Centennial City Councilor Robyn Carnes told attendees of last month’s Republican fundraiser luncheon that she’s running a “purple” campaign, but a review of her political connections shows more red than blue.
“We are running a purple campaign, and it’s very intentional,” she said. “My 14-year-old said, ‘Mom, you should use prunes.’ I said, Prunes?’ He said, ‘Yea, prunes. You know, you have to eat the prunes when you get a little plugged up. Prunes are purple. Prunes bring balance to us, right?’ He said there’s a lot of stuff that needs to get out of under the Golden Dome.”
Carnes is running against incumbent Sen. Chris Kolker (D-Centennial). In a July email, the Colorado GOP called Kolker a “rabid gun-grabber and anti-American progressive,” and claimed he “sponsored the bill to force schools to keep trans porn in their libraries for kids.” This year’s Colorado GOP campaign emails, largely written by Darcy Schoening, the GOP’s director of special initiatives, have specifically focused on anti-LGBTQ messaging, which some Republicans have said is hurting their candidates.
In 2021 Carnes donated $100 to Parents for Schumé Navarro Committee. A former Arapahoe County GOP Secretary and 2021 Cherry Creek School Board candidate, Navarro promoted the QAnon conspiracy theory and election fraud conspiracies on social media platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram. Navarro also attended the Jan. 6 ‘Stop the Steal’ riot at the U.S. Capitol.
When asked about claims of fraud in the 2020 election by Colorado Community Media, Carnes said, “I am going to choose not to comment on that specific thing because, unfortunately, that’s a very divisive issue right now … I think of regardless of where we live … we must … work hard to ensure that all elections are fair. And if there is room for doubt, let’s get to the root of that to erase and eliminate that doubt.”
During a June appearance on the Jeff and Bill show, Carnes expressed her support for former President Donald Trump. “He is the Republican candidate,” she said. “I’m not going to lie. Yes, I am [supporting Donald Trump in this upcoming election].”
Carnes, a 2021 graduate of the conservative training class Leadership Program of the Rockies, worked for Heidi Ganahl’s disastrous 2022 gubernatorial campaign, which was dominated by outrageous and thoroughly debunked claims about furries in public schools. During Eli Bremer’s August 2022 launch party for Nine PAC, which supports politicians who adhere to an anti-trans interpretation of Title IX, Ganahl bragged about helping a CU parent whose daughter was allegedly assigned a dorm room with a transgender student. Ganahl’s story was at odds with current CU policies regarding transgender students, and the university was unable to “confirm the alleged details of this specific housing assignment change request.”
Carnes also supported Deborah Flora in her bid for the Congressional District 4 Republican nomination. In April, The Villager reported that Flora had recently launched the Deborah Flora Women’s Coalition. The group’s initial membership list includes state Rep. Brandi Bradley (R-Littleton), Carnes, Aurora City Councilor Danielle Jurinsky and Republican activist Holly Horn, among others. Despite her attempts at running for office, Flora is perhaps best known for her 2022 film Whose Children Are They? which attacked public schools and teachers unions, incorporating every battle from the culture war and injecting a healthy dose of anti-communist hysteria into the equation.
In June, Colorado Libertarian Party Chairwoman Hannah Goodman posted on social media that Carnes had signed their pledge to prevent a Libertarian “spoiler” candidate in the race. State candidates, like Carnes, must commit to a wide range of positions, some very general and others quite specific. General planks include standard ones such as protecting TABOR and gun rights and opposing tax increases. However, there are also commitments to “vote to eliminate the income tax,” ban red light cameras and “support a version of the Defend the Guard Act,” which prevents Colorado National Guard troops from being deployed to American military efforts. They must also promise to support “deregulating the medical marketplace,” and “food freedom, such as raw milk and local meat processing,” presumably in conflict with federal health regulations for dairy farmers and ranchers.
“I am running because the best government is balanced government, and we have no balance,” Carnes said during the Aug. 28 luncheon event. “We have one political party and all of their ideologies in charge. That’s a problem for the people of Colorado.”
