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More than 100 Colorado Republicans converged on a church in Brighton Saturday morning to talk about their efforts to replace Dave Williams as state GOP chairman.

The five-hour organizing event and gripe session was originally called as a special meeting of the state Republicans' central committee to remove Williams and other state party officers from their positions. But organizers changed course late Friday after an Arapahoe County District Court judge granted the Colorado GOP's request for a temporary restraining order to block the meeting.

In response, Williams' critics canceled the meeting and instead gathered for what they termed a rally, where county party officers, Republican congressional nominees and GOP activists made a case for changing party leadership just months before the November election.

Meeting or rally organizers Todd Watkins, the El Paso County GOP vice chair, and Nancy Pallozzi, the Jefferson County GOP chair, said they anticipate the judge will reverse his order, perhaps as soon as next week. Once that happens, they said, they plan to reschedule a meeting in August to consider whether to vote out Williams and his fellow statewide officers, Vice Chairwoman Hope Scheppelman and Secretary Anna Ferguson.

Williams' detractors maintain the former state lawmaker has marshaled party resources to buttress his own failed congressional bid and boost the candidacies of Republicans he most closely aligns with, while at the same time starving more mainstream GOP candidates of support.

Williams counters that everything he's done as GOP chair from dropping the party's longstanding position of neutrality in contested primaries to attacking Republicans he's branded as weak on a handful of issue has the enthusiastic backing of the party's governing bodies.

State Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer, who represents the district where the rally took place and emceed the event, reminded the crowd that statehouse Republicans have nearly slipped to super-minority status in the General Assembly, giving Democrats near carte blanche over legislation and state policy.

"People keep saying, 'Why now? Why are we doing this now?'" Kirkmeyer said. "We are divided. Our state senators, our state representatives, our candidates for those offices are not getting support form party leadership," she said, calling it "imperative" that Republicans win enough races to prevent GOP lawmakers from dropping into super-minorities in both chambers.

Several speakers took issue with the state party's decision to make endorsements in contested primaries this year, including endorsing Williams in the primary he lost by a wide margin for the El Paso County-based seat held by retiring U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn.

Brighton Mayor Greg Mills said that the state party's track record was poor, with only four of its 18 endorsed candidates winning their primaries last month.

"As I look at state party leadership, what should they be doing?" asked Mills after welcoming fellow Republicans to his city. "They should be promoting more Republicans to represent our elected bodies. Of all the people that Mr. Williams had endorsed, only a small handful of them made it past the primary. And that's wrong."

Saying that Republicans have what he called a "golden opportunity" to unseat Democratic U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo in the toss-up 8th Congressional District, Mills pointed to the seat's Republican nominee, state Rep. Gabe Evans, who defeated a rival, GOP-endorsed Republican in a landslide.

"We need to flip that seat to Republican, and if you're not getting a net gain of Republicans representing you, here in the state of Colorado, you've failed as our state party chair," Mills said.

Evans, who joined with fellow congressional nominees Friday calling on Williams to resign, steered clear of the party dispute during his brief remarks, instead delivering his standard stump speech. Moments later, however, he signed a petition circulated by the rally's organizers to remove Williams, Scheppelman and Ferguson from their positions.

The four Republicans who have announced they want to replace Williams each took a turn at the microphone: former U.S. Senate candidate and El Paso County GOP chair Eli Bremer; state Rep. Richard Holtorf, R-Akron; former Routt County Treasurer Brita Horn; and Douglas County GOP chair Steve Peck.

Lew Webb, a Durango Republican who lost last month's primary in the 3rd Congressional District, said he supports removing Williams and his fellow officers, comparing them to what he described as "the disease" of corruption in government.

"If we don't address curing that disease, we are doomed," Webb said. "So folks, what you're trying to do here is the right thing, because our state party officers are corrupt, pure and simple, so I am excited for y'all to do that."

Webb added that he disagreed with a previous speaker who criticized the "failed policies" enacted by the state's ruling Democrats.

"The policies are intentional, to destroy our country and our republic." Webb said. "We must address that."

The Pueblo County GOP chair told the group that Republicans in her county have come to expect indifference from the state party but characterized Williams' approach as intentionally destructive.

"As chair, I believe that the one thing I have to do is protect our candidates," Michelle Gray said. "Actively working against Republican candidates is wrong."

Noting that Republicans have been surging in the traditionally Democratic county in recent years, Gray added: "We have this mess to deal with, but we can take back our counties. We have to make sure we're doing these things to win, but we can't because the state party has never helped us before. So I do hope that we have a good person elected to office that can bring unity to all of us and that can get Republicans elected into office, but I know that as a group we can do it ourselves. That's on you."

Organizers paused proceedings for about an hour to run down a rumor that the temporary restraining order that prevented them from holding a formal meeting wasn't in effect but resumed speeches after their lawyers located a court document and assured them the order was valid.

Scheppelman told Colorado Politics that the blind alley was emblematic of their critics' misguided approach.

"This just shows how dishonest the minority of anti-Trump fraudsters in the GOP really are," Scheppelman said in a text message. "They have to lie about Chairman Williams because their smears have no validity and they know he's been fighting for the grassroots Trump supporters who elected him, just as he promised he would do Dave and the party will continue to help elect all Republicans in Colorado in November, including Donald J. Trump."

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Republicans unload on Colorado GOP Chairman Dave Williams at rally in Brighton - coloradopolitics.com