My nephew, Gabe Evans, is running for Congress in Colorado’s 8th Congressional District. I do love him, and I have since the day he was born. But I sincerely hope he doesn’t make it to Congress.
My name is Jennifer, and I am the sister of Gabe’s mother. As anyone reading this can probably imagine, encouraging you not to vote for my nephew is incredibly difficult. Family is very important, but so is standing up for what you believe in and doing the right thing.
I believe in freedom, rights, fairness, and opportunity. I believe in the right to love who you want to love. The right to make your own health care decisions, especially when it comes to starting a family. I believe in democracy and protecting our free and fair elections.
My nephew doesn’t share these beliefs. He holds an extreme, far-right ideology that is, simply put, scary. As a member of the LGBTQ community, I’m terrified of what his agenda could do to my rights.
He believes in, and has called for, banning abortion with no exceptions for rape or incest. He has threatened the fabric of our democracy by questioning the results of a free and fair election, joining extremists like Lauren Boebert.
He believes in, and has called for, banning gay marriage; he even called gay marriage “bestiality.”
He has tried to claim his views have changed over time but the truth is, I’ve seen firsthand that they haven’t. He has long held the deeply rooted belief that gay marriage is wrong and unacceptable.
Gabe has worked with the Convention of States – a group that seeks to rewrite the U.S. Constitution to put in place a far-right government. The group is backed by the most extreme leaders, including the authors of Project 2025, extreme Republicans’ policy proposals that would go into effect in 2025 if Trump is elected President.
Gabe hasn’t just attended events held by the Convention of States; he’s actively worked to implement their agenda by pushing a resolution in the Colorado state Legislature that word-for-word copied their proposals and would put their goal of overturning the Constitution into place.
Gabe already has an extreme record. But now, it’s clear that he is laying the groundwork for the Project 2025 agenda. If Gabe and his fellow far-right extremists are in control, they will implement Project 2025, and this should deeply concern all of us.
Project 2025 would strip away our rights and freedoms by monitoring women’s pregnancies, restricting access to birth control, and moving us toward a national abortion ban. It would hurt our pocketbooks, education, and access to health care.
It would raise costs on middle-class families while shuttering public schools and dismantling the Department of Education. The list goes on and on.
The hardest part to watch is that Gabe is exploiting my father’s legacy for political gain. Gabe touts his Mexican heritage, which comes from my father. But my father, who earned his U.S. citizenship fighting for this country in World War II, was kind, respectful, and selfless. He would be disgusted by the hateful platform Gabe is running on.
With this much at stake, I couldn’t remain silent. I understand my nephew well enough to know that he will push a far-right agenda that is simply too dangerous.
Jennifer Chavez is the aunt of Colorado congressional candidate Gabe Evans. She says, “I love my nephew and am very proud of his military and law enforcement accomplishments, but he has dishonored and disrespected the family name which was very important to our father.“
