Colorado GOP candidate caught praising an election conspiracy group linked to Mike Lindell

Heidi Ganahl, the best-known Republican candidate for Colorado governor, during a recent event with supporters endorsed the work of a Colorado-based conspiracy group that rejects the results of the 2020 election, according to a recording of her comments obtained by Newsline.

The event, a meet-and-greet in Durango, occurred on Nov. 18.

At one point she discussed elections and ways they purportedly might be compromised by “bad actors.” Then she mentioned the election conspiracy group U.S. Election Integrity Plan, referring to it by its abbreviation: “USIE, IE , EIP — I always mess up the acronym — there are a lot of great people working on this issue that would love to have you volunteer, get involved, and they are just doing great things.”

She adds that she would be happy to share the group’s contact information.

USEIP was founded by Colorado election deniers and reportedly deploys teams of volunteers to neighborhoods throughout the state to conduct “voter verification” canvassing, an effort to collect evidence of alleged election fraud. The group has close ties to Tina Peters, the clerk and recorder of Mesa County whom a court barred from overseeing last month’s election due to her alleged role in subverting election security in her own office. Leaders of USEIP, which claims to have a presence in 38 states, were recently hired by election-conspiracy Trump ally Mike Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow, to help coordinate national efforts to prove the 2020 election was fraudulent.

Claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent or compromised have been debunked by experts, courts and election officials from both parties.

Newsline received no response to multiple messages to Ganahl’s campaign seeking comment.

Some of Ganahl’s comments during the Durango visit were previously reported, but her endorsement of USEIP has not been previously reported.

Her promotion of USEIP is notable, because when Ganahl announced her candidacy for governor in mid-September her refusal to answer whether she thought the 2020 presidential election was stolen became central to the story of her entry into the race.

Ganahl, a regent of the University of Colorado, is the only remaining Republican elected to statewide office in Colorado. She is running to unseat Democratic Gov. Jared Polis, who is up for reelection in 2022.

Colorado Newsline is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Colorado Newsline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Quentin Young for questions: info@coloradonewsline.com. Follow Colorado Newsline on Facebook and Twitter.