October 11, 2022 09:44 AM UTC

U.S. Senate Candidate Peotter: ‘Abandon the Colorado GOP’

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• by: Erik Maulbetsch

(We have nothing to add — Promoted by Colorado Pols)

Brian Peotter has a message for pro-Trump, “liberty-minded” Republicans in Colorado: “This November, tell Washington that you care more about principles than power. The Republican can’t win anyway! Don’t throw away your vote — use it to send a message.”

“If you have traditional family values, the Colorado Republican Party has left you. It is time to consider voting for me, Brian Peotter the Libertarian candidate for U.S Senate.”

Peotter says he’s running to give the conservative base of the Republican Party an option at the ballot box, which he believes so-called establishment Republicans have abandoned. This includes those like him who believe the Big Lie that Biden stole the 2020 election from Trump. In multiple posts on the far-right social media platform Gab, Peotter promotes the conspiracy theory, saying he will “fix” or “correct” the 2020 election.

“Elections need to be fixed,” wrote Peotter. “Stop supporting a Republican party in Colorado that says “we need to move past 2020. I’ll impeach Biden.”

Campaigning in an “Ultra MAGA” hat, he told a conservative podcast that his top issues are ending abortion, ending military aid to Ukraine, and protecting the Second Amendment, specifically re-legalizing machine guns.

He also embraced his role as a spoiler, saying the Libertarian Party needs to use its ability to pull votes from the Republican base to force the GOP to run more conservative candidates.

The Libertarian Party has traditionally been all about choice, from legalizing drugs to supporting LGBTQ rights to being explicitly in favor of a woman’s right to choose.

Until recently, that is. Earlier this year a far-right socially conservative faction called the Mises Caucus successfully took over the national Libertarian Party. Among their changes was removing its longtime support for access to abortion care from the party platform.

Peotter was a part of that effort. “If it wasn’t for the fact that we took over the Libertarian Party nationally and got rid of [the pro-choice position], I wouldn’t be a Libertarian,” he told the Colorado Times Recorder. “As a group we [the Mises Caucus] went to the national convention this year. We removed the abortion plank from the Libertarian Party that had been there for a very long time.”

Peotter’s top issue is ending all abortion, which he says is murder. In multiple Gab posts he dismisses Republican Joe O’Dea’s position in favor of a 20-week ban, which an ob-gyn doctor says contradicts his claim to support Roe v. Wade, as insufficiently anti-choice.

“A baby can feel pain the same as you at 14 weeks in pregnancy,” he posted. “Joe O’Dea supports abortion to 20 weeks. Animals have less painful deaths. I am the only defender of the innocent running for US Senate.”

Another post reads, “Colorado allows abortions up to birth. This is murder. I’m the only pro-life candidate for Senate. Vote for me.”

Peotter made headlines last week when state lawmaker Ron Hanks, who was defeated by O’Dea in the Colorado Republican primary, endorsed him. Hanks, who like Peotter believes the Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen, praised him as “the only conservative in the race.”

“Colorado Conservatives should stand up and defend their belief in conservative principles by voting for conservative principles,” said Hanks. “This cycle, those principles are best upheld by Libertarian Brian Peotter. Such a vote is not an abandonment of our true, honest, beloved Republican Party – it is a statement that we clearly see Colorado’s Republican Party has abandoned us. Colorado’s Grassroots Conservatives want our party back.

Hanks didn’t respond to an email inquiry as to whether he agrees with Peotter’s call for Republicans to “abandon the GOP” and if he plans to campaign for Peotter. This article will be updated with any response received.

Hanks isn’t Peotter’s only prominent Republican endorser. Tom Tancredo, who also famously left the GOP to run with a more conservative third party (He was the American Constitution Party’s gubernatorial nominee in 2010.), prefers Peotter to O’Dea.

It’s unknown if Peotter’s “Abandon the Colorado GOP” message made for some awkward dinner table conversation since his wife Melody is running for statehouse as a Republican. However, given that she shares her husband’s position on Trump, abortion, and the Big Lie (She’s employed by Mike Lindell’s election conspiracy group, Cause of America.), he presumably doesn’t want voters to reject her, just candidates he believes to be insufficiently conservative.

Peotter did not respond to emailed questions about the specifics of his plan to end all abortion, and whether or not his call to “abandon the GOP” extends to his wife’s campaign. This article will be updated with any response received.

This article first appeared in the Colorado Times Recorder.