In Colorado’s 8th Congressional District primary, several Democratic candidates and officials, Yadira Caraveo, Manny Rutinel, Shannon Bird, Dave Young, and Amie Baca-Oehlert, are aggressively competing against each other, making it seem like they’re all hurting their own chances of winning.
However, Democratic candidate Manny Rutinel is quickly becoming one of the race’s most controversial figures.
Less than an hour after the horrific antisemitic terrorist attack in Boulder, Colorado, in which Jewish community members were targeted, his supporters and donors gathered for a fundraiser with Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN). Omar has previously used anti-Semitic tropes and compared America and Israel to Hamas and the Taliban. She also voted against a House resolution condemning a “global rise of antisemitism.”
It’s important to note that state Representatives Junie Joseph (CO-HD-10) and Yara Zokaie (CO-HD-52) attended the fundraiser with Omar and endorsed Rutinel in his bid for Colorado’s 8th Congressional District.
Additionally, Rutinel has also aligned himself with groups such as a “Queer Intersectional Environmentalist,” which is openly hostile to U.S. immigration enforcement, including one that circulated a Google folder titled “F*CK ICE” with resources to help illegal immigrants avoid arrest. He even called for the release of an illegal immigrant who founded Abolish ICE Denver, a group openly dedicated to dismantling immigration enforcement.
But that’s just the beginning. Rutinel also endorsed a letter calling for the immediate release of Jeannette Vizquerra, an illegal immigrant and founder of Abolish ICE Denver, who sought sanctuary in a Denver church to evade deportation.
“Manny Rutinel’s radical and dangerous open-border record is one of many reasons he is unfit to represent the people of Colorado in Congress. Rutinel’s silence on his supporters raising money with an anti-semite just hours after Jewish community members were targeted in a terrorist attack by an illegal immigrant only empowers the far-left’s dangerous agenda,” NRCC spokesman Zach Bannon said in a statement to Townhall.
