BROOMFIELD—Colorado Republicans elected former state senator Mark Hillman to a four-year term on the Republican National Committee at Saturday’s state GOP convention in Broomfield.

Hillman, a Burlington wheat farmer who also served as state treasurer, will succeed former Congressman Bob Schaffer as one of Colorado’s three voting members of the RNC.

"Principles are more important than politicians, personalities or incumbency," Hillman told delegates. "In 2006, voters lost confidence that they could count on Republicans to fight wasteful spending and balance the budget. We must work to regain their trust."

Hillman said Republicans too often allow their party to be defined by what it’s against rather than what it is for.

"We believe in freedom and opportunity for all hard-working Americans," he said. "That’s a message that resonates with people regardless of where they live, what they look like, or how much they make."

The election would also make Hillman an automatic delegate to the Republican National Convention, Sept. 1-4 in St. Paul, Minn., but Hillman said it was unlikely that he would attend because he and his wife, Heidi, are expecting their first child in late August.