J6 riot backers see GOP support in state races as 2020 election hangs over Western Slope seats

Mainstream Republicans and other business-oriented conservatives are again endorsing GOP candidates in Colorado who promote election conspiracies or outright deny that President Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election. 

One Republican group, backed by former Colorado Gov. Bill Owens, has spent nearly $200,000 in support of Republican Matt Burcham, first helping him win his primary against a more moderate opponent and now supporting his general election campaign.

Burcham is running for a Highlands Ranch state House seat (HD43), was active with an election conspiracy group called the U.S. Election Integrity Plan (USEIP), serving on one of USEIP’s “Core” teams and was intimately involved in the group’s activities, including promotion, fundraising, and organizing. He’s called for banning mail-in ballots and voting machines. 

Burcham’s posts to USEIP’s chat indicate that he traveled to Washington, D.C. for the Jan. 6 insurrection.

The stated purpose of the independent group backing his campaign, Keep Colorado Counties Safe, is “to support Republican candidate who will work to reduce criminal activity in Colorado counties.” Longtime GOP attorney John Zakhem is the group’s registered agent.

State Rep. Marc Catlin (R-Montrose), who’s running for state Senate (SD5) and is endorsed by the Colorado Chamber of Commerce, voted in the Colorado Legislature in 2022 to “call into question” whether the 2020 presidential election was legitimate and to urge the decertification of the 2020 election results. In a vote for another resolution, he also thanked the people who were present for the Jan. 6, 2021, demonstration at the U.S. Capitol.

Catlin is running against Democrat Cole Buerger of Glenwood Springs, who recently questioned Catlin’s judgment based on his J6 votes.

State Rep. Dan Woog, also endorsed by the Chamber, also voted for the measures but later walked back his support.

Owens joined election deniers Donald Trump and U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson in endorsing Gabe Evans, who’s the GOP nominee for a congressional seat north of Denver. The legislator, who announced his run for Congress just eight months after taking office, has yet to say Biden was legitimately elected president, saying during a debate that it’s not a “yes-no” question as to whether 2020 election was stolen from Trump.

State Rep. Ty Winter (R-Trinidad), endorsed by the Colorado Chamber, made multiple election fraud conspiracy statements on social media following the 2020 election. He posted a Nov. 7 Tweet from then-President Trump stating, “I WON THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT!” On Nov. 19 he shared an image of the word “Fraud” combined with stylized vote total lines, captioning it with “Joe Biden is the system’s pick for President. Donald Trump is the PEOPLE’S pick for President. THE PEOPLE WILL WIN!!!” On Dec 20, 2020 Winter shared a post by religious right leader Franklin Graham quoting Stalin and claiming that the election may have been rigged. Winter also served as Chair of the Las Animas County GOP when it posted debunked election fraud conspiracies to its Facebook page.

The Chamber also endorses Rebecca Keltie, a Republican challenging state Rep. Stephanie Vigil (D-Colo. Springs). Like Burcham, Keltie was also a member of 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.” In a 2021 interview with Colorado Public Radio, Keltie supported threatening election officials she believes aren’t being transparent.

“…asked about the increase in threats to election officials, Keltie said she supports the intense level of scrutiny these officials often face. ‘I think if there is pressure and if there are threats then that right there shows you they are trying to get away with something,’ she said.”

Scott Bright, who’s running for a northern Colorado Senate seat (SD13), has posted election conspiracy memes on social media and dodged the question of whether Trump won the presidential election in 2020. Bright says that “Joe Biden is the President” without specifying if he was elected legitimately. Bright is endorsed by the Colorado Chamber.

The Colorado Chamber has defended endorsing election conspiracists in the past by stating that its candidate evaluations focus “narrowly on economic and workforce issues.” 

Owens has not returned emails in the past asking him to explain his group’s logic in backing election deniers.

Not all election deniers have been as successful getting mainstream endorsements. Nathan Butler, who’s running to represent a northern Colorado House district (HD26), rallied in front of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and posted photos of the march on Facebook. He insists that after he saw Trump’s speech, he joined the march and even stood on the Capitol steps, but he never entered the building — and saw no violence or disruptive behavior while he was part of the rally, though he’s admitted to noticing extremist groups there. He still backs Trump. It’s unclear whether news reporting and Butler’s own images had an impact, but so far only Rocky Mountain Gun Owners and the anti-LGBT “Gays Against Groomers” have endorsed his campaign.

Butler, a Craig City Council member, is challenging incumbent Democrat Meghan Lukens for the state House seat that includes most of Eagle County. Lukens earlier this year drew attention to Butler’s J6 attendance.

Other GOP election conspiracists on the Colorado ballot include state Rep. Scott Bottoms (R-Colorado Springs, (HD15), state Rep. Kenneth DeGraaf (R-Colorado Springs, HD22), state Rep. Stephanie Luck (R-Penrose, (HD60). These lawmakers are in deep red districts where the Republican Party candidate will almost certainly win and where financial backing from Owens, the Chamber, or others is, as a practical matter, not needed. 

Republican congressional candidate U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), who’s running to represent a district on the eastern plains after abandoning her Western Slope U.S. congressional district, is a brazen election denier, bragging about it frequently on social media and in her autobiography.

Editor’s note: A version of this story first appeared on the Colorado Times Recorder website.