GOP congressional candidates Gabe Evans, Stephen Varela snub state party's endorsement questionnaire

Two of the Colorado Republicans who won top-line designation in their respective congressional primaries are refusing to fill out a questionnaire distributed Tuesday by the state GOP as part of the party's controversial new policy to take sides in contested primaries.

State Rep. Gabe Evans, R-Fort Lupton, and State Board of Education member Stephen Varela said in separate statements that they are rejecting the state party's request to participate in its endorsement process and consider winning their respective congressional district assemblies sufficient evidence of Republican support.

The candidates also urged the state GOP not to "interfere" in Colorado's Republican primaries.

State Republican Vice Chairwoman Hope Scheppelman called Evans' and Varela's refusal to respond to the party's questions "concerning," adding that there were other candidates who were "willing to go on the record and be transparent."

In addition to asking for the candidates' positions on a range of policies, including taxes, immigration and gun control, the three-page questionnaire wants to know whether the candidates support Donald Trump's MAGA agenda and the state party's opposition to Colorado's semi-open primaries, which allow unaffiliated voters to cast ballots in the Democrats' and Republicans' primaries.

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The questionnaire also went to two of Evans' and Varela's respective primary rivals — former state Rep. Janak Joshi, R-Colorado Springs, who is facing Evans in the 8th Congressional District, and former state Rep. Ron Hanks, R-Cañon City, one of five Republicans sharing the primary ballot with Varela in the 3rd Congressional District.

Like Evans and Varela, Joshi and Hanks qualified for the primaries by winning at least 30% of delegate votes at their party's assemblies in late March and early April.

Hanks told Colorado Politics he plans to fill out the questionnaire and will be happy to receive the party's endorsement, if it's offered. Neither Joshi nor his campaign spokesman responded to multiple requests for comment.

Evans and Joshi are facing off in a primary in northern Colorado's toss-up 8th CD, where the GOP nominee will take on first-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo in what's expected to be the state's most competitive House race.

Varela and Hanks are among six Republicans seeking the nomination in the Western Slope-based 3rd CD, which has been represented for two terms by Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, who announced late last year that she was moving across the state to run from another, more favorable seat.

The other 3rd CD Republican primary candidates, who all qualified by petition, are Grand Junction attorney Jeff Hurd; Carbondale financial advisor Russ Andrews; Delta County business owner Curtis McCrackin; and, Durango resident Lew Webb. None of them were asked to fill out the questionnaire, since they aren't eligible to receive the GOP's endorsement because they got on the ballot by gathering signatures.

Under recently approved party rules that overturned the state GOP's longstanding tradition of maintaining neutrality in primaries, Colorado's Republican parties at every level this year are able to endorse candidates who get on the ballot through the caucus and assembly process and can oppose candidates who petition into the primary, though multiple prominent Republicans have questioned whether the new rules were adopted correctly.

Colorado GOP Chairman Dave Williams told Republicans Tuesday in an online town hall that the party planned to distribute questionnaires to help decide which candidates, if any, the party will endorse in the rare cases where more than one candidate qualified at their assembly, as was the case in the 3rd and 8th CDs.

"The option that the delegates — all of you — granted us was to endorse every assembly candidate, endorse maybe only one of them, or none of them, depending on the factors and criteria that you you told us," Williams said.

Williams told Colorado Politics that party officials plan to huddle in coming weeks to decide whether to bestow endorsements in those races.

In addition to the candidates in the pair of congressional primaries, Williams said the party plans to send versions of the questionnaire to the two Republicans running for the State Board of Education in the 4th Congressional District, as well as to candidates in a handful of legislative primaries.

It's a different story for Republicans — like Williams — who were the only candidates to emerge from their assemblies. According to bylaws approved at a state GOP meeting last fall, those candidates automatically receive the party's endorsement.

Williams, a former state lawmaker from Colorado Springs, is in a two-way primary against political consultant Jeff Crank — who petitioned into the primary — in the El Paso County-based 5th Congressional District, which is represented by retiring Republican U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn.

The party's new endorsement policy drew attention — and criticism — last month, when the state GOP posted on social media that it was "proud to endorse" Boebert in the 4th Congressional District primary, where she's in a primary with five other Republicans to replace former U.S. Rep. Ken Buck, who resigned his seat in March. In the same social media posts, the state GOP attacked one of Boebert's primary rivals, nonprofit founder Deborah Flora, as an example of "dishonest, say-anything politicians."

Williams told Colorado Politics that GOP officials haven't yet decided whether the party's support will include spending on canvassing, mailers or other advertising, beyond simply announcing the endorsements.

"To be determined, I suppose," he said in a text message.

Among the 22 questions contained in the document are several involving Trump, the party's presumptive Republican nominee, including whether the candidate voted for the former president in 2016 and 2020 and intends to vote for Trump in this year's general election.

In January, the state Republican Party endorsed Trump, weeks ahead of Colorado's presidential primary, where Trump defeated former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley by a wide margin.

The questionnaire also asks the candidates to "denounce" Americans for Prosperity, a conservative group funded by the Koch network that spent millions of dollars over the last year in an attempt to deny Trump the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.

AFP's political arm, Americans for Prosperity Action, has committed to spend heavily in several of Colorado's Republican congressional primaries this year. The group has endorsed Evans in the 8th CD and Crank, an AFP vice president and former state director for the organization, in the 5th CD, where Williams is also running.

Williams has been under fire from fellow Republicans for spending state party funds to attack Crank and AFP in a mailer that went to Republican voters in El Paso County. 

Other questions ask whether the candidate has ever belonged to another political party or ever voted for a Democrat in any election. Varela, a former Democrat, routinely describes his decision to become a Republican in campaign speeches.

The form also includes questions about hot-button issues, including support for a federal ban on abortion, U.S. aid to Ukraine and vaccination requirements.

"Grassroots Republicans spoke loud and clear when they gave me a 62% victory at the CD 8 assembly," Evans said in a statement on Tuesday.

"That's the endorsement that matters to me. The State GOP should not interfere in Republican primaries. Therefore, I will not be seeking the endorsement of a handful of Colorado Republican Party bosses who live outside my district."

Varela dismissed the questionnaire as an attempt to end-run grassroots stamp of approval he claimed he's already received, noting that he won the 3rd CD assembly with the support of 33.5% of delegates.

In a statement describing his decision not to participate in the state party's endorsement process, Varela said:

"First, grassroots conservatives spoke at the CD Republican assembly. I won topline. Why would a handful of party bosses disrespect the grassroots and consider endorsing someone else? Respecting the assembly process has long been a fundamental tenet of the party’s platform. Second, I fundamentally believe that the Colorado Republican Party and its leadership should stay out of nominating contests. Don't interfere. Party neutrality was the rule for many decades. Let the voters decide.”

After learning that the two candidates aren't going to answer the questions, Scheppelman wrote in an email to Colorado Politics: "It is concerning that both Gabe Evans and Stephen Varela refuse to respond to questions about supporting President Trump and opposing the open border agenda of Americans for Prosperity. Thankfully, there are other Republican candidates who are willing to go on record and be transparent."

One of those candidates, Hanks, welcomed the party's questions.

"I believe this CO GOP questionnaire has value to Republican voters in this state as an opportunity to further vet candidates, and to offer maximum transparency on each candidate's positions," Hanks said in a text message. "This type of truth-telling questionnaire makes lies and shifty positions much harder for those candidates who would try to win an election at any cost and for their personal gain."

Added Hanks: "Voters will see the difference between petition-on candidates who hide from voters at caucus and assembly, candidates who went through assembly but misrepresented themselves and others in order to gain favor, and finally, those candidates with the courage to fill out this CO GOP questionnaire."