The Myth of GOP Infighting: Don’t Buy It!

Oh, look at us, Colorado conservatives, licking our wounds just a day and a half after that glorious Tuesday bloodbath, in Douglas County and a few other areas. Douglas County, once a beacon of sanity in this increasingly blue madhouse of Colorado, we watched all four school board seats slip into the hands of progressive candidates who probably think "parental rights" is a punchline courtesy of a "progressive wave" that ended our longstanding majority, according to the folks at Chalkbeat and CBS Colorado. And down in Pueblo County, sure, some GOP spin doctors are trying to polish the turd — maybe they held onto the mayor's position and passed a salary bump for municipal officers — but let's not kid ourselves. Losses in key spots like the City Council races and school board contests, where conservatives like Joseph Perko fell short against Ted Hernandez in District 3, show it wasn't exactly a red-letter day, with mixed results at best. Face it, we got handed our heads in places we should've owned.

Now, here's where the real comedy starts. You've got some of the conservative crew on Facebook and beyond, wringing their hands and blaming "infighting" for our electoral face-plants. You know the type, the ones who think holding elected officials accountable is some kind of treasonous act, like we're all supposed to sit around a campfire singing Kumbaya while the left turns our state into California 2.0. "Oh no," they whine, "the disagreements are scaring off voters! We're dividing the party!" Please. If you believe that, I've got some prime real estate in the People's Republic of Boulder to sell you. Disagreeing isn't the problem; the numbers prove it. And since I'm not one to spout hot air without backing it up, let's crunch some math that even a public-school graduate can follow.

As of October 1, 2025, Colorado has approximately 936,088 registered Republicans out of over 4 million total voters, according to the Secretary of State's data. That's our base, the people who, in theory, should be showing up to keep the socialists at bay. Now, those "vocal" Facebook groups where all the supposed infighting occurs? The two largest ones combined may have about 8,000 members. Add in every other conservative echo chamber on social media across the state, and you're likely reaching no more than 15,000 people in total (many members belong to multiple groups). Doing the math: 15,000 divided by 936,088 equals a tiny 1.6%. That's it. Even if every single post about holding a squishy RINO accountable reached 100% of those group members, which never happens, thanks to Zuckerberg's algorithm gods, we're talking about less than 2% of Republican voters seeing the "drama."

But wait, it gets better (or worse, depending on your tolerance for reality). Marketing stats from the social media world, think reports from HubSpot and Hootsuite, show organic post reach in groups averages 1.5% to 3%, with a "best-case" scenario of 6% if you're lucky and the stars align. So, let's be optimistic and say our fiery debates hit that 6% jackpot: That's 900 people reached out of 15,000, or a microscopic 0.1% of all registered Republicans in Colorado. Zero. Point. One. Percent. If you think that tiny ripple in the digital pond is what's causing statewide losses, you're not just bad at math; you're living in a fantasy where likes and shares swing elections. Newsflash: Facebook is an echo chamber for the already engaged. It's us yelling at each other while the real electorate scrolls past cat videos.

No, the real culprit here is apathy, plain and simple. Look at the turnout numbers from this 2025 off-year fiasco. Statewide, we saw about 25% turnout by Election Day morning, with over a million ballots returned in a state of 4 million registered voters, according to the Colorado Newsline. By the end, it rebounded a bit, but off-year elections like this typically hover around 30-40%—a far cry from the 73% we hit in the 2024 presidential race, per Ballotpedia. In Douglas County, a supposed GOP stronghold, total ballots cast came in at 128,697. Assuming around 260,000 registered voters there (based on population proportions and state data), that's roughly 50% turnout—decent for an odd year, but not enough when the left's base is fired up over their pet issues like "DEI and Unions" in schools. And in Pueblo, it was even more pathetic: 34,416 ballots out of 116,097 registered, a dismal 29.64% turnout, as the county's own election summary spells out. Republicans make up about 23% of the state's voters, but if more than half of them are too depressed or disillusioned to mail in a ballot, we lose every time.

Why the apathy? Take your pick from the conservative nightmare Colorado's become. Election integrity woes, mail-in voting that makes people think their vote's like a Toyota Prius in a 6-inch snowstorm. Or how about the state's slide into progressive paradise: Legal weed everywhere, abortion rights enshrined like holy writ, gun control creeping in, and taxes that steal most of your income each month. People see the Dems running the show in Denver, with Governor Polis playing king, and they figure, "What's the point?" It's not infighting that's demotivating them; it's the feeling that the game's rigged, the economy's tanking, and their kids' schools are indoctrination camps. Douglas County used to be our firewall, affluent, family-oriented, the kind of place where Trump Republicans thrive. But when unaffiliated voters (now a majority statewide at over 49%, per SOS data) swing left because we're not motivating our own, we get schooled, literally.

So, how do we fix this? Stop whining about "unity" and start doing the hard work. The Douglas County GOP has some solid district captains and PCP’s who knock doors, but we need more of that in Douglas County and statewide. Door-knocking with actual conversations, not just lit drops, is the gold standard, boosting turnout by 10-15% according to studies from Yale's Institution for Social and Policy Studies. Forget chasing unaffiliateds like they're the holy grail; the odds there are 50/50 at best. Fish where the fish are: Target registered Republicans exclusively. Get our turnout from that anemic 30-50% up to presidential levels, and we reclaim counties like Douglas.

Anyone still blaming infighting needs to log off Facebook, pick up a calculator, and join the real fight. We've got a First Amendment for a reason, use it to hold the squishes accountable, sure, but channel that energy into dragging our apathetic brethren off the couch. Otherwise, enjoy watching Colorado turn into one big Boulder. And if you still think infighting is the issue, well, bless your heart.