Enough Is Enough: O’Dea and Anderson Must Cut Ties With Election Conspiracy Theorists

Sep 21, 2022 | News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, September 21, 2022
CONTACT: Sara Loflin, Executive Director at [email protected]

DENVER: New reports in the Colorado Times Recorder this week reveal that Republican candidates Joe O’Dea and Pam Anderson continue to associate with and feature in their campaigns a prominent local election denier and conspiracy theorist, who was present at the January 6th, 2021 protest against the results of the 2020 presidential election that turned into a riot. ProgressNow Colorado, the state’s largest multi-issue progressive advocacy group, called on O’Dea and Anderson to reject the endorsement and return any campaign contributions received from Republican fundraiser Wendy Ferland Meritt.

“From the start of their campaigns, Joe O’Dea and Pam Anderson have played both sides of the fence on election misinformation,” said ProgressNow Colorado Executive Direct Sara Loflin. “While claiming to accept the results of the 2020 presidential election, both O’Dea and Anderson continue to embrace election deniers in order to win Republican votes in the November elections. Wendy Meritt may be able to raise big bucks for Republican candidates, but that money comes tainted by Meritt’s baseless belief that Donald Trump should still be President of the United States.”

“When questioned about accepting Wendy Meritt’s support, Pam Anderson refused to disavow Meritt’s position on the 2020 election, saying that would ‘divide and ostracize,’” said Loflin. [1] “But if Anderson really cared about fighting election misinformation like she claims, she would condemn Wendy Meritt’s extremism–not welcome Meritt’s endorsement. And while Joe O’Dea wants Colorado voters to believe he thinks the 2020 election is settled, election denier Wendy Meritt is organizing fundraisers for O’Dea’s campaign.” [2]

“Above all, Coloradans are sick and tired of dishonest politicians who pander to extremism while pretending to represent the mainstream,” said Loflin. “Coloradans learned from Cory Gardner that actions speak louder than words, and we won’t be fooled again. There’s an easy way for Joe O’Dea and Pam Anderson to prove us wrong, and that is to disavow Wendy Meritt’s election conspiracy theories and return donations from by Meritt to their campaigns. If O’Dea and Anderson can’t take that small step, no one should believe they are any different from the MAGA fringe in control of today’s Republican Party.”

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