Last Friday Republican congressional candidate Gabe Evans publicly called on his own state party chair to resign, and for the party’s central committee to vote him out if he refused to step down. GOP calls for Williams to step down boiled over last month when Williams sent a vicious anti-gay missive via the party’s email account attacking anyone who supports Pride month.
Today, the Colorado GOP sent out a fundraising email in support of his campaign that attacks his opponent, Congresswoman Yadira Caraveo, for her support of Pride. Furthermore, it misattributes a quote from another state legislator, Brianna Titone, to Caraveo.
“Representative Gabe Evans needs our help! The 8th CD is a winnable district, and we must help Gabe Evans take the district back from Yadira Caraveo,” reads the email, which is titled “Colorado Critical Races Initiative.” It’s the latest in a series of fundraising appeals the state Republican Party has sent on behalf of its priority candidates, including some, like Evans, that it opposed during the primary.
The email promotes a fundraising dinner for Evans and Jeff Crank, the party’s CD5 nominee whom it also opposed. The event takes place Tuesday evening in Greenwood Village and features House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA).
As evidence for Caraveo’s pro-LGBT positions, the email provides two screenshots, one is Caraveo’s post in support of Pride Month, and the other is supposedly a quote from Caraveo about an anti-LGBT bill, with a highlighted caption that makes it appear as though it’s a federal bill that Caraveo opposed during her time in Congress.
However, the screenshot that begins with Caraveo’s name, shows text of Titone’s position on a Colorado statehouse bill which was defeated during the 2020 legislative session. The statements come from a Jan. 18, 2020 post by LGBT advocacy group One Colorado, which shared the collective commentary from legislators who opposed HB20-1114, along with several prominent medical associations.
Here is Caraveo’s actual quote about the four-year old failed bill:
“Our government would arrest and imprison doctors for up to 12 years simply for following their Hippocratic Oath to care for their patients and provide best practice medical care to their patients”, said Caraveo. “Medical professionals and patients, not politicians, should decide what medical care is in the best interest of an individual in accordance with the current medical best practices.”
Reached for comment Colorado GOP Special Initiatives Director Darcy Schoening, who authored the email, acknowledged the erroneous quote and said she would “correct it to Titone in a future email, but either way, Caraveo is all in on gender ideology. Republicans know where she stands on gender ideology, and it’s not where average Colorado parents stand on the issue.”
Williams remains atop the state GOP, having neither resigned nor been voted out by his central committee. Instead he successfully sued to prevent the official meeting at which he and his fellow officers could have been removed from taking place. Williams opponents say they are appealing the judge’s ruling.
The Evans campaign did not respond to inquiries as to whether they plan to accept the state party’s support. The article will be updated with any response received.
