Life-Long Republican Behind Trump’s Ballot Removal In Colorado Speaks Out On Case: ‘He Wants to Be King’
The 91-year-old life-long Republican behind the lawsuit to remove former President Donald Trump from Colorado’s primary ballot spoke to Reuters this week about the motivation behind her unprecedented legal action.
Norma Anderson recalled the events of January 6th, 2021, and told Reuters, “I am old enough to remember the Depression, World War Two, two other wars, recessions, good times, bad times, and lots of presidents. But never have I seen what happened on January 6th, I knew who was guilty immediately.”
Anderson’s career in Colorado GOP politics spans decades, having served as a GOP member of the Colorado House of Representatives from 1987 until 1998 and later in the Colorado Senate from 1999 until 2006. Anderson was elected Republican majority leader while serving in both bodies, the first woman to ever accomplish that feat in the state of Colorado.
In September of 2023, six voters including Anderson sued Colorado’s Secretary of State Jenna Griswold arguing that Trump should be disqualified from the ballot under the 14th Amendment for having engaged in open insurrection against the U.S. government.
The case, Anderson v. Griswold, eventually made its way to the Colorado Supreme Court, which overturned a lower court decision and ruled in Anderson’s favor – making national headlines by removing Trump from the state’s ballot.
Trump has appealed and the case, Trump v. Anderson, will now be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, in what is certain to be a landmark ruling on presidential eligibility. The Colorado Supreme Court ruling has been stayed pending the appeal and in the meantime, Colorado has printed its primary ballots with Trump’s name on them, but is planning not to count those votes if the Supreme Court upholds the ruling.
Anderson discussed the case in historical terms, arguing that her suit is about the future of American democracy. “He wants to be king. He wants to be like (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, where he has complete control,” she told Reuters, referring to Trump.
Anderson is joined by three other Republicans and two independents in her suit against Trump. Mario Nicolais, a conservative from Denver, told Reuters he and the other plaintiffs in the case “were so turned off by that insurrection and by what Donald Trump did on Jan. 6 that they said … our country is more important and our Constitution is more important. And anyone who did that cannot be allowed to run again.”
Nicolais added that he believes it’s important the Republicans are behind the lawsuit, saying, “Then it can just be dismissed as, ‘Oh, well this is just all political.’ And we didn’t want that.”
All the same, Trump’s spokesman Steven Cheung has slammed the case, saying, “The Colorado sham, and others like it, are part of a well-funded, coordinated Democrat Party effort to interfere in the election.”
