One of the stranger stories of the 2024 election cycle involved an alliance of sorts between the Colorado Republican Party and the Colorado Libertarian Party to join forces like a Dollar Store version of Voltron in an effort to prevent Democrats from winning elections. That idea is back in 2026…and it’s gotten weirder yet.
There has long been a belief among conservatives that Libertarian candidates take votes away from Republican candidates, though it’s difficult to assess the reality of that assumption. Regardless, then-Republican Party Chair Dave Williams and then-Libertarian Party (LPCO) Chair Hannah Goodman agreed on a proposed solution in 2023 centered around asking Republican candidates to sign a “Pledge for Liberty” in exchange for a promise from the Libertarian Party to not seek out candidates to run against them.
The Libertarian Party claims that the move was successful in helping Republicans such as Gabe Evans (CO-08) and Rebecca Keltie (HD-16) defeat Democratic incumbents in 2024; we’re less inclined to agree that it turned the tide for the GOP, but the pledge itself included some concerning items that ended up becoming true in the case of Evans. As Colorado Public Radio reported in September 2024:
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.”…
…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.
The Trump administration has since moved forward with attempting to dismantle the Department of Education altogether. In a related issue, local school districts had to sweat out a months-long freeze on federal funding that didn’t finally thaw until just before the start of the 2024-25 school year. Evans is a homeschooling advocate who was likely already on board with gutting the Department of Education, but affirming that decision in the LPCO pledge was more than just a political stunt.
Regardless of how effective the GOP-LPCO alliance was in 2024, the effort has been revived and updated for 2026. As Ernest Luning reports for the publication formerly known as the Colorado Statesman, there are some odd new issues included:
This cycle, Republican congressional candidates could get a boost on the ballot from the Libertarians if they agree to support abolishing the federal income tax, shuttering the Department of Education and pulling “any funding for foreign wars.”
The federal candidate checklist also includes agreeing to push for presidential pardons for Edward Snowden, a computer consultant who defected to Russia after leaking highly classified U.S. intelligence, and Roger Ver, an early Bitcoin investor who renounced his U.S. citizenship a decade ago and was indicted last year on income tax evasion charges.
The document available to legislative candidates includes promising to defend the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, vote to eliminate the state income tax and ban red light cameras, and to “recognize that victimless crimes are not actual crimes” while holding violent criminals and thieves accountable.
New this cycle are pledges written for candidates for governor and local office.
The gubernatorial pledge includes vowing to veto any attempt to “raise or extend” taxes, limit the Colorado Open Records Act, mandate vaccinations or restriction what the Libertarians term “food freedom,” including local meat processing, raw milk and eggs produced by caged hens.
The potential future governor’s list also includes agreeing to pardon Tina Peters, the former Mesa County clerk serving a nine-year prison sentence for her role in breaching secure election equipment. [Pols emphasis]
Among the items potential local office-seekers can consider: banning red light cameras and surveillance systems, supporting school choice, supporting residents’ rights to keep livestock in their backyards and “liberating the water supply” from contamination, including fluoridation.
There’s a LOT of goofy in these new pledge documents, such as promises to eliminate the state income tax; promote “food freedom,” including raw milk and eggs; allowing people to keep livestock in the backyards; and “liberating the water supply” from fluoridation. The pledges also require candidates for state offices to vote against or attempt to veto tax increases, which is silly given that TABOR doesn’t allow lawmakers to raise taxes anyway.
New in 2026 is a pledge for GOP candidates for Governor, requiring a promise to pardon former Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters, who is sitting in jail after being convicted on a string of charges related to breaking into her own election computers in a misguided attempt to “prove” that the 2020 Presidential election was “stolen” from Donald Trump. The Trump administration has made some effort to attempt to spring Peters from the pokey, but federal legal options are slim given that Peters was convicted on state charges, so the LPCO is picking up the baton.
We should also note that the term “pledge” might be too strong a word given the comments of LPCO Executive Director James Wiley. As Luning notes:
James Wiley…told Colorado Politics that candidates should consider the pledges starting points rather than all-or-nothing propositions.
“We generate the template and candidates or parties can negotiate from that basis,” he said in a text message, adding that the document “(works) well as an educational piece from the Libertarian Party.”
In other words, Republican candidates who don’t want to run against Libertarian candidates should sign a pledge — or negotiate terms (?) — to be agreed upon later. Or something.
Anyway, we look forward to seeing how Republicans decide to paint themselves into a corner once again in 2026.
