Of Colorado’s 12 legislative and congressional candidates who, in one form or another, denied the results of the 2020 presidential election, only two lost their races in this year’s election, while nine won. Another candidate is ahead by only a few dozen votes. Most of the winning election deniers represent Republican districts in rural Colorado. (Trump, the country’s leading election denier, lost handily in Colorado.)
Federal:
U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Windsor) has become one of the most prominent members of the Colorado GOP. After ousting Scott Tipton to earn a spot in the U.S. House of Representatives, she faced a tight race against Aspen City Councilor Adam Frisch. She moved to Colorado’s 4th Congressional District, the most conservative-leaning U.S. House district in the state. While it is no surprise that Boebert was elected to the seat, political newcomer Trisha Calvarese performed much better than any other Democratic candidate since 2010.
State Rep. Gabe Evans (R-Fort Lupton) beat incumbent Democrat Yadira Caraveo to represent Colorado’s 8th Congressional District, located northeast of Denver. Asked if the 2020 presidential election was legitimate, Evans replied that it’s not a “yes-no” question.
State Senate
Scott Bright (R-Weld County) has been elected to represent Colorado’s 13th State Senate District (SD13). The seat, which extends from Brighton to Greeley, was previously held by Rep. Kevin Priola (D-Henderson) who had switched parties, becoming a Democrat in 2022. Bright has posted election conspiracy memes on social media and has dodged answering whether Trump won the 2020 election.
State House
State Rep. Scott Bottoms (R-Colorado Springs) won reelection in HD15 and has indicated support for election conspiracy theories.
LOSER: Matt Burcham lost his race for Highlands Ranch state House seat (HD43). He worked with an election conspiracy group and traveled to Washington, D.C. for the Jan. 6 insurrection.
LOSER: Nathan Butler, a Republican running in HD26 in northwestern Colorado, lost his election to incumbent Meghan Lukens. Butler rallied at the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
State Rep. Brandi Bradley (R-Larkspur) won reelection in HD39 and has pushed a variety of election-related conspiracys, including the idea that Republican votes have been deleted.
State Rep. Marc Catlin (R-Montrose) has been declared the winner in the State Senate race for SD5. Catlin voted to “call into question” the legitimacy results of the 2020 presidential election and urged the decertification of the 2020 election results.
State Rep. Kenneth DeGraaf (R-Colorado Springs) won re-election in HD22 and has promoted conspiracy theories about Dominion Voting Systems and sympathized with Tina Peters and her attempt to undermine Mesa County election security.
Rebecca Keltie, a Republican, has a thin lead over state Rep. Stephanie Vigil (D-Colo. Springs), who represents HD16. Like Burcham, Keltie was a volunteer with the election fraud conspiracy group USEIP. She participated in the group’s canvassing efforts, in which they knocked on doors in Democratic-leaning neighborhoods looking for “phantom votes. Keltie also publicly promoted USEIP’s debunked report alleging a criminal conspiracy to rig elections in Mesa County on her campaign Facebook page. She wrote: “THIS is the NAIL we needed to prove these Dominion systems were NO GOOD! Bad actors in this crime need arrested and charged to the fullest extent! If it happened here….it happened other places!!”
Around that same time Keltie also attended an Election Integrity Forum organized by USEIP. She shared her experience with her supporters on YouTube.
“I just went to an election integrity forum and it was very interesting,” said Keltie. “They’re finding lots and lots of information and then lots and lots of evidence showing that our election here in Colorado is not the gold standard. Down in mesa county there they’re following through. It’s gonna be exciting here. Soon everyone’s gonna start seeing exactly what we’re seeing and hopefully we get our elections cleaned up and get rid of the Dominion and start doing things in a legal way.”
State Rep. Stephanie Luck (R-Penrose) handily won re-election. She joined Catlin in voting to urge decertification of the 2020 presidential election.
State Rep. Ty Winter (R-Trinidad) won his re-election in HD46 and has a history of pushing conspiracy theories.
In sum, only two of the election-denying candidates on this list were rejected by voters in their district.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article identified Rebecca Keltie as a member of the election fraud conspiracy group USEIP. Keltie disputed this characterization and is now described as a volunteer. Additional context about her promotion of USEIP’s conspiracy claims has also been added.
