Republicans Offered Libertarian Guarantee Against Spoiler Candidates

By Ernest Luning | Colorado Politics

Colorado Libertarians on Tuesday released an updated set of pledges that Republican candidates can sign if they want to discourage the right-leaning minor political party from running potential spoiler nominees in next year’s midterm elections.

The lengthy lists of policy statements — dubbed the “Liberty Pledge” — resemble similar pledges produced ahead of last year’s election as part of an unprecedented agreement between state Libertarians and the Colorado Republican Party aimed at loosening the Democrats’ grip on the state legislature and the state’s congressional delegation.

If Republicans sign on, state Libertarian Party officials say they’ll do their best to prevent the party from fielding candidates in competitive races where a conservative third-party option could siphon off voters.

Republicans in Colorado have maintained for years that Libertarian and other conservative, third-party candidates pull votes from GOP nominees, throwing close races to the Democrats. The interparty pact worked out in 2023 between Colorado Libertarian Chair Hannah Goodman and then-state GOP Chair Dave Williams was pitched as a way to short-circuit that dynamic.

Libertarians claim the plan worked last year in two decisive races won by U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans and state Rep. Rebecca Keltie, who both unseated Democratic incumbents by narrow margins after the Libertarians stood down in response to the GOP nominees putting their names on the party’s pledges.

Evans, who signed amodified version of last year’s pledge for federal candidates, edged out first-term U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo in one of the closest House races in the country. At the same time, Keltie’s win over incumbent state Rep. Stephanie Vigil in an El Paso County district kept Democrats from reaching a super-majority in the state House.

Libertarian officials told Colorado Politics they want to repeat the feat in next year’s election.

“The Liberty Pledge isn’t about party loyalty — it’s about outcomes for freedom,” Goodman said in a statement. “In 2024, we proved that by working strategically, we can prevent vote-splitting, hold candidates accountable, and win real victories against government tyranny.”

While it’s the largest of Colorado’s eight officially recognized minor political parties, with 37,132 active registered members, the Libertarian Party amounts to just under 1% of the state’s more than 4 million voters, according to the most recent voter registration report.

The party’s nominees, however, have tended to punch above their weight, routinely receiving 2-3% of the vote, sometimes enough to make a difference in races decided by narrower margins.

Colorado Republican Party Chair Brita Horn welcomed the new pledges in a statement to Colorado Politics.

“When Republicans and Libertarians split the vote, Democrats win,” Horn said in a text message. “I’m thrilled to be working with the Libertarian Party of Colorado so we don’t hand elections away. We may not agree on everything, but we share a belief in freedom and limited government — and we’re stronger when we work together.”

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.

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