“I couldn’t stay silent: ‘Don’t vote for my nephew Gabe Evans in Congress.’

My nephew Gabe Evans is running for Congress in Colorado’s 8th Congressional District. I love him and have since the day he was born. But I sincerely hope he doesn’t make it to Congress.

My name is Jennifer and I am Gabe’s mother’s sister. As anyone reading this can probably imagine, convincing you not to vote for my nephew is incredibly difficult. Family is very important, but so is standing up for what you believe in and doing the right thing.

I believe in freedom, rights, fairness and opportunity. I believe in the right to love whoever you want to love. The right to make your own health decisions, especially when it comes to starting a family. I believe in democracy and protecting our free and fair elections.

My nephew does not share these beliefs. He represents an extreme, far-right ideology that is, simply put, frightening. As a member of the LGBTQ community, I fear the impact his agenda could have on my rights.

He believes in and has called for a ban on abortion, with no exceptions for rape or incest. He has threatened the fabric of our democracy by questioning the results of free and fair elections and joining extremists like Lauren Boebert.

He believes in banning gay marriage and has called for it; he even called gay marriage “bestiality.”

He has tried to claim that his views have changed over time, but the truth is that I have seen first hand that this is not the case. He has long held the deeply held belief that gay marriage is wrong and unacceptable.

Gabe has worked with the Convention of States – a group that is trying to rewrite the US Constitution to install a far-right government. The group is backed by the most extreme leaders, including the authors of Project 2025, extreme Republican policy proposals that would take effect in 2025 if Trump is elected president.

Gabe has not only attended Convention of States events; He has actively worked to implement their agenda by pushing a resolution in the Colorado state legislature word for word copied their proposals and would carry out their goal of repealing the constitution.

Gabe already has an extreme record. But it is now clear that he is laying the foundation for the Project 2025 agenda. If Gabe and his fellow far-right activists are in control, they will implement the project in 2025, and that should deeply concern us all.

Project 2025 would strip away our rights and freedoms by monitoring women’s pregnancies, restricting access to birth control, and moving us toward a national abortion ban. It would affect our wallets, our education and our access to healthcare.

It would raise costs for middle-class families, close public schools and dismantle the Department of Education. The list goes on and on.

The hardest thing to watch is Gabe exploiting my father’s inheritance for political purposes. Gabe promotes his Mexican heritage, which comes from my father. But my father, who earned U.S. citizenship fighting for this country during World War II, was kind, respectful and selfless. He would be disgusted by the hateful platform Gabe runs on.

With so much at stake, I couldn’t remain silent. I understand my nephew well enough to know that he will push a far-right agenda that is simply too dangerous.

Jennifer Chavez is the aunt of Colorado congressional candidate Gabe Evans. She says: “I love my nephew and am very proud of his military and police achievements, but he has dishonored and disrespected the family name that was very important to our father.”“