Shortly after Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy promised to withdraw from Colorado’s presidential primary ballot until former President Donald Trump is restored, the state Republican Party said he and his other rivals — Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Govs. Chris Christie and Nikki Haley — may not need to do that.
That’s because the Colorado Republican Party may take care of that for the candidates.
In a response to the video Ramaswamy posted on X Tuesday night, the state GOP indicated it would pull its candidates off the ballot altogether and vote for its 2024 nominee in a caucus system such as used by Iowa and Nevada.
Read: Florida Gov. DeSantis Says SCOTUS Should Reverse Colorado Supreme Court Trump Decision
Among the presidential hopefuls, Ramaswamy led the attack on the Colorado Supreme Court for its 4-3 decision to toss Trump from the ballot over his alleged involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
The millionaire biotech magnate called the decision an “unconstitutional maneuver” that represented a “bastardization” of the 14th Amendment.
Ramaswamy noted that the provision the court used to strip Trump from the state’s ballot was originally intended to affect former Confederates following the Civil War.
The decision was a “hollowed out husk of what the country was built on,” which is the basic principle that “we the people” get to select our leaders, he added.
“I pledge to withdraw from the Colorado GOP primary ballot unless and until Trump is restored, and I demand that Ron DeSantis, Chris Christie, and Nikki Haley do the same thing, or else these Republicans are simply complicit in this unconstitutional attack in the way we conduct our constitutional republic,” Ramaswamy continued.
Read: Jonathan Turley Blasts ‘Fundamentally Flawed’ Ruling By Colorado Court Barring Trump From Ballot
“I think that what they’re doing is wrong and I think it’s up to Republicans to step up and stand up with a spine for our country’s future. I think that’s what’s at stake: whether we the people actually have a say in deciding who leads this country.”
“This belongs to the people, not the unelected cabal of Democratic judges in Colorado or any other state,” said Ramaswamy.
The Colorado GOP, in a response to the candidate’s video, posted on X, “You won’t have to [withdraw] because we will withdraw from the Primary as a Party and convert to a pure caucus system if this is allowed to stand.”
The state GOP’s post signaled that Trump’s removal may generate the votes needed to move the party to a caucus system that could not be accomplished by another controversy that hit the party three months ago.
According to the website Colorado Politics, Colorado voters in 2016 passed a ballot measure that allowed independent voters to cast ballots in the primaries of either major party.
The Colorado GOP has in each subsequent election tried to break from the state-run voting system for a caucus-style voting method open only to actual Republicans.
Read: Social Media Explodes After Colorado Supreme Court Tosses Trump Off Ballot
Some party officials argue that’s one reason the state has shifted left, as non-Republicans can vote for more milquetoast GOP candidates, who cause conservatives to stay home and ultimately get beaten by Democrats.
In September, the Colorado GOP Central Committee voted by a margin of 65% to 35% to shift to caucuses. The problem, however, is that the measure required a 75% supermajority.
Yet the 2023 vote for dumping the state system got nearly double the number of votes as received in 2021, Colorado Politics reported.
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