort and help revitalize the party. Within days, however, they say Steiner’s committee appointments convinced them that he had misled the grassroots and was instead aligning with the establishment wing of the Colorado GOP.

Craig Steiner and the Opt-Out Fight

The central issue of the episode is the Colorado Republican Party’s fight over the opt-out, which Chuck and Julie describe as essential if Republicans want Republican voters to choose Republican candidates. They argue that open primaries and jungle-primary-style systems weaken the party, empower outsiders, and reduce the role of grassroots Republicans. Steiner, in their view, had promised support for the opt-out but then appointed anti-opt-out or establishment-aligned figures to important committees, making his early leadership look like a betrayal rather than a unifying move.

Committee Appointments and Party Power

Chuck and Julie spend significant time discussing the bylaws committee, legal affairs committee, and other internal party appointments. They criticize the removal or sidelining of pro-opt-out voices such as James Peabody and object to appointments of figures they identify as establishment Republicans, including Laura Carno, John Fielding, Tom McCracken, and others. Chuck notes that the legal affairs committee has been deeply involved in the party’s legal strategy around the opt-out and related lawsuits, so changing its balance could affect whether the party continues fighting for grassroots control or moves toward an establishment-backed primary structure.

Caucus and Assembly Versus Jungle Primaries

The hosts argue that Colorado’s caucus and assembly system may be messy, cumbersome, and imperfect, but it still gives party activists and Republican voters meaningful influence over candidate selection. By contrast, they warn that jungle primaries and open-primary systems make parties nearly irrelevant and turn ballot access into a pay-to-play process controlled by wealthy donors, consultants, and signature-gathering operations. Julie emphasizes that the question anti-opt-out Republicans rarely answer is how candidates would actually get onto the ballot once the caucus system loses power.

California as the Warning Example

Chuck and Julie repeatedly point to California as an example of what they believe Colorado must avoid. They discuss California’s long ballot-counting process, mail-in ballots, ballot harvesting, and races where Republican candidates appeared strong early but allegedly lost ground as later counts came in. They especially focus on the Los Angeles mayoral race involving Spencer Pratt, saying that late-arriving vote batches and slow counting create distrust. For the hosts, California represents the political future that establishment Republicans and Democrats are enabling in Colorado through open primaries and expanded mail-ballot systems.

Unaffiliated Voters and the Future of the Colorado GOP

The episode also addresses the growing power of unaffiliated voters in Colorado. Chuck and Julie note that more ballots are being mailed to unaffiliated voters than to Democrats and Republicans combined, which they say undermines the meaning of party primaries. They argue that unaffiliated voters can already change affiliation easily if they want to participate in a party nomination process, so the current system weakens party identity without solving a real problem. Their concern is that conservative Republican candidates will have little chance if nominations are shaped by unaffiliated voters and donor-funded campaigns rather than party members.

Substack, Media Censorship, and Political Humor

Later in the show, Julie explains how Substack became popular during the COVID era as a platform for writers and commentators who were being limited by YouTube, Facebook, Google, and other large technology companies. She says Substack gave independent writers a place to publish, build email lists, and monetize their work, but she worries that left-leaning voices may now be moving into the platform and shifting its culture. Chuck and Julie also discuss political comedy, arguing that conservative or independent voices such as Greg Gutfeld and Tim Dillon succeed because they are funny, while much of left-wing commentary has become humorless and predictable.

Budgets, Blue States, and Political Drift

The hosts also briefly compare state budgets and political cultures, especially Florida and New York, arguing that New York spends far more while producing worse results. They connect this to education bureaucracy, Medicaid spending, illegal immigration, and progressive governance. The discussion returns to Colorado as they mention budget problems, Medicaid concerns, and the possible loss of TABOR refunds. This section reinforces the show’s broader theme that government growth, progressive policies, and establishment politics produce higher costs and weaker accountability.

Closing with No More Optimism

Chuck and Julie close by acknowledging that the episode is shorter than usual because of a scheduling conflict, but they say the warning about Steiner and the Colorado GOP could not wait. They again admit that they were briefly optimistic and now believe that optimism was misplaced. Their closing message is that grassroots Republicans should understand they have been betrayed, that the fight over the opt-out is not finished, and that they intend to continue challenging the establishment forces they believe are trying to push Colorado toward jungle primaries and donor-controlled politics.