NEWS 07/24/2026
Dem running for statehouse seat said "there is absolutely nothing wrong" with what happened on Jan. 6
Plus: Michael Bennet criticizes Jared Polis on the campaign trail. Polis seems to dislike redistricting proposal. Colorado GOP troubles.
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A screenshot of Gabriel Cervantes’ Facebook post about the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
A Democrat running in the primary this year to unseat an incumbent in the Colorado House with the backing of a list of Capitol progressives wrote on Facebook that "there is absolutely nothing wrong" with what happened during the Jan. 6 riot in Washington and that it "needs to happen again, but for actual reasons that will ACTUALLY BENEFIT US."
The post, made Jan. 7, 2021, came about six months after Gabriel Cervantes wrote on Facebook that "the idea of ‘a peaceful protest’ has to stop."
"Standing in front of someone’s yard with a couple of signs and chanting isn’t going to change anything," Cervantes wrote May 29, 2020. "Disruption causes change. Violence causes change. Quit letting the system tell you it doesn’t."
Cervantes, a Democratic organizer, is running this year in House District 31 to unseat state Rep. Jacque Phillips of Thornton. The 27-year-old has been endorsed by a big group of liberal Democrats in the legislature, including state Reps. Manny Rutinel, Brianna Titone, Javier Mabrey, Meg Froelich and Steven Woodrow, as well as state Sen. Julie Gonzales.
In an interview with The Unaffiliated, Cervantes stood by the posts but said they needed to be considered with nuance.
First, he said, he was just stating a fact. "When we talk about historical movements, the civil rights movement … it (incited) a lot of violence," he said. "That in no way means that I’m advocating for violence."
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A screenshot of Gabriel Cervantes’ 2020 Facebook post in which he wrote: "Violence causes change. Quit letting the system tell you it doesn’t." (Screenshot)
Second, Cervantes said he doesn’t consider political violence to just be actions like storming the U.S. Capitol.
"Political violence is letting corporations get away with polluting places like Commerce City and having no repercussions of it," he said. "Political violence is letting corporations buy your politicians."
"If we want real change, it starts with ruining someone’s day," he said.
In defending his post about Jan. 6, Cervantes paraphrased President Abraham Lincoln‘s quote about citizens’ right to change a government they don’t like through the democratic process or by revolution.
"These are words coming from one of the most famous presidents in American history. So are you disagreeing with him?" Cervantes said.
We also asked Cervantes about a September 2020 Facebook post in which he shared a link to a 9News article titled "Survey finds ‘shocking and saddening’ lack of Holocaust knowledge among millennials, Gen Z." He wrote: "I want to be real open and honest about this, why does this matter as much as they want it to?"
Cervantes said that post was made with the context that he feels the way colonizers treated American Indians isn’t taught enough in schools.
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Gabriel Cervantes’ post about a news article showing that young people are unfamiliar with what happened during the Holocaust. (Screenshot)
"We never talk about what happened in the United States on the land that we are on right now as a genocide," he said. "When it comes to the Holocaust, we should absolutely learn more about that, because we are very well headed in the direction of a fascist government. We need to learn about all of the genocides. That includes the genocide of indigenous people over the course of 400 years."
The Unaffiliated asked Cervantes how people should interpret his past social media posts.
"How people read into it is how they read into it," he said. "I’m not going to tell people how they should interpret something. People know what I’m about. People know the kind of stances I take on things. And people know more than anything that I am a person of nuance."
CAMPAIGN FINANCE COMPLAINT
Andrés Carrera, a Democrat running in the crowded state Senate District 34 primary, is facing a campaign finance complaint over allegations that he didn’t properly report a handful of donations. Senate District 34 covers northwest Denver.
The complaint accuses Carrera of failing to report a $6,200 donation from the Apartment Association of Metro Denver Small Donor Committee and a $2,000 donation from the COPIC Small Donor Committee, both of which were received last year. COPIC is a medical liability insurance provider.
Carrera is also accused of failing to report a $1,000 donation last year from the Homes for All Coloradans Committee, a group backed by contractors that says it works to promote "a pro-business, pro-property rights agenda."
The Colorado Secretary of State’s Office ruled last week that the complaint, filed by Sam Maddux, a former union lobbyist, "alleged sufficient facts to support a legal and factual basis regarding the alleged violations." The office gave Carrera until March 4 to respond.
In a written statement, Carrera told The Unaffiliated that the "complaint is unfounded and appears to stem from a misunderstanding of timing, not disclosure."
Carrera said he didn’t deposit the checks from the Apartment Association of Metro Denver and COPIC small donor committees, so he never reported them. (He didn’t respond to follow up questions about why.)
As for the donation from Homes for All Coloradans, Carrera said he didn’t receive it until Jan. 15, after the last campaign finance reporting period, and that the contribution will be disclosed in his next campaign finance filing.
"At all times, I have complied with campaign finance requirements and remain committed to full transparency. My focus remains on engaging with residents across Denver and addressing the issues that matter most to them," he said.
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WHAT TO WATCH IN THE WEEK AHEAD
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- A Denver district judge will sentence former state Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis, a Longmont Democrat, at 9:30 a.m. today. She was convicted last month of four counts, including a felony. Prosecutors are requesting that she be given probation.
- Democratic and Republican precinct caucuses are gathering starting next week. They are the first step in the party’s caucus and assembly process. Check with your county party to find times and locations.
- The legislature’s Joint Budget Committee meets every day next week. Thursday and Friday will be big days for the panel, as they consider the budgets for the Department of Corrections and the Department of Health Care Policy and FInancing.
- The Capital Development Committee meets at 8:30 a.m. Thursday.
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THE NARRATIVE
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Michael Bennet’s latest target on the campaign trail? Jared Polis.
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U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet speaks at a Democratic gubernatorial forum with Attorney General Phil Weiser in Denver on Feb. 21. (Jesse Paul, The Colorado Sun)
U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet is testing out a new way to differentiate himself from Attorney General Phil Weiser in Colorado’s Democratic gubernatorial primary: criticizing current Gov. Jared Polis.
During a pair of debates with Weiser last weekend, Bennet blasted Polis on everything from health care and child care to housing and the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.
Here are the highlights:
- "There is so much goodwill, and so much leadership in our state, among the county commissioners, among the mayors, in the private sector — all over the state of Colorado," Bennet said of efforts to increase affordable housing. "They just feel like they’ve been totally ignored by our current governor."
- "We’re going to have to modernize our tax, our budget, our regulatory systems, so that the wealthiest pay more and we can afford to build the Colorado we want," Bennet said of addressing the state’s fiscal crisis. "This is not going to be easy, and we’re going to need to build a broad coalition of Coloradans across the state to support these goals. Our current governor has been allergic to building coalitions like that."
- "He’s saying that he thinks that Jared Polis’ health care policies actually have worked," Bennet said of Weiser. "I totally disagree. That’s particularly true for families who are on Medicaid and those who make too much money to be on Medicaid but can’t afford to buy private insurance."
- Bennet doubled down by linking Weiser to Polis on health care: "Saying he’s satisfied with the Polis administration, which I think is a deeply outrageous thing to say, given what families are facing in our state right now. I’m deeply dissatisfied with how the current Democratic administration in Colorado has handled our health care crisis and actually has pushed people off of Medicaid."
- "These are not issues that are going to solve themselves," Bennet said of housing affordability. "If they have solved themselves, we wouldn’t be sitting here with the current administration in Denver with a $650,000 median house. We wouldn’t be sitting here with the fifth highest child care cost in America. We wouldn’t be sitting here with a health care system that is getting worse for struggling families, not better. That is the leadership that I am offering to address."
Last weekend wasn’t the first time we heard Bennet criticize Polis.
"No teacher can live in Denver," he said at a Denver Young Democrats forum in January. "No teacher can live in most cities in this state, or most towns for that matter. They have to live far from where they’re cheap. And I’m sorry to say that, but the administration that we have had, a Democratic administration in Colorado, has not helped with the situation — just as the national Democratic Party has not delivered."
Speaking with reporters after that forum, Bennet downplayed his criticism of Polis.
"What I meant to say was that I don’t think that we have done enough to make housing affordable in Colorado, and I think that’s self-evident," Bennet said.
Here’s what Bennet’s campaign said when we asked this week about the criticism of Polis: "Gov. Polis has made real progress, including on capping drug prices and making it easier to build housing, but we still have a lot of work to do. Coloradans are still working harder than ever and paying more for everything from housing to child care to health care."
The Polis administration acknowledged there’s more work to do, but defended the governor’s work.
"Gov. Polis is very proud of his track record including leading through unprecedented global pandemic, historic wildfires and achieving free full-day kindergarten and universal preschool," Shelby Wieman, a Polis spokesperson, said in a written statement. "As a resident of this state he hopes his successor will be even more successful in this important work to save people money. There is a lot more work to get done."
We haven’t heard Weiser criticize the governor on the campaign trail — at least not yet.
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Want to reach Colorado political influencers and support quality local journalism? The Sun can help get your message attention through a sponsorship of The Unaffiliated, the must-read politics and policy newsletter in Colorado. Contact Sylvia Harmon at underwriting@coloradosun.com for more information.
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THE POLITICAL TICKER
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ENDORSEMENTS
Democrat Amie Baca-Oehlert, the former head of Colorado’s largest teachers union, endorsed state Rep. Manny Rutinel, D-Commerce City, in the Democratic primary race in the 8th Congressional District.
Baca-Oehlert dropped out of the 8th District race in November. In a statement, she criticized Rutinel’s main challenger, former state Rep. Shannon Bird, D-Westminster, and said Rutinel will stand up to Trump and advocate for public education, labor rights, economic opportunity and protecting immigrants.
"Manny Rutinel cosponsored legislation to protect Colorado’s immigrants from ICE brutality, while Shannon Bird was the only Democrat to vote against it," Baca-Oehlert said. "Manny always stands with educators, workers, and working families."
In the 4th Congressional District, Democratic state Rep. Bob Marshall of Highlands Ranch endorsed Eileen Laubacher, the retired Navy rear admiral trying to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert.
"If we are serious about winning Colorado’s 4th District, Eileen Laubacher is our strongest candidate," Marshall said in a statement.
In 2024, Marshall supported Democrat Trisha Calvarese, who is running for a second time to unseat Boebert.
Laubacher was also endorsed this week by Democrat Adam Frisch, who narrowly lost to Boebert in 2022 in the 3rd Congressional District.
CAMPAIGN FINANCE
A new issue committee, Better Skills Better Jobs Colorado, formed this week to support a prospective ballot measure — backed by business interests — that would privatize Pinnacol Assurance, the state’s workers compensation insurer of last resort, and use the revenue to fund scholarships for job training.
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YOU HEARD IT HERE
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"I don’t expect to be involved."
— Gov. Jared Polis on a ballot measure that would temporarily redraw Colorado’s congressional districts to help Democrats flip three seats.
Polis, in speaking with political journalist Chuck Todd last week, made it clear that he’s not a fan of the effort to change Colorado’s congressional districts for the 2028 and 2030 elections.
"That is not something that has come through me or my office," he said when asked about the proposal. "I don’t expect to be involved. In terms of how I’ll vote, If it makes the ballot, I’ll make my decision after I look into what it is. It’s not something I feel strongly about."
Analysis: That’s Polis speak for "hell no."
REPUBLICANS RESPOND
Republicans responded to the redistricting plan by filing a series of measures that would amend the state constitution to require that the state’s Independent Congressional Redistricting Commission approve any new, midcycle maps — after conducting at least three public hearings — and that those maps also be reviewed by the Colorado Supreme Court.
GOP attorney Suzanne Taheri is behind the new proposals. She filed them alongside Elizabeth Caven, outreach director and policy analyst at Advance Colorado, a conservative political nonprofit that doesn’t disclose its donors.
Curtis Hubbard, spokesperson for Coloradans for a Level Playing Field, which is behind the Democratic redistricting proposal, said in a written statement that the GOP measures wouldn’t affect their efforts.
"We will not be deterred in our effort to let voters send a clear message this November: Colorado won’t play by one set of rules when Trump and his allies are ignoring them altogether," Hubbard said.
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REPUBLICANS
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Colorado GOP drama intensifies
It’s been a rough two weeks for the Colorado GOP.
First, El Paso County District Court Judge Amanda Philipps ruled Feb. 17 that a group of Republicans who unsuccessfully sought to reignite a lawsuit against party Chairwoman Brita Horn doesn’t have to cover the party’s roughly $150,000 in attorneys fees.
The case was originally brought last year by the party, when it was led by then-Chairman Dave Williams, against Horn and a group of other Republicans who sought to depose him ahead of the 2024 election. When Horn became chair, she sought to dismiss the lawsuit. But a group loyal to Williams tried to keep it alive before they were ultimately rebuffed by Philipps.
"The court cannot find that any one participant prolonged this litigation more than any other such that it is appropriate to issue sanctions," Philipps wrote in her ruling. "(Everyone) participated in prolonging this litigation in the seven months since the notice of dismissal was filed. The record before the court is that the parties and non-parties alike are stubbornly litigious."
The party has struggled to fundraise in large part because of its legal debt.
We asked the Colorado GOP if it planned to appeal Philipps’ ruling and, if not, how it would cover its legal tab.
"We are working diligently to pay down our debt," Alec Hanna, the party’s executive director, said in a text.
Then, over the weekend, Horn’s opponents — including outgoing Vice Chair Richard Holtorf and Secretary Russ Andrews — held a meeting of the central committee where those gathered overwhelmingly supported a vote of no confidence against Horn.
Horn said the gathering was invalid and Hanna didn’t respond to a request for comment on the vote.
DEMOCRATS
The Colorado Democratic Party reported raising about $100,000 into its federal account in January and spending about $85,000, starting February with nearly $200,000 in the bank. It reported no debts.
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THE BIGGER PICTURE
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