Any Colorado voters who feel that Republicans did not spend enough energy attacking transgender people in prior election cycles can rejoice: anti-trans activist Rich Guggenheim has officially filed to run for the state’s 6th Congressional District in 2026.
Guggenheim is the Colorado chapter leader and national legislative director of Gays Against Groomers (GAG), a right-wing anti-LGBTQ group. GAG’s rhetoric focuses on trying to turn cisgender members of the LGBTQ community against trans people, and ultimately push trans people out of public life altogether. Guggenheim fully embraces this rhetoric, claiming that advancements in transgender rights have been harmful to other groups.
GAG has publicly announced its endorsement of Guggenheim.
“We have seen the rights of women, children, parents, and LGB people under assault by those who push a harmful gender ideology under the guise of being inclusive,” Guggenheim writes on his campaign website.
Colorado Republicans, like their national counterparts, have taken up the culture war against trans people as a wedge issue to win over voters. In Colorado, local school board activists have made inroads with these tactics, claiming, among other things, that introducing students to the existence of LGBTQ people is equivalent to pedophilia and grooming.
In her 2022 gubernatorial campaign, Heidi Ganahl unsuccessfully tried to leverage these issues on a statewide level. Her claims of “furries” using litterboxes in Colorado public schools were widely debunked by fact-checkers and panned by pundits. Guggenheim would later advance this myth in 2024, claiming without evidence that these “furries” were biting and scratching other students while teachers turned a blind eye.
Guggenheim said this during the 2024 campaign by Protect Kids Colorado, a coalition of right-wing and anti-LGBTQ groups aiming to target the rights of trans youths through citizen ballot initiatives. The campaign received support from the religious right, as well as the Colorado Republican Party.
While none of the initiatives qualified for the 2024 ballot, Guggenheim and others are currently raising funds to run a measure that would restrict transgender participation in youth sports again in 2026.
Guggenheim was, until recently, a Democrat precinct organizer, though he switched parties late last year. His public persona, as an activist, has been predominantly focused on attacking trans people. This seems to be what will set him apart as a candidate; he has recently heaped criticism on fellow Republicans who he perceives as being lukewarm on the trans issue.
“I just have to ask, you know, if these are the Republicans and they aren’t going to step up to fight to protect children, then why are we wasting our time in Colorado?” Guggenheim said on KOA radio’s Mandy Connell Show earlier this month. “These people were elected to represent us and they aren’t even doing that. They are putting in the bare minimum. And these are the Republicans in solid, safe, red districts doing the bare minimum in these committee hearings. And it’s embarrassing and it’s offensive.”
Guggenheim’s campaign website, currently under construction, says that aside from attacking trans people, he plans to focus on “cost of living, protecting our First and Second Amendment rights,” and building an economy “free from government regulation.”
Guggenheim, a Denver resident, does not currently live in the congressional district he wants to represent. He also has a record of voter fraud, having voted in both Idaho and Florida in the 2020 primary election, for which he would ultimately plead guilty. According to court records, he is still on unsupervised probation.
The Federal Election Commission doesn’t yet show any candidate documention for Guggenheim, but he posted what appears to be a filing document on his personal Facebook page earlier this week.
In another radio interview in January, Guggenheim called gay people who support Democrats “slaves on the rainbow plantation picking glitter.”
At the same time, he dismissed concerns from the left that, after Republicans have eliminated transgender rights, they will go after gay marriage next – even though Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has openly indicated that he would rule to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges’ national gay marriage protections.
Additionally, “Project 2025” — the right-wing Heritage Foundation’s presidential transition plan — promotes the “traditional American family,” and falsely claims that “only heterosexual, two-parent families are safe for children.” While President Donald Trump denied knowing about Project 2025 on the campaign trail, his barrage of executive orders during his first month in office have closely mirrored the political wishlist laid out in Project 2025.
“No, I am absolutely not [worried about gay marriage being banned],” Guggenheim told KHOW radio host Ryan Schuiling. “And let me tell you why. Donald Trump has hosted same sex marriages at his Mar-a-Lago estate. And he has appointed more openly gay and lesbian people to cabinet positions than any other president in history. So all this is to me is nothing but virtue signaling by the left and fearmongering designed to keep what I call the slaves on the rainbow plantation picking glitter.”
Guggenheim did not immediately respond to an email inquiry as to if and when he plans to move into the district, and whether he has any concerns that his voter fraud conviction will hurt his campaign. This article will be updated with any response received.
