Tim Bennet Presents Freedom First Colorado 

By Lynda Keck

Speaker Tim Bennet (Chair of FFC) came ready to present the platform and programs being worked on with Freedom First Colorado ( https://freedomfirstcolorado.org/ ) and was accompanied by a half dozen eager and motivated Colorado Young Republicans.   

First, Tim explained to us the structure of FFC as a 501c(4) organization dedicated to teaching and influencing conservative issues and candidates in Colorado.   He explained how many organizations and people are great at something but still miss their target because they do not function around two key measures: measures of performance (what you are good at doing) and measures of effectiveness (whether what you are doing will actually hit the targeted objectives).  He pointed out that the mission is to ensure Republican dominance in Colorado, therefore we must have a goal of flipping Colorado seats to conservatives.  This involves knowing where those seats are, which ones are winnable and knowing the issues of the people voting in those races.  

For example, 2026 is a critical election year.  He estimates there are 11 – 15 winnable seats in house districts.  This means finding the cracks in liberal messaging and targeting issues that matter in those races.  For Coloradans, that means: 

• Cost of Living – we have rampant inflation crushing family budgets and our housing is not affordable 
• Energy – high energy costs and the industry continues to be kneecapped by liberal legislation 
• Water – we are contractually bound to send water to other states and must present options to increase water storage capacity
• Democrat Dominance – the public sees the far-left leaning agenda and are becoming alarmed by it and we need to focus better

Tim presented graphs of the analysis FFC has done on Colorado races (i.e. HD59, HD43, HD46 and others).  In each of these races, Democrats outspent Republicans by $80K roughly and we lost those races by approximately 1,300 votes each.   With more voters in Colorado being UAF than either party – we need to realize we cannot win with ONLY our base.  We need to appeal to the issue-based voters that need to see how Republicans will solve the problems they care about most.  Remember that Heidi Ganahl carried 40% of the vote (roughly 22% Republican and 18% other) and still lost by 300,000 votes.   We must reach a wider base. 

To do this – FFC will focus on common beliefs between conservative and the unaffiliated voters that are receiving much attention now – such as 2^nd amendment erosions, lower taxes, traditional energy jobs, Colorado water rights, illegal immigration and open border impacts, parental rights and pro-life concerns.   This is why the 60/40 funding split of a 501c(4) with 60% toward messaging and communication to educate citizens with 40% being able to be spent in critical house districts makes FFC a viable vehicle for change.  The approach FFC is embracing relies on understanding that overfocusing on any one county (such as El Paso) eats up resources that might be more effectively spent on house seats elsewhere.  A more balanced approach to funding distribution unlocks support across more seats in more counties and allows for a targeted solution.  

The time to coalesce around the winnable approach is now.  Redistricting influences elections and we are facing the possibility that the 2030 census will make things much worse for us.  They do not count just citizens; they count all warm bodies in households and those results will shift districting in favor of Democrat areas where illegal immigrants are likely to be housed.  

Lively discussions were had during and after his presentation.  Tim has agreed to return next week and continue with further details on upcoming efforts!  The Young Republicans that joined him were instrumental in the discussions and encouraged us to pledge our resources to help this effort.