Newly elected state Rep. Ryan Gonzalez won his race as a Republican, but according to the Libertarian Party of Colorado (LPCO), he introduced his first bill on their behalf.
This might come as a surprise to his GOP colleagues, as Gonzalez was one of the legislative swing-district candidates who declined to sign the LPCO pledge. The Libertarians, however, knew that Gonzalez would be completely on board with their philosophy. How did they know this? He told them in a video he recorded for their state convention in which he agreed with everything in their pledge and promised to vote their way on each item listed.
Furthermore, according to party chair Hannah Goodman, Gonzalez agreed to allow the Libertarians “to be involved with sponsoring some legislation.”
Two weeks after his election, the LPCO posted the first minute of the video to its Instagram account.
“I am making this video today to make my case and to present to you an opportunity to work together in the 2025 legislative session,” says Gonzalez in the video to Libertarians.
It appears that deal is now bearing fruit. On Dec. 29, the Libertarian Party posted an image of a draft bill to repeal the cage-free egg law which was signed into law last year.
“Rep. Ryan Gonzalez is introducing a bill on our behalf since we didn’t run anyone against him in his race. Here is the draft,” states a Dec. 29 Facebook post from the Libertarian Party of Colorado.
Gonzalez didn’t introduce HB25-1074, the cage-ree egg repeal, until last week. The draft posted by LPCO was dated Dec. 23.
The Colorado Libertarian Party’s candidate pledge was perhaps the most interesting political story of the last election. Over the past decade, Republican candidates have been repeatedly losing close races to Democrats, often by fewer votes than the number earned by Libertarian candidates, who are seen as drawing more votes from the GOP side.
Announced back in the summer of 2023, 10 months after Yadira Caraveo’s narrow victory over Republican Barb Kirkmeyer to be the first representative of Colorado’s 8th Congressional District, the pledge is the Colorado Libertarians’ solution to third parties’ perennial size problem: leverage. They don’t have enough voters to elect their own candidates, but as long as they have more than the margin of victory in a swing district, they can exercise some level of influence by choosing to run a candidate or sit out the race.
Gonzalez did not respond to multiple requests for comment as to how he came to introduce the cage-free egg repeal. This article will be updated with any response received.
In order to secure the LPCO’s endorsement and stave off a primary challenger, however, Gonzalez made his willingness to commit to the Libertarian Pledge explicit, if not publicly by signing the document at least privately to the LPCO leadership via his video. After sharing it with the party’s central committee, LPCO Chair Hannah Goodman and Campaigns Director Jacob Luria explained that “politics” prevented Gonzalez from publicly affirming LPCO positions lest he lose his Republican primary, but that win or lose, he was committed to the cause.
Unidentified LPCO Member: “Just a quick question- why couldn’t he sign the pledge?”
LPCO Chair Hannah Goodman: “Politics! The internal workings of- So here’s the thing- everyone talks about how factionalized the Libertarian party is. It’s way worse in the GOP. They are so factionalized, in my opinion, beyond repair. So in order for him to win his primary, he has to do everything he can to win that primary. That is his main goal, presently. So he really wants to see somebody like that win a primary, rather than not. And he’ll be able to get locked in.”
Unidentified: “Would he be willing to sign a pledge after he wins?”
LPCO Campaigns Director Jacob Luria: “He is willing to owe us — owe us something that doesn’t have anything to do with the pledge, meaning –”
Hannah Goodman: “Legislation.”
Luria: “Legislation or data or lists, even if he loses. That’s what I want out of this. And I want something from him if he loses because the pledge felt really useless if the GOP person doesn’t win their election.”
Goodman: “He also has committed to allow us to be involved in sponsoring some legislation. Do you want to speak to that a little, Brandon, or no?”
Brandon Wark: “Yeah, definitely. So that was the video for House District 50, Ryan Gonzalez. He’s the Republican who won –who lost– in 2022, by the smallest margin in the state last time, by three hundred votes. So he’s doing everything he can. He’s taking it very seriously. He signed the RMGO pledge. He made that video to really reach out to everybody here to let us know that he’s going to be the most pro-liberty Republicans serving in the state house. That’s his goal. The house ‘Ron Paul,’ ‘Rand Paul,’ whatever you want to name him. He went through every single line of the pledge and agreed to it. That’s his level of commitment to us.”
Here is Gonzalez’s full video, as it was played for the Libertarian State Convention last March:
Transcript of Gonzalez’ video commitment to the Libertarian Party of Colorado’s candidate pledge:
“Hello my Colorado Libertarians and all my liberty-lovers. My name is Ryan Gonzalez and I’m running for House District 50. I’m really sorry I’m unable to go to your state convention today, as I’m going to my county assembly to get on the ballot. I’m making this video today to make my case and present to you an opportunity to work together in the 2025 legislative session.
Although I believe in everything that you guys have in your pledge. I, in good faith, can not sign it. But I can tell you that after speaking with some of your people in the Libertarian Party, your chairwoman and vice chair, among others, who are great people, I want to make sure that I reiterate my support and commitment to you of standing firm for liberty and to make sure that we restore balance to Colorado and to our state government.
I will not vote for any more restrictions on the Second Amendment. I will also support direct ballot access by citizen initiative. I will support –fully support– our Taxpayer Bill of Rights, TABOR, as well as voting against any new tax increases and voting for tax cuts. I also support lowering the mill levies, especially the property taxes. I would support an audit of state government taxpayer dollars. I will support government transparency, including expanding the Colorado Open Records Act, also known as CORA. I support the right of every parent to raise a child to their expectations and their beliefs, and educate their children the way that they wish to. And I will stand up to defend parents rights and the child’s rights when it comes to school choice. I will support limiting the emergency powers of the governor. I will support deregulating the marketplace so we have more affordable healthcare. And I will oppose any vaccine passports or vaccine mandates. I will support an amendment to the Colorado Constitution, to protect the people’s medical freedom against unelected public health departments. And I will support ending the civil asset forfeiture. I will support the Defend the Guard Act. Know I support food freedom, such as raw milk. I will vote to ban red light cameras and other surveillance means. I will support you in every single person to peacefully protest without government interference. And lastly, I will support and defend the rights of individuals according to the US and Colorado constitutions.
While I may not be able to sign your pledge, know that I stand for every single one of those things that you want us to agree on. I want us to work together. I want us to have a seat at the table, I want us to have dialogue and to make sure that we get Colorado back on track. And I just want to make Colorado free. And I want to give you guys the opportunity to do that. I wish that you will consider working with me so we can win in 2024. Thank you.”
