DENVER (KDVR) — We are six weeks away from the midterm elections. With more and more political ads hitting our airwaves, we are continuing our Truth Check series.
This time we are heading over to the state’s new 8th Congressional District, a heated race between Democratic state Rep. Yadira Caraveo and state Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer vying for a spot to be the state’s next congresswoman.
Truth Check: Ad calls Kirkmeyer ‘extreme’
“Around here, we like our sports extreme but not our politicians. But Barbara Kirkmeyer has spent 30 years of politics pushing her far-right agenda,” the ad narrator says to kick off the campaign piece.
That is an opinion about Kirkmeyer, the longtime Weld County commissioner turned state senator and Statute Revisions Committee vice chair. As a commissioner, Kirkmeyer was a part of an effort to make the northern part of the state a new state, citing frustrations with the rest of Colorado not valuing their priorities.
“Kirkmeyer says gay marriage should be illegal,” the ad continues.
Not exactly. In a 2014 debate for the 4th Congressional District, Kirkmeyer told moderators: “No to gay marriage.” Her team now tells us she supports codifying the Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision recognizing gay marriage. The U.S. House recently passed a bill to uphold the protections of that decision.
“She denies the science of climate change, wants to eliminate protections that keep our air and water clean,” the ad says.
Not exactly. Here are two quotes that tell you where she stands on the issue.
Back in June, she told the Colorado Sun: “The climate is always changing, and the Earth has been gradually warming since the Little Ice Age. To what extent any warming is a result of man-caused activity is unknown.”
And this past March, she told the Colorado Times Recorder, “The EPA, it just needs to go away.”
Another claim in the ad: “Kirkmeyer backs a national abortion ban, no exceptions.”
Not exactly. Kirkmeyer’s stance on abortion has also evolved: “No, I don’t agree to any exceptions to abortion,” she has said. Here’s what Kirkmeyer told FOX31 just a month ago at the opening of the RNC’s Hispanic Center in Thornton:
- Gabrielle Franklin: “And just to be clear, your stance has not changed on abortion?”
- Barbara Kirkmeyer: “No. No it has not.”
- Franklin: “And what is your stance?”
- Kirkmeyer: “I’m pro-life and I always have been. Again, I was raised in the Catholic community.”
- Franklin: “Any exceptions?”
- Kirkmeyer: “For the life of the mother.”
And now, her team says she would support legislation that imposes a limit on abortions after 15 weeks.
“Sending Kirkmeyer to Congress? Now that is too extreme for Colorado,” the ad says.
That’s an opinion.
“DCCC is responsible for the content of this advertising,” the ad says as it ends.
The bottom line here is that this ad was paid for by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, out to paint a picture of Kirkmeyer in a race with a diverse pool of voters. But the ad does highlight some areas where the state senator has changed her position over the years.