Eight years ago, a movement to form a 51st state from 11 counties from rural Colorado began.

Over 96,000 voters voiced their opinion on a question asking residents about seceding from the Centennial State, and despite five counties voting in favor of the motion; six others did not, the Washington Post reported. 

Despite the failed movement in 2013, many of the Coloradans who were in favor of secession have kept the same mindset as “attacks” on the state’s oil, gas, water and agricultural industries have continued, said former state Sen. Greg Brophy.

And now, eight years later, nearly 5,300 people have joined the Weld County, WY‘s Facebook group and are petitioning to bring the question of secession back on the local ballot this November. 

Eaton resident Christopher “Todd” Richards, who organized the page, began thinking about the failed movement after reading an opinion in The Denver Post in 2019 regarding regulation of the oil and gas industries.

He had heard rumblings of people moving to Wyoming, and after reading the piece at that time, he said he thought, “Weld County is going to want to secede again.”

“I thought it was ridiculous,” Richards told The Denver Gazette. “I thought, why in the world would we move to Wyoming? That’d be stupid. But I sat on it for a bit and decided to make a Facebook page to see if other people thought this was crazy.”

At first, the response to the group was as expected, with 160 people joining, but as 2020 approached, the “right people” found the group and helped it blow up from under 200 followers to 1,600 overnight.

“Other people got interested in it and asked if they could help, and then four or five people got involved and it just kept getting bigger,” Richards said.

As a result, Richards submitted a campaign finance disclosure for “Weld County, Wyoming” in February 2020.

But as the coronavirus pandemic crept into Colorado and gatherings were postponed, the number of people joining slowed as discussions and in-person meetings were not held.

During this time, however, the organizers sought input from local officials and from those involved in the 51st State attempt, but opted to postpone any activity until after the 2020 presidential election, Richards said. 

“We decided to wait and see what happened with the elections in November, and we figured if things went the way Weld County wanted them to go, Weld County to Wyoming would disappear and no one would think of it again,” Richards said. “But it didn’t go the way people up here really wanted some of those votes to go and, again, overnight we went from about 1,700 to 1,800 people to over 4,000, and it became really serious.”

As Richards was peppered with questions on a daily basis — What do we do? How do we do this? Is this even possible? — the group started a petition to get a question on the ballot.

And to former state Rep. Lori Saine, a Firestone Republican, the sentiment is no surprise.

“The ruling majority in Denver has repeatedly passed legislation taking aim at our right to defend ourselves and our families, and legislation crippling the oil and gas industry, which provides good-paying jobs and heats and powers our homes,” Saine wrote in an emailed statement to The Denver Gazette. “Why is anyone surprised that neighbors are asking neighbors the same questions they did in 2013? I believe some of these folks keenly feel that they didn’t leave Colorado — Colorado left them.”

A long road to secession

Richards and his fellow organizers acknowledge that this process will not happen overnight and want to move in a way to “best respect” Weld County commissioners.

The group’s goal is to gather around 50,000 county residents’ signatures to support a petition and show the county commissioners that this is what their constituents want.

“We want to give the commissioners some backing when they’re asked why — why did they look into secession — and they can show 50,000 signatures,” Richards said. 

But Weld County Commissioner Scott James said the board of commissioners are not authorized to get the question on a ballot.

“You can get the signatures of every single person in Weld County, we still can’t refer it to the ballot, because our charter does not allow us,” James told The Denver Gazette. “In order for us to refer something to the ballot it has to be an ordinance, proposed law or amendment.”

Although the board can’t add a question to the ballot, Weld County Attorney Bruce Barker said if the movement gathered 5% of the total number of votes cast in the 2020 election and presented the question as an ordinance it could be added .

Meaning the movement needs only 8,455 signatures to be able to present the question initiating an ordinance to the board of commissioners, according to data from the Weld County Clerk and Recorder’s Elections Department.

Upon a submission of the ordinance, the board of commissioners would have 30 days to either approve, deny or allow the voters to decide whether to adopt the ordinance or not, Barker said. 

Although James says each constituent is free to do as they please, he recommends those involved in the movement to get the question on a statewide ballot rather than locally. 

If the ordinance were passed by Weld County voters, it would face many more hurdles as the question headed to the statewide ballot initiative process, based on Article I in the state constitution. If the initiative were passed by the voters of Colorado, then the General Assembly and both houses of Congress, along with Wyoming’s state legislature, would need to approve the move.

Welcome in Wyoming

Wyoming’s Gov. Mark Gordon said Monday during a radio interview that he supports Weld County’s push to secede.

“We would love that,” Gordon said in a report by the Associated Press. “From time to time, states have said, ‘Gosh, we like what Wyoming is doing,’ and we’d be happy.”

The move would make Weld County the largest county in Wyoming, while also instantaneously growing the state’s population by 56%, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

In response to Gordon’s comments favoring the idea of Weld County joining Wyoming, Gov. Jared Polis is not.

“Hands off Weld County,” Polis wrote in a post on Facebook Tuesday. “Weld County is a thriving part of Colorado and Weld County residents are proud to be part of our great state. I do hear from so many Cheyenne residents, on the other hand, that they are culturally, economically and socially more connected to Colorado than Wyoming.”

Although Weld County may be the only county in Colorado currently attempting to secede from its home state, it’s not the only case.

Last February, a group called the Greater Idaho Movement began taking the appropriate steps to have sections of Oregon and several Northern California counties join Idaho, according to an Oregon Public Radio report. 

Richards and his fellow organizers have been following their journey and have been communicating back-and-forth to help their efforts.

“We’re about a year behind them, but we’ve been following them and I’ve been in contact with their organizers, and we’re going to follow in their footsteps if things go right,” Richards said. “If they run across some difficulties and we think we can do it differently, then we will.”

Although Richards and the members of “Weld County, Wyoming” are planning for the initiative to pass in Weld County and hopefully move onto the next steps, he says if the vote fails then he will be done.

“We will let the people vote, and if it’s a no, at least we asked,” Richards said. 

But if the attempt were successful, Brophy believes other counties would start having similar discussions “in a heartbeat.”

The sentiment will linger until things drastically change, he said, and talks about secession will happen again.

“If what you want is unity — the buzzword of the day — then do the handful of things that the constitution requires state government to do,” Brophy said.

Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg, a Sterling Republican who represents a large swath of northeastern Colorado, believes one way to amend beliefs is by giving rural Colorado a “seat at the table.”

“The governor’s boards and commissions don’t appoint people from rural Colorado and there is absolutely no dialogue with those from the rural areas, and it’s frustrating,” Sonnenberg said.

Sonnenberg believes thoughts of secession from rural counties such as Weld County will continue until changes happen.

“I don’t think this will ever go away until you have a governor that governs for all of the state of Colorado and not just Denver and Boulder,” Sonnenberg said. “I don’t think it goes away as long as things stay the same.”

WELD COUNTY FACTS

3,984.9 square miles

Population: 324,492

Median age: 34.8

Race and ethnicity: 65% white, 30% Hispanic, 1% Black, 1% Asian

Median Household income: $78,615; 7.9% below povery line

Source: 2019 American Community Survey of U.S. Census Bureau