Summary
Timothy Gabriel “Gabe” Joseph Evans is an American politician, former police lieutenant, and Army Captain. He is currently a member of the Colorado House of Representatives, representing the 48th District.
Born: 1986 (age 38 years)
Party: Republican Party
Office: Colorado State Representative since 2023
Candidate for: 2024 Colorado Member of the US House elections
Previous campaign: Colorado House of Representatives District 48 general Election, 2022
Education: Patrick Henry College
OnAir Post: Gabe Evans
News
Evans will face U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo in state’s most competitive congressional race
State Rep. Gabe Evans of Fort Lupton will be the 2024 Republican nominee in Colorado’s 8th Congressional District as the GOP seeks to flip the state’s most competitive seat from red to blue.
Evans defeated former state Rep. Janak Joshi in Tuesday’s primary election, according to The Associated Press. With 18,729 ballots counted as of 7:30 p.m., Evans had a lead of 76% to 23%.
An Army veteran and former Arvada police officer, Evans was elected to the state House of Representatives in 2022. He emerged as the party’s favored candidate in the 8th District primary, winning endorsements from a long list of state and national GOP insiders, and his best-known rival for the nomination, Weld County Commissioner Scott James, withdrew from the race in February.
About
Overview
Gabe Evans is a conservative State Representative and candidate for Congress who has spent his entire life running toward challenge.
Gabe spent twelve years serving his country in the US Army and Colorado Army National Guard as a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter pilot and company commander. He completed a combat deployment to the Middle East and responded to wildfires and search and rescues throughout Colorado.
Gabe also spent over ten years as an Arvada police officer, where he witnessed, first-hand, the consequences of Colorado Democrats’ soft-on-crime policies.
Gabe and his wife own and operate a family farm in southern Weld County. As parents of two boys (Bruce and Sammy), they are heavily involved with homeschooling and educational choice. In his free time, Gabe teaches a concealed carry class in Colorado’s 8th Congressional District.
The grandson of Mexican immigrants, Gabe is a Colorado native who truly understands the beauty and responsibility of the American Dream. Preserving that sacred ideal for his community and children is why he served in the military, raised his hand for law enforcement, and ran for the Colorado State House in 2022. Now, Gabe is running toward his next challenge: taking his conservative vision to Congress to make Colorado the best place possible to live and raise a family.
Web Links
Politics
Career
Source: Wikipedia
Colorado House of Representatives
In the 2022 Colorado House of Representatives election, Evans defeated his Democratic Party and Libertarian Party opponents, winning 63.31% of the total votes cast.
Evans has focused his tenure on criminal justice issues. He has sponsored bills aimed at “ensuring public employees get time off for National Guard service and studying whether judicial personnel are being properly trained on how to work with crime victims.”
U.S. House of Representatives
On September 6, 2023, Evans announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination to represent Colorado’s 8th congressional district in the 2024 elections. He was endorsed by Former President Donald Trump He defeated Former Colorado State Representatives Janak Joshi in the Republican Primary. He will face the Democratic incumbent Yadira Caraveo in the November 2024 general election.
Issues
Priorities
Source: Campaign site
American Prosperity
SECTION 1
Lower the cost of living by reining in deficit spending and the tax-and-regulate policies that are crushing our economy.
When my wife and I had just been married, we lived month to month in a one-bedroom apartment with a monthly food budget of $100. Unfortunately, politicians on both sides have forgotten how to live on a budget. Our country is deficit spending money we don’t have, which is the leading cause of our sky-high inflation and rapidly increasing national debt. Reducing, and eventually eliminating, the budget deficit is critical to long term prosperity. To do this, we need to shrink the size, scope, and cost of government.
The Left’s poor handling of the economy has given us a housing crisis. I’ll work to make homeownership an attainable dream for every Coloradan by reducing regulations that inhibit affordable housing. Two of the biggest barriers are excessive construction defect liability and expensive building codes based on climate alarmism. I’ve worked to solve these issues in the state legislature, and I’ll continue that in Congress.
We must also keep the promises we made to our seniors. Folks who worked their whole lives should not have their social security reduced, and I will vote to protect social security. Long term, we can find sustainable solutions while ensuring seniors receive the money for which they spent their whole lives working. Additionally, seniors should not have their pensions over-taxed and constantly diminished in value by inflation as the Left has done. I will work to reduce inflation and taxes.
We need to reward hard work, and that means reducing taxes, fees, inflation, job killing regulations, and increasing salaries. Joe Biden and his allies in Congress have never met a tax or regulation they dislike. They insist on large welfare payments with no time limits, the transfer of student loan debts from graduates of elite colleges to American workers, and other such schemes. In the state legislature, I fought against higher taxes, fees, and regulations. Hardworking Americans should be able to reap the fruit of their labor. I’ll stand up for the same things in Congress.
SECTION 2
Promote food, industry, and energy independence. Follow the science when it comes to reducing emissions; don’t force costly and unproven “green” technologies that aren’t actually clean or ready for mass production.
During COVID, we learned the critical importance of supply chains. Unfortunately, draconian Leftist climate regulations are crippling our supply chains for agriculture, key manufacturing, and energy production. When we cannot produce our own food, critical goods, or energy, that production takes place in other countries. We lose the economic benefit of producing things in Colorado and America, and we get more pollution from places, like China, that use slave labor and don’t respect the environment.
In Congress, I’ll work to support American agriculture and ensure countries like China aren’t controlling our food production. I support an “all of the above” energy policy – oil, gas, nuclear, renewables, geothermal – without subsidizing or favoring certain industries and companies. The Biden Administration’s policy of picking winners and losers by punishing oil and gas industries while propping up favored industries through expensive tax credits and subsidies must stop. I support projects such as the Keystone XL Pipeline and will work to end Biden-imposed moratoriums on drilling. I’ll fight to bring back the manufacturing of key components like semi-conductors and advanced computer chips to the United States. Americans should receive the wealth produced by our economy, not foreign countries, illegal immigrants, or government-subsidized favorites.
SECTION 3
Increase the number of people who have access to usable and affordable healthcare by putting doctors and patients back in charge and reducing middlemen and government bureaucrats.
When my oldest son was born, he spent a month in the hospital with life threatening medical complications. My wife and I received a six-figure hospital bill that insurance paid. My second son was diagnosed with complex conditions before he was even born, and currently requires very expensive prescriptions, which our insurance fortunately covers. Because of these experiences, I truly appreciate how important it is for all Americans and Coloradans to have access to quality healthcare and insurance coverage, including for pre-existing conditions. Legislation must include protections for pre-existing conditions.
Unfortunately, when it comes to healthcare, Joe Biden and the Left are full of empty promises that harm Coloradans. In the last 15 months, Colorado has seen numerous health insurers (Humana, Good Friday, Bright Health, Oscar Health) either leave the state or reduce their coverage. Many folks who have coverage on paper will never use it because Leftist regulations have driven the deductible sky high. Coloradans are facing projected double digit increases in health insurance premiums in 2024. The highly regulated insurance market drives a wedge between patients and doctors, while an increasingly large portion of America’s population is relegated to Medicaid, a government-run program. In the private market, consumers face different price structures for the same services, depending on their particular insurer. Prescription drug prices have risen to astronomical costs in America while other countries buy the same medication for a fraction of the cost. This isn’t fair to hardworking Americans.
We can fix this by putting patients and doctors back in charge. Individuals are the best people to make health decisions for themselves and their families. I support policies similar to the “Gold Card” program. This reduces costs and delays by rewarding doctors who responsibly practice medicine by allowing them to skip various pre-authorization procedures, and avoid costly and time-intensive middlemen. I want bureaucrats out of the doctor-patient relationship. Consumers should have price transparency and be able to take their health plan from one job to the next. I also will work with healthcare professionals to reduce costs by exploring where prescribing privileges can be expanded to providers like psychologists. As a state representative, I supported policies that increase rural healthcare access by giving physician assistants greater flexibility to treat patients.
American Security
SECTION 1
Ensure our military is focused on warfighting and not politically correct agendas.
As a veteran of the Global War on Terror, I know the world is a dangerous place. To protect the United States, we must have a flexible, lethal military focused on winning wars. Unfortunately, the Biden administration uses the military for social experimentation, woke virtue signaling, and politically correct agendas. These policies harm recruiting, degrade readiness, and signal to our adversaries that America is in decline.
I’m a firm believer in Teddy Rosevelt’s saying: “Don’t hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft!” To protect America and avoid spending huge sums of money managing global hotspots and rogue dictators like Putin, we must bring stability back to the international arena by projecting consistent American strength. In November, I wrote a column for Townhall outlining my plan to restore American leadership: (1) articulate defined policies that deter America’s adversaries, particularly China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, (2) partner with good actors such as South Korea, Japan, and Australia to oppose Russian, Chinese, Iranian, and North Korean malfeasance, (3) restore America’s military superiority, (4) secure our borders, and (5) increase domestic production of critical resources to ensure energy independence and end our reliance upon foreign technology and manufacturing.
I am particularly troubled by the Biden Administration’s coddling of Iran. I missed my oldest son’s first steps, words, birthday, and Christmas because I was deployed to the Middle East fighting terrorism. It infuriates me that the Biden Administration has provided Iran billions of dollars in sanctions relief and direct and indirect payments at the same time the regime is sponsoring terrorism against America and her allies, particularly Israel. These costly attacks destabilize the Middle East and will continue as long as the Biden Administration continues to treat the Iranian regime with weakness and ambiguity.
SECTION 2
Secure our borders.
The humanitarian and public policy crisis at the Southern border started the moment Joe Biden took office. He canceled construction of the border wall, abandoned common-sense policies such as “remain in Mexico,” and telegraphed to the world the border was open. The world has responded. Under Joe Biden and his Leftist allies, every state is a border state.
As a police officer for over ten years, I saw the consequences of that daily. Fentanyl, smuggled through Mexico from China, takes the lives of nearly 100,000 Americans per year. A huge percentage of the crime in Colorado is driven not just by homegrown criminals but by international crime organizations and cartels who exploit the open border and Colorado’s sanctuary policies as they prey on Colorado residents. In the last ten years, Colorado has gone from 19th best to 4th worst in the nation for crime rate. I witnessed firsthand these disastrous results, and I’m fighting back!
As the grandson of Mexican immigrants, I know this problem is fixable. Moreover, fixing it is not racist! I will make it a priority in Congress to: (1) relaunch construction of the border wall in areas where it makes sense, (2) restore the “remain in Mexico policy,” so migrants must stay in Mexico unless and until they are determined to qualify for asylum, (3) implement new technologies to help secure the border, (4) place limits on asylum claims to ensure only qualified migrants enter the U.S., (5) require employers to confirm employees’ employment eligibility; (6) require the Administration to negotiate with countries – especially Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador – regarding agreements for asylum claims; (7) hire more border patrol agents and immigration judges; and (8) streamline the naturalization and visa process so that properly vetted individuals who want to come to America and be contributing members of our great country can do so.
SECTION 3
Promote safe streets and communities.
It’s not complicated. When you hold criminals accountable, you get less crime. When you punish cops and let criminals off with no consequences, you get more crime. As the Democrat-controlled Colorado Legislature has embraced “defund the police” policies such as “cashless bail” and put dangerous criminals back on the street and reduced penalties for drug dealers, crime has gone up. In 2021, Denver’s homicide rate, per capita, was almost double that of San Francisco.
I believe in due process, fully funding our police officers, holding them to high standards, and protecting them when they do their jobs correctly. Demonizing our law enforcement officers – and treating criminals as victims – makes it harder to recruit and retain quality officers, which in turn results in less safe communities. In Colorado alone, apart from human suffering, the annual cost of crime is estimated to be over $27 billion by the Common Sense Institute! I support putting repeat violent offenders behind bars, ending reckless “cashless bail” policies, and cracking down on fentanyl dealers who prey on our kids.
Additionally, having spent over 10 years as a first responder working daily with the homeless population, I’ll work for policies that actually address the root of the issue, not just inflame the problem by spending taxpayer money with no long-term strategy. Reducing regulations and allowing a right to cure in construction defect law will provide more affordable housing options. I also know homelessness is often based on mental health and substance abuse problems. As the 2023 Mental Health State Legislator of the Year, I support policies that provide the “tough love” and accountability resources needed to help folks get back on track while protecting our communities and economy from the harmful effects of homeless camps.
American Education
SECTION 1
Educational freedom means families can choose the education that works best for them.
School choice is one of the most important civil rights issues of our day. No child should be trapped in an underperforming school simply because he or she lives in the wrong zip code. I support school choice and educational savings accounts that allow parents and donors to make tax-free contributions so parents and kids can choose the best educational opportunities. The current U.S. Department of Education is a bloated bureaucracy. I will work to break down this bureaucracy and empower families and students.
Likewise, I will seek a new focus for higher education. Instead of propping up Left leaning universities, I will focus resources on state schools, community colleges, dual enrollment, trade and vocational opportunities so kids and young adults who choose not to attend Ivy League universities are equipped to succeed in the workplace. Not everyone is college-bound. High paying skilled trades are in dire need in Colorado. By rewarding hard work and bolstering the relationship between education and employers, we can build a skilled workforce that earns a good wage and will protect our standing as a global economic powerhouse.
SECTION 2
Parents/guardians, teachers, and schools need to work together to safely educate our next generation.
This means breaking down barriers that inhibit transparency and prevent parents/guardians from knowing what is going on in schools. There are current policies in our schools that hide information from parents about their kids. This pits teachers, administration, and parents against each other, breaks down trust, and limits parents’ ability to advocate for their child. Instead, parents, teachers, and schools must be open and transparent so that everyone can work together to educate the next generation. In the state legislature, I fought to empower families by breaking down barriers and improving transparency, and I’ll continue that fight in Congress.
Teachers should be free to teach, not burdened with excessive classroom management and behavioral issues. Using my experience working in our schools for several years as a police officer and part-time school resource officer, I will work to ensure our schools are a safe place for students. That means addressing behavioral issues inside schools so kids can learn and teachers can teach.
Finally, we must protect our children from violence! As a cop, I trained to take a bullet for our kids if need be—I will bring that same level of tenacity to Congress when it comes to school safety! You can read an op-ed I wrote for the Denver Post (republished in the Greeley Tribune) here.
SECTION 3
Increase teacher pay and support schools by ensuring more money makes it into the classroom.
When working in the schools as a part-time school resource officer, I saw how hard our teachers work! Teachers need fair and competitive pay, and shouldn’t have to work a second job or pay for essential classroom supplies out of their own pocket. Unfortunately, in Colorado, only 58% of money allocated to schools actually makes it to teachers or students.
This is the lowest ratio of any of the surrounding states. We can pay teachers more and invest in our kids just by reducing bureaucratic middlemen and getting the money we already have into the classroom! In Congress, I’ll fight to reduce the size of the bureaucracy, return control of schools back to local communities, and reward schools that run efficient programs that responsibly spend the money where it belongs—on kids, teachers, and education, not bureaucrats and ideology!
Defend American Values
SECTION 1
Protect Freedom of Expression:
Freedom of speech and thought is the cornerstone of American liberty.
It should be defended at all costs. Limits on speech are increasingly common and take many forms: outright censorship, speech codes, safe spaces, shadow banning and deplatforming of conservatives by social media companies. Meanwhile, institutions such as Harvard work overtime to squelch conservative speech while allowing antisemitic speech and behavior to go unfettered. Cancel culture protects the narrative, not the truth. As a cop and soldier, I stood for truth, and will continue to do so in Congress by holding accountable those who trample on the First Amendment.
SECTION 2
Defend the Second Amendment:
The Second Amendment right to bear arms is not a second-class liberty. The Founding Fathers placed it in the Constitution for a reason: Americans have an inalienable right to defend themselves. As an NRA certified concealed carry firearms instructor, I have proudly taught hundreds of Coloradans this inalienable right. I have unyieldingly opposed every effort of our far-left Legislature to restrict Coloradans’ right to bear arms. “Shall not be infringed” means shall not be infringed, and I’ll unwaveringly stand by that in Congress!
SECTION 3
Pro-Life:
When my wife was about 24 weeks pregnant with our second son, the doctor told us he was likely incompatible with life (praise God, he’s now seven and loves puppies). Since then, my wife has had eight miscarriages. We’ve seen the heartbeat at six weeks, and mourned the loss of a child at nine weeks.
I am pro-life, believe abortion stops a beating heart, and oppose taxpayer funded abortion. Since the US Supreme Court has returned this issue to the states, I will not vote for a national abortion ban. Coloradans must determine how to best protect women and babies’ lives. I will support legislation like H.R. 7, which affirms that taxpayer dollars cannot be used to fund abortion. Pro-life bills like H.R. 7 often include exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother, and I would vote for such legislation.
As a former police officer, I support the White House’s National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking. This plan requires all entities who might have contact with a victim of human trafficking, including abortion providers, to receive training on how to recognize, refer, and intervene in such situations. It also holds those accountable if they fail to take action. Liberal, pro-crime policies do not help a woman escape an abusive relationship, end the cycle of intimate partner violence, or hold sex traffickers accountable. As a cop, I fought to protect women and girls in every difficult situation imaginable, and as a State Representative, I worked to pass bills that protected domestic violence victims. In Congress, I’ll continue the fight to protect women and girls from sexual violence.
Pregnancy is incredibly complex, and research on complications is tragically underfunded. The doctors never found a cause for the miscarriages my wife endured, and as your next Congressman, I will fight to increase research funding for women’s reproductive health issues, including high-risk pregnancy, recurrent miscarriage, and maternal mortality.
More Information
Wikipedia
Timothy Gabriel Joseph Evans (born July 28, 1986)[1] is an American politician and former police lieutenant who currently serves as a member of the Colorado House of Representatives representing the 48th District.[2] He is the U.S. Representative-elect for Colorado’s 8th Congressional District. The district includes parts of Weld and Adams counties including the communities of Brighton, Lochbuie, Fort Lupton, Todd Creek, and Platteville.[3]
A Republican, he defeated Democratic incumbent Yadira Caraveo in the 2024 election for Colorado’s 8th congressional district.
Early life and career
Evans is the grandson of Mexican immigrants.[2] He earned a bachelor’s in government from Patrick Henry College.[4]
Evans’s military service includes two years in the Virginia Army National Guard from 2007 to 2009. After that, in 2009, he earned a commission as a second lieutenant in the United States Army, while also joining and serving in the Colorado National Guard from 2009 to 2019. In the army he learned to fly UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters. He served in Operation Enduring Freedom from 2012 to 2013 and reached the rank of captain. In the Colorado Guard, he used his piloting skills to help fight wildfires and to carry out search and rescue missions. His work included being stationed at Buckley Air Force Base. He was honorably discharged in 2019.[5]
In 2011, while serving in the Colorado National Guard, Evans joined the Arvada Police Department. He reached the rank of lieutenant, and he retired in January 2022 to run for office.[5]
Colorado House of Representatives
In the 2022 Colorado House of Representatives election, Evans received 63.31% of the total votes cast.[6]
Evans has focused his tenure on criminal justice issues. He has sponsored bills aimed at “ensuring public employees get time off for National Guard service and studying whether judicial personnel are being properly trained on how to work with crime victims.”[7]
2024 U.S. House campaign
On September 6, 2023, Evans announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination to represent Colorado’s 8th congressional district in the 2024 elections.[8] Evans was endorsed by former President Donald Trump. He defeated former Colorado State Representative Janak Joshi in the Republican primary. He defeated the Democratic incumbent Yadira Caraveo in the November 2024 general election.[9]
Evans fired his campaign’s political director, Jessica Spindle, on September 11, 2024, after The Colorado Times Recorder reported on Spindle’s history of promoting political violence, QAnon conspiracy theories, and antisemitism online.[10][11]
Political positions
Evans said the issue of whether to ban access to abortion should be left up to states, but that he believes abortion should be banned except in cases of rape, incest, or when a mother’s life is at risk.[12] He opposes a nationwide abortion ban.[13]
Evans said the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program should remain in place and that people who received deportation protections under that initiative should not be deported.[12]
Personal life
Evans and his wife, Anne Evans, have two sons and live in Fort Lupton, Colorado.[14]
References
- ^ “Financial Disclosure Report” (PDF). Clerk of the House of Representatives. Retrieved October 17, 2024.
- ^ a b Paul, Jesse (September 6, 2023). “Republican state representative announces bid to unseat Democrat Yadira Caraveo in Colorado’s 8th Congressional District”. The Colorado Sun. Retrieved September 28, 2023.
- ^ Colorado Independent Legislative Redistricting Commission (March 18, 2022). “Colorado House District 48 (2021)” (PDF). State of Colorado. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
- ^ “2022 Colorado primary election guide: State House of Representatives”. Colorado Politics. June 28, 2022. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
- ^ a b Ward, Belen (February 8, 2022). “Rancher running for the state house”. Fort Lupton Press. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
- ^ “Colorado election results: November 8, 2022, general election state representative district 48”. Colorado Secretary of State. State of Colorado. n.d. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
- ^ Kim, Caitlyn (September 6, 2023). “GOP state Rep. Gabe Evans joins contest to challenge Congresswoman Yadira Caraveo”. Colorado Public Radio. Retrieved September 28, 2023.
- ^ Luning, Ernest (September 6, 2023). “State lawmaker Gabe Evans joins GOP primary in bid to challenge Yadira Caraveo in Colorado’s 8th CD”. Colorado Politics. Archived from the original on September 6, 2023. Retrieved September 6, 2023.
- ^ Brady, Lucas (November 11, 2024). “Gabe Evans flips Colorado’s 8th Congressional District for Republicans”. KUNC. Retrieved November 11, 2024.
- ^ Maulbetsch, Erik (September 11, 2024). “GOP Candidate’s Political Director Posts Anti-Semitism, Conspiracies & Calls for Violence”. The Colorado Times Recorder. Retrieved September 13, 2024.
- ^ Maulbetsch, Erik (September 12, 2024). “CO Congressional Candidate Evans Fires Political Director Following Times Recorder Reporting on Antisemitic & Violent Posts”. The Colorado Times Recorder. Retrieved September 13, 2024.
- ^ a b “The Unaffiliated | Gabe Evans and Janak Joshi face off ahead of 8th Congressional District Republican primary”. June 4, 2024.
- ^ Klamman, Seth (October 20, 2024). “Gabe Evans, a former police officer, seeks moderate path to Congress — while trying to sidestep Trump minefield”. The Denver Post. Retrieved October 21, 2024.
- ^ “Gabe Evans, a former police officer, seeks moderate path to Congress — while trying to sidestep Trump minefield”. The Denver Post. October 20, 2024. Retrieved November 16, 2024.
External links
