October 05, 2022 02:03 PM UTC

Ron Hanks: Vote for Brian Peotter, Not Joe O'Dea

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• by: Colorado Pols

We did not expect that during the first week of October the biggest story in Colorado politics would be about a thing that is not happening: Republican gubernatorial candidate Hiedi Heidi Ganahl’s obsession with “furries” in schools.

We also did not expect that during the first week of October, former Republican Senate candidate Ron Hanks — the man who won topline on the Primary ballot at the State Republican Party Assembly — would be endorsing anyone other than the official GOP nominee for U.S. Senate.

But that is what happened today. Hanks released this two page letter endorsing Libertarian candidate Brian Peotter for U.S. Senate instead of Republican candidate Joe O’Dea.

Hanks is apparently still pretty salty about losing the Republican nomination to O’Dea in June. He writes:

Next month, I will vote for Libertarian Brian Peotter for US Senate, and I encourage all Colorado Conservatives to do the same.

The reasons are clear: Brian Peotter is the only conservative on the ballot for US Senate. The COGOP’s candidate in the race has no grounding in conservative positions, nor any proven interest in supporting them.

Foremost among conservative principles is protecting the unborn. Libertarian Brian Peotter is Pro-Life. The COGOP’s candidate, Joe O’Dea, pretends to be, but he supports murderous abortion before 20 weeks of gestation. To O’Dea, apparently, some murders in the womb are acceptable, depending on the calendar. [Pols emphasis]

Libertarian Brian Peotter is a fiscal conservative. He believes the Biden Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Bill are inflationary. The COGOP’s candidate O’Dea has no such clarity: He has declared one inflationary, but not the other. Such cloudy logic becomes clearer when we learn he and his core supporters have become wealthy from government contracts.

[mantra-pullquote align=”center” textalign=”left” width=”90%”]“For U.S. Senate in 2022, Libertarian Brian Peotter is and ought to be the choice of all Colorado Conservatives.”

— Ron Hanks, 10/5/22[/mantra-pullquote]

Hanks also has some specific bones to pick with O’Dea that go back to last Spring’s Primary battle:

On abortion and other issues, Libertarian Brian Peotter is vastly more conservative than this “pay-to-play” fake Republican who bought his way on to the ballot, skipping the traditional caucus and assembly process, avoiding Republican voters by paying for petition signatures.

Avoiding the state assembly was not merely political cowardice. It was a deliberate strategy to hide his true political views from Republican voters. When O’Dea’s liberal positions were revealed, many in the so-called conservative media were surprised, and some have since declared him unsupportable. [Pols emphasis]

Hanks says that O’Dea has a “near-zero chance of being elected” and adds, “Only his campaign has declared the race close – a cynical effort to attract donations and reduce the personal costs of losing big.” On this, at least, we agree.