Boulder County candidate quits state House race after altright blog surfaces

A Republican running for the Colorado House has dropped out after his personal altright blog became public knowledge.

“I’ve said Islam is bad, that blacks are unreadyforuniversalfranchise, and that homosexuality is a disease,” David Reid Ross wrote in a post this week as news of his blog reached the Colorado Republican Party.

Ross was the party’s nominee to fill an open seat in Colorado House District 12, an area of Boulder County that includes Lafayette, until Westword reported on the contents of his personal blog, The House of David. The posts span more than a decade.

Ross told The Denver Post he submitted his withdrawal paperwork to the Secretary of State’s Office on Thursday afternoon, as time ran short for the district’s Republicans to convene a vacancy committee to replace him.

“I don’t know if the Colorado GOP can actually erase my name from the ballot at this stage, but they are going to try,” he had stated on his blog, The House of David, late Wednesday.

In May 2018, he wrote that he wouldn’t let “Martin Luther King’s hate speech against my race to be forgotten.”

Many of his posts focus on Islam and include links to books he has selfpublished on the religion. He repeatedly described the faith as evil and argued against Muslims holding positions of power.

Daniel Cole, a spokesman for Colorado’s GOP, said the party didn’t know about the blog until this week.

“We are no longer supporting his candidacy,” Cole said. “You could say that we never supported his candidacy.”

The district is a safe Democratic seat, with its former occupant, Rep. Mike Foote, winning reelection 6535 in 2016. Sonya Jaquez Lewis is the Democratic nominee this year.

Ross didn’t receive money or staffing assistance from the state party, and Cole said he never accessed the GOP’s databases.

“It’s a very uncompetitive seat,” Cole said.

Ross’ departure from the race leaves the party with little time to replace him on the ballot.

“We certify the ballot on Monday, so any withdrawals or replacement candidates must be in place prior to Monday,” said Lynn Bartels, spokeswoman for the Secretary of State’s Office. “If withdrawals or replacement candidates are submitted on Monday or later, they are at the mercy of where the counties are at in their printing of ballots, as once a county begins printing ballots it will not accommodate changes.”