The Libertarian candidate in Colorado’s Congressional District 8, one of the country’s most competitive U.S House races, has removed his name from the ballot and endorsed Republican state Rep. Gabe Evans.
The Libertarian Party of Colorado said they believe Eric Joss' decision to exit the race could sway a significant portion of libertarian-leaning voters, potentially tipping the scales in favor of unseating incumbent Democratic Congresswoman Yadira Caraveo.
Joss’ decision is a departure from his earlier sentiments; during the GOP primary he said he would only drop out if voters chose Evan’s opponent, former state Rep. Janak Joshi. However, after Joshi lost handily, he and Evans continued talking. The turning point, Joss said, was Evans’ willingness to sign a modified version of the Libertarian Party’s candidate pledge.
“We should be negotiating and compromising and speaking and communicating, and then the pledge was the big thing for us,” said Joss.
The pledge was unveiled last year and is part of first-of-its-kind collaboration between the Colorado GOP and Libertarians, in which the minor party has agreed to stay out of political races where the GOP candidate meets their standard for "pro-liberty." The idea, supporters said, is to help Republicans win close seats, while giving Libertarians more influence in picking officeholders who share their ideals.
The alliance could be significant in this race in particular. Caraveo won her seat two years ago by just 1,632 votes, far fewer than the 9,280 votes that went to the Libertarian candidate. The 8th District, which stretches from Denver’s northern suburbs up into Weld County, is Colorado’s newest congressional seat and the most politically balanced in the state.
In a statement Tuesday, Caraveo’s campaign blasted Evans’ decision to sign the pledge.
“For months Gabe Evans has claimed to be against the provisions in the Libertarian Party’s pledge. Now, at a time where it’s politically convenient, he's made a backroom deal in an attempt to resuscitate his campaign and switched his position. Voters can't trust Gabe Evans,” said campaign manager Mary Alice Blackstock.
In a Zoom call with reporters Tuesday evening, Evans said he worked with the Libertarian Party and Joss to iron out some of the pledge’s language.
“We were able to make some modifications to the earlier pledge. There's a version 2.0 that I have agreed to sign,” said Evans.
The original pledge called for an end to all U.S. funding for aid to Ukraine. The version Evans agreed to says any aid must directly benefit American interests and be subject to audits. Evans, who is a former Army helicopter pilot, also pledged to oppose any military action that does not “immediately affect U.S. National Security.”
“We know we've got a 35 trillion deficit caused by runaway government spending. And so making sure that when we have the foreign policy conversation, it's very focused on protecting Americans, protecting American interests, making sure that rogue dictators don't get to run wild,” said Evans.
The pledge also commits Evans to support the Second Amendment and to push for states to be able to set their own policies around cannabis. In a change from the original pledge, Evans agreed to push for “fundamental reform” to the U.S. Department of Education, instead of getting rid of it entirely.
Evans also opposed language in the original pledge that calls on candidates to work toward abolishing federal intelligence agencies.
“While we absolutely need accountability, we can't have a wholesale abolishment of the intelligence community,” said Evans, “particularly when we’ve got a wide open southern border and all of the problems associated with that.”
Evans said he absolutely supports making sure the intelligence community is accountable, politically neutral and honoring the constitutional rights of American citizens.
Evans is finishing his first term in the statehouse and has tried to carve out more moderate positions on some top issues. He describes himself as pro-life but says he would not vote for a national abortion ban, and similarly says that immigration enforcement should focus on undocumented immigrants who are committing other crimes, rather than adopting the sort of “deport them all” message carried by candidates like Rep. Lauren Boebert.
