Manny Rutinel, a Democrat running in a Colorado swing district, said he was “not campaigning” when he filmed a confrontation with his Republican opponent in the state capitol building, which is critical because Colorado law prohibits elected officials from using state resources, including their access to the capitol building, for campaign purposes. But Rutinel went on to use the video in campaign fundraising emails, a move ethics officials say is a clear violation of state law.
The April 9 post shows Rutinel, a state representative, grilling his would-be GOP opponent, Rep. Gabe Evans about his vote for the One Big Beautiful Bill and its cuts to Medicaid. The audio fades into “Jump Around” by House of Pain and cuts to an image of Rutinel campaigning with the text, “I’m coming for his job. His days in Congress are numbered.” It urges viewers to “join the fight (link in bio).”
He then used a screenshot from the exchange in a fundraising email on April 17 with the subject line “I confronted my MAGA congressman” and again on April 21 with the subject line “Gabe Evans: I’m coming for your job.” Clicking the screenshot sends users to his donation page through ActBlue.
“I’m Manny Rutinel, and I decided to run for Congress to unseat Gabe Evans because we have the power to stop the damage of the Trump agenda right here, right now,” he wrote in the first email. “But this is one of the closest seats in the entire country, so I can’t flip it alone.”
Evans, however, filmed the exchange as well. His video, obtained by the Washington Free Beacon, included footage Rutinel omitted.
At the start, someone off-camera informs Rutinel that campaigning is prohibited at the state capitol. “I’m not campaigning,” he responds. As Evans walks off at the end of the exchange, he says, “No campaigning on state property.”
“I’m not campaigning,” Rutinel replies.
Colorado law prohibits elected officials from using state resources, which includes their official access to the capitol building, for campaign purposes. The General Assembly’s legal office has called such conduct “improper and unethical” and recommends “that members and employees stay comfortably clear of the line separating official duties from political activity.”
Rutinel’s confrontation was “definitely illegal,” according to Tammy Klein, the COO of SWS Polifi, a campaign finance and compliance firm.
“He was there in his official capacity, but yet he used material to produce something for fundraising,” Klein told the Free Beacon. “You cannot use any government-funded material or be campaigning on government property.”
A Rutinel campaign spokesperson didn’t respond to questions about Klein’s assessment.
“Representative Rutinel believes it’s important for Gabe Evans to explain to Coloradans why he voted to take healthcare away from 10 million Americans, so when he saw Evans he asked him to explain his vote to his constituents,” the spokesperson said.
Rutinel is facing a close primary bid for Colorado’s Eighth Congressional District, which is expected to be one of the tightest House races in the November midterms—Evans won his 2024 election by fewer than 2,500 votes. Rutinel holds a fundraising advantage over his closest primary competitor, former state representative Shannon Bird, having nearly $1.8 million on hand compared with her $1.1 million as of March 31. But an internal poll conducted for the Bird campaign last month showed her leading by 1 percentage point, though 45 percent of registered voters were undecided.
And while Rutinel scrutinized Evans for voting for Medicaid cuts included in the One Big Beautiful Bill last year, he recently supported a similar move. He voted last month to institute a 2 percent cut to Medicaid health care providers as part of an effort to close the state’s $1.5 billion deficit. The budget bill did, however, preserve the Cover All Coloradans program, which provides taxpayer-funded health care for “pregnant persons” and children who would qualify for Medicaid if they weren’t illegal immigrants, albeit with benefit reductions and enrollment caps.
The program, which Rutinel and Bird both supported, was estimated to cost less than $15 million when the legislature created the program in 2022, but that figure ballooned to nearly $105 million this fiscal year—seven times more than expected.
The One Big Beautiful Bill, meanwhile, created stricter verification of citizenship and status checks on eligibility.
This isn’t the first time Rutinel, a former environmental lawyer with Earthjustice, has come in conflict with the law. He was arrested alongside dozens of activists who stormed a Yale University game in November 2019 to protest fossil fuels. His campaign now says he attended the event as a legal observer. The Eighth Congressional District is home to an expansive oil and natural gas field that makes Colorado the fourth-largest oil-producing state in the country.
He has also backpedaled on his vegan activism since announcing his bid for a district with a significant animal agriculture presence. As Law, Ethics & Animals Program fellow at Yale Law School, Rutinel railed against the “horrific” and “exploitive [sic]” meat industry and petitioned the fried chicken fast food chain Popeyes to offer plant-based options. He later formed the nonprofit organization Climate Refarm, which pushed schools to transition to plant-based meals and advocated for tax increases on meat, dairy, and eggs, the Free Beacon reported.
He now says he was only criticizing the meat industry’s “bad apples.”
Republican National Committee spokesman Zach Kraft wasn’t surprised by Rutinel’s confrontation at the capitol.
“From getting arrested for a deranged Green New Deal protest to dressing up as a cow and hoping the world went vegan, Manny Rutinel’s entire existence has been one embarrassing episode after the next,” he said.
