January 23, 2026 08:20 AM UTC

Barb Kirkmeyer Takes Stage With "Colorado's Hangman" Joe Oltmann

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• by: Colorado Pols

FRIDAY UPDATE: 9NEWS braved the oncoming cold front and the smell of Weld County hoggeries to bring you this important news: Joe Oltmann would hang ’em all over again, and Barb Kirkmeyer would secede from the state she’s running to be governor of all over again:

When pressed about his rhetoric regarding executing elected Democrats, Oltmann defended his position that those found guilty of treason should face the death penalty.

“It has nothing to do with disagreeing with people. It has to do with the commission of a crime. If you commit treason, the penalty for treason is death. If you don’t like it, change the law,” he said.

Kirkmeyer, who has served as a state lawmaker for six years, positioned herself as the most experienced candidate with practical knowledge of government operations…

But when asked about her vote to secede from Colorado just over a decade ago, Kirkmeyer was as unrepentant as Oltmann was on the subject of hangings:

“I listened to my constituents. I put it on the ballot. They voted. They voted no, not to pursue seceding, and so we did not. That’s exactly what happened. But I think listening to your constituents, standing up for your constituents is what a leader does and what a good, elected official does, and I would continue to do that again,” Kirkmeyer said.

Moderator Jesse Paul followed that up by asking how she voted on the ballot measure.

“How did I vote? I voted for it,” Kirkmeyer said.

If the goal for Kirkmeyer was to fly the flag of “Team Normal” at last night’s debate, the outing was not a success. Kirkmeyer merely re-expressed her own somewhat dated wacky political views. Meanwhile, Oltmann got a chance to project a false sense of normalcy, and rationalize his calls to execute politicians he doesn’t like.

For that reason alone, Oltmann gets whatever win there was to be won here.

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This evening if you’re so inclined and have a spare $30 in your pocket, the conservative Women of Weld are hosting an event in Fort Lupton that they’re calling a debate between Republican candidates for governor:

The first thing to notice is that the current frontrunner considered to be in possession of the “big mo” in this race, “high-risk missionary” Victor Marx, declined to attend, along with his diminutive fellow pastor, state Rep. Scott “There Is No” Bottoms. As the flyer above notes, walking clown show and former Rep. Greg Lopez has left the Republican Party, while state Sen. Mark Baisley has switched to an equally futile run for the U.S. Senate, further limiting the entertainment value of this evening’s forum–which is nonetheless hosted by mainstream political reporters Jesse Paul and Ernest Luning of the Colorado Sun and Colorado Springs Gazette respectively.

All of this combines to make the face-off between Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer and nationally notorious election conspiracy theorist Joe Oltmann, moderated by Paul and Luning…and maybe with Sheriff Jason Mikesell providing the armed security in the event Oltmann decides to make good on his regular threats to hang politicians in both parties he doesn’t like, the real draw for tonight’s event.

After the candidate everyone most wants to see debate declined to appear, Sen. Kirkmeyer is in a difficult position. She can’t refuse an invite from the Women of Weld on her home turf, but showing up for this forum really only serves one purpose: normalizing “America’s Hangman,” a fringe figure who objectively speaking has no business anywhere near legitimate political organizing. We haven’t looked to see if Kirkmeyer is personally one of the many politicians in both parties Oltmann has fatwaed a death sentence, but she fits the profile.

It’s not an auspicious situation for anyone except Joe Oltmann, who needs all the legitimacy he can fake while his legal troubles stemming from his made-up stories about Dominion Voting Systems that became 2020 election conspiracy canon continue to fester. But it should make for some fascinating questions if the moderators want to pose them.

Just know where the exits are in case you need them. That’s our politics in 2026.