According to a new report from the Colorado Times Recorder, leading Colorado GOP U.S. Senate candidate Ron Hanks criticized Minority Leader Mitch McConnell at a recent event in Colorado Springs — adding a call to “lock [..] up” McConnell and other critics of the violent Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol attack.
Hanks — who “attended the Capitol attack and crossed police barriers” — is a leading GOP candidate in a crowded GOP primary field.
While Hanks, who has previously said he’d back Ted Cruz to be the next Senate GOP Leader, has garnered attention for his conspiracy theories and outlandish comments praising those who stormed the Capitol, he is also currently pushing legislation that would criminalize abortion, and — like every other Republican candidate running — supports overturning Roe v. Wade.
Colorado Times Recorder: ‘Lock Them Up:’ GOP Senate Frontrunner Attacks Bennet and McConnell for Calling Jan. 6 an Insurrection
By Sean Price | March 04, 2022
Key Points:
- “U.S. Senate candidate and state Rep. Ron Hanks (R-Cañon City) criticized Minority Leader and U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), as well as U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO), for calling the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol an insurrection.”
- “‘But it was an honor to have gone out there. There are people in here that were at January 6. Quick raise of hands. Thank you,’ Hanks said. ‘Far from the insurrection that the Marxist media will call it and frankly, sitting senators — a Colorado sitting senator — have called it an insurrection. Which technically is a misdemeanor, but Mitch McConnell did it too so we’ll have to figure out how exactly we want to play this. Lock them up. There we go.’”
- “Bennet and McConnell have both denounced the Capitol attack, calling it a ‘violent insurrection.’”
- “Hanks is a QAnon and election-fraud conspiracy theorist. He attended the Capitol attack and crossed police barriers there. Last year, as a member of Colorado’s House of Representatives, Hanks made racist comments downplaying the Three/Fifths Compromise.”
- “So far this year, Hanks has won three different straw polls at Republican Senate candidate forums and debates across the state.”
- “Last month, Hanks was endorsed by Joe Oltmann, a prominent election fraud conspiracy theorist based in Colorado. Oltmann has said he wants to hang Gov. Jared Polis (D-CO) and execute Republicans who did not share Oltmann’s belief that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent.”
- “On Wednesday, Hanks joined former Donald Trump attorney John Eastman in filing a lawsuit blocking unaffiliated voters in Colorado from voting in Republican primaries.”
Read the full report here.
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Published: Mar 4, 2022 | Last Modified: Mar 7, 2022