In 2022, a Democrat won Colorado's 8th District by 1,632 votes. The Libertarian candidate in that race got 9,280. Republicans called him a spoiler.
So in 2024, Gabe Evans made a deal. He signed the Libertarian Party of Colorado's "Liberty Pledge," and the Libertarian running in the 8th District, Eric Joss, dropped out and endorsed him. "We have agreed on a number of principles," Joss said. "And in return, I am going to step out of the race." Evans won the seat.
Two of the 13 promises Evans signed were about war, according to the Colorado Times Recorder:
"As a combat veteran who has borne the cost of an 'endless war,' I will oppose military adventurism and direct military action that does not immediately affect US national security."
"I will work to remove non-Constitutional presidential war powers and return those powers back to Congress."
Then came the Iran war
The Constitution gives Congress — not the president — the power to declare war. A war powers resolution is how Congress uses it: it orders the president to pull U.S. forces out of fighting Congress never approved.
The Libertarian Party's letter cites eight war powers resolutions by number. We checked the House Clerk's official records for every House vote this year on a resolution to end the Iran war. There were six, and he voted no on every one:
- March 5 — Nay. It failed, 212–219.
- April 16 — Nay. The resolution failed by one vote, 213–214.
- May 14 — Nay. It failed on a 212–212 tie.
- June 3 — Nay. It passed over his opposition, 215–208.
- July 23 — Nay. Passed, 214–208.
- September 15 — Nay. Passed, 220–204.
On April 16 and May 14, a single "no" vote switching sides would have passed the resolution. Evans's was one of those votes.
That's the opposite of "return those powers back to Congress." When the moment came to take war powers back from the president, he voted to leave them with Trump — six times.
And just last week, CBS Denver's Shaun Boyd asked Evans whether the Iran war is working. "Yes," he said, the Colorado Times Recorder reported.
The Libertarians noticed
In February 2026, the Libertarian Party of Colorado's new state board formally "denounced and nullified" the pledge. Party chair Keith Laube didn't mince words about Evans: "He signed the pledge to oppose endless wars and to remove presidential war powers, and then did the opposite."
Last week the party went further. Its campaigns director, Joe Johnson, sent Evans a letter:
"Yet you have repeatedly voted against restraining the President from making war without a congressional declaration. … Your record is consistent, but it is consistently at odds with the Constitution and with your own word. Your votes speak for themselves. You have chosen the Trump administration over your constituents."
"I grew up in a household where one's word is sacred, and actions have consequences," Johnson said. Evans hasn't answered the letter, according to Johnson.
This year, the Libertarians are running their own candidate in the 8th District, Dave Wood. In 2022, the Libertarian vote there was more than five times the winning margin.
Not the only flip on Iran
Evans is one of 180 House members we track who voted no on September 15, the third time the House passed a resolution to end Trump's Iran war — a war Congress's budget office says had already cost $38 billion. And two of the votes he cast were among the ones where the House came within a single vote of telling Trump to end it.
What the record shows
To win Libertarian support in 2024, Gabe Evans signed a pledge to oppose "military adventurism" and to "return" presidential war powers to Congress, and the Libertarian candidate dropped out to endorse him. In 2026 he voted against all six Iran war powers resolutions the House took up — including one that failed by a single vote and one that failed on a tie — and told CBS Denver the war is working.
