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WEEK OF APRIL 10, 2025
VOLUME 122 | ISSUE 15
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Colorado GOP picks Horn as party chair BY JESSE PAUL COLORADO SUN
Republican U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, left, with GOP state Rep. Gabe Evans before the 2024 election. Evans hosted his first telephone town hall April 2. FILE PHOTO
Evans touches on tariffs, Medicaid during town hall Evans said waste and fraud need to be weeded out of Medicaid BY MONTE WHALEY MWHALEY@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Freshman Congressman Gabe Evans held his first telephone town hall Thursday night and defended newly implemented tariffs, saying they will ultimately help the economy in the 8th Congressional District. Evans, who won the 8th District in 2024 as a Republican, also told callers that fraud must be rooted out of the Medicaid system to keep it working for Americans who truly need help. Evans pointed to a Government Accounting Office report that said about $31 billion is given annually in wrongful Medicaid payments.
“By cutting out the fraud and abuse we will be able to give more money for health care to people who rely on this,” Evans said. Evans has been criticized by Democrats for not holding a town hall since his election in November. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ripped into Evans at a stop in Greeley on March 31, saying his constituents “deserve better.” Evans, at the start of the hour-long telephone session, thanked the thousands of people who joined the call. “I know a lot of you have been waiting for a town hall, so I’m very glad that you were able to take the time,” Evans said. “We’re committed to being open and transparent with our constituents.” Some callers reported being dropped during the call and were unable to get back into session.
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 6| CULTURE: PAGE 8 | SPORTS: PAGE 12
“Yes, I heard that from a few people but when they called the number we posted on social media they were able to be reconnected,” said Evans spokeswoman Delanie Bomar. “But I also heard from other local reporters…and our local staff who listened in that they didn’t have any problems.” Evans used roughly the first 20 minutes of the call to detail his work during the first three months of his term. That includes his first bill – The Uplift Act – which allows local law enforcement to work with ICE and other federal agencies to detain criminal illegal immigrants. Evans, a former Arvada Police Officer, said Colorado is the “national headquarters for violent gangs” and local law enforcement needs the tools to help get illegal gang members out of the state’s communities. SEE TOWN HALL, P15
Brita Horn, a former Routt County treasurer, was elected March 29 to serve as the next chair of the Colorado GOP, vowing to unite the highly fractured party, boost fundraising and show up for candidates as Republicans look to right their wayward ship in 2026. “We have so much division, we have so much distraction,” she told members of the Colorado GOP’s central committee. “Guess what the Democrats are doing right now? They’re winning elections.” Horn, who ran unsuccessfully in 2018 for state treasurer, won 53% of the party chair vote in the second round of voting over former Weld County Commissioner Lori Saine. There were about 440 members of the Colorado GOP casting ballots at the party’s reorganization meeting in Colorado Springs. Horn beat out six other candidates for the job, including Saine, former state Rep. Richard Holtorf, and Darcy Schoening, the state party’s director of special initiatives. Horn lives near Steamboat Springs and is the chief of the Rock Creek Volunteer Fire Department. She’s long been active in Republican politics in Colorado. SEE HORN, P15
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