2-16-24 *INTERVIEW* Gabe Evans Candidate for the 8th Congressional District

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Very pleased to welcome back to KoaGabe Evans Gab Gabe is currently a state
rep representing House District forty eight,and Gabe is running for Congress, running
for the eighth Congressional district, whichis a new Ish district's only had one
election previously. So let's just jumpin talk for a few minutes. Hey,

(00:22):
Gabe, welcome back. It's goodto talk to you. Oh,
it's great to be on the showagain. Thanks so much for having me.
I want to do one minute onwhat's going on in the state legislature
right now, and then the restof the time on Congress. And we
only have about four minutes. Sohow much of a mess is this state
legislative session? And how run overare people who appreciate their own freedom's going

(00:43):
to get in this legislative session.Oh, it's total group think. You
got nineteen Republicans to forty six Democratsin the state House, twelve Republicans to
twenty three Democrats in the state Senate. It's total group think. So we're
seeing stuff other as a bill thatdied Republicans is actually a bipartisan bill that
said, hey, look, weknow that we've got rising crime. So
if you go out and you steala gun, let's hold the gun fief

(01:06):
accountable. And you know that died. So the left is in complete control
and they want to do things likeempower people that steal guns and then hold
the actual law abiding gun owners accountablefor things like that. And it's that
way across the entire scope of Colorado'sindustries and economy. We saw another bill
that literally was opposed by thirty twodifferent major economic sectors in Colorado because it's
going to force them to pass oncosts to consumers, and that got rammed

(01:30):
through. So unfortunately, that's thestory of Colorado right now. Until we
get some balance back in the state, folks are going to be less safe.
Colorado is going to be more expensive. So let's turn to the congressional
race. And again, we justhave a short time. But I also
think that candidates who can't make agood case for themselves in a short time
probably couldn't be shouldn't be candidates.So why don't we start with just a

(01:51):
little bit about you and then we'regoing to switch to talking about the district
and the race. Perfect. Yeah, so born and raised here in Colorado,
on my my dad's side, militaryfamily on my mom's side, the
Chada's side. Actually, my grandpa, Almia Whela earned his citizenship fighting in
World War Two along with a coupleof purple hearts that was passed down to
me. Love your country, Serveyour country. Twelve years in the army,

(02:15):
another ten years in law enforcement.Absolutely frustrated with the direction of this
country is going under Biden, sogot involved in politics state representative and then
now running for Congress for the eighthCongressional district, which is one of about
a dozen seats nationally that's going todictate which party controls Congress. So I
imagine a lot of people listening rightnow actually live in the eighth congress Congressional

(02:36):
district, but just roughly describe thegeographical contours of the district all the big
cities in Adams County, So theAdams County side of Westminster, Thornton,
North Glenn, Commerce City, Brighton, and then up into Weld County to
Greeley, and then a little sliceof Laramer over by Bertha. So,
why do you think you're the guy? Why should my listeners live in the
eighth vote for you? Well,again, I've been running toward challenge.

(02:59):
My entire life, been fighting sinceI was twenty years old and joined the
military. So with that background,with that experience, with the fact that
you know you did at Cattaveo.The Democrat that's in the seat likes to
make everything about identity politics, andwith my background, you know, as
the grandson of a Hispanic immigrant,I can force her to talk about her
failed policies. I can force herto address the boots on the ground issues

(03:22):
that I saw for twenty two yearsin the military, in law enforcement,
the problems that we've got overseas,the problems that we've got here in our
home country. Because I saw those, I lived those. I put my
life on the line to try toprotect Americans and Coloraden's from all of those
problems. And now as a statelegislature, you know, I've learned how
to translate that experience into actually beingable to accomplish things politically, and I

(03:42):
want to take that fight to Congress. Been endorsed by the US Speaker of
the House, US Senator Tom Cotton, a whole bunch of other folks.
So there's a ton of momentum behindmy campaign. And again, this is
a battleground seat decided by less thanone point last year. Yeah, it's
one of about a dozen seats that'sgoing to dictate control of Congress. Let
me just interject something here. Idon't know how this is going to play
out, but a lot of peoplebelieve that the Republican who lost the seat

(04:08):
last time, who lost by wellunder one percent, perhaps lost because a
libertarian got in who a lot ofpeople thought wasn't even really a libertarian,
who got in as a spoiler andgot over three percent. Since then,
the Libertarian Party and the Republican Partyannounced an agreement where the LP says they
will not run a candidate if theRepublican Party runs a candidate that the LP

(04:31):
thinks is pro freedom enough. So, do you have any further information about,
you know, how that agreement mightplay out in the eighth this year.
Yeah. So, you know,I've had conversations with folks in the
Libertarian Party because I think there's alot of common ground that we agree on

(04:51):
as far as you know, smallergovernment, less regulation, lower taxes.
There was you mentioned the pledge.Haven't signed the pledge. You know,
we had a lot of conversations about, you know, could I get to
a point where I could sign it. You know, I don't know that
I can get to that point rightnow. But again, I think this
is a critical scenario where anybody thatwants lower government, smaller government, lower

(05:14):
taxes, less regulation, you know, we need to find that common ground
and work together so that we don'thave to suffer under you know, more
failed policies from Joe Biden and hisallies in Congress, like you did at
that of al So, for folkswho live in the eighth Congressional district,
which includes, as you noted,the big cities in Adams County and a
little more, how can they learnmore about you and perhaps consider contributing to

(05:39):
your campaign. Yeah, you cango to my website elect Gabevans dot com.
Elect g A D E E VA N s dot com. That's
got a lot of information about me. Also an email, so if you
want to reach out, feel freeto shoot me an email. All right,
Gave Evans, thanks for your time, good luck in your race and
fight the power at the state House. Going back to the fight right now,

(06:00):
Thank so much for having me on. All right, glad to