Colorado congressional candidate and incumbent state Rep. Richard Holtorf was harshly criticized by the local news anchor last week over abortion.
The 59-year-old Republican made headlines in January when he defended his girlfriend’s abortion bill, despite sponsoring a failed 2020 measure that would have banned the procedure in the state after 22 weeks.
“I respected her rights and even gave her money to help her through her important, critical time,” Holtorf said at the time of the procedure, which was performed sometime in 1986.
Holtorf, who represents the Eastern Plains, will face Lauren Boebert. He is a staunch opponent of abortion – so much so that a few months ago he dropped his firearm in the Capitol while rushing to vote against abortion rights.
9Newscaster Kyle Clark focused on this hypocrisy, extensively questioning the candidate for Colorado’s 4th Congressional District.
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Colorado congressional candidate and incumbent state representative Richard Holtorf (right) received a harsh criticism from local news anchor Kyle Clark (left) about abortion last week, a few months after he defended footing the bill for his girlfriend’s procedure
Clark highlighted this hypocrisy, questioning the candidate for Colorado’s 4th Congressional District at length in the process – at times appearing at a loss for words
“If abortion was the best choice for your friend, why would you deny that choice to other women?” Clark asks point blank to get started.
Holtorf initially seems to be looking for a clear answer, before saying that he is “a pro-life Catholic” who believes that “everyone should choose life.”
“If you listen to my presentation on the House floor, did you listen to it?” asks Holtorf, referring to his now widely heard comments made in the House of Representatives earlier this year.
“I did indeed – I just quoted from it,” Clark replies, showing no fear in the face of the politician sitting a few feet away.
“Okay, what was the main theme and what did I probably have to repeat twenty times,” Holtorf shoots back.
“Let me help you,” he adds quickly, interrupting the interviewer.
“Oh, I thought you were asking me a question,” Clark claps back as things grew more and more heated.
‘Go ahead. Go ahead,” Holtorf says at this point, before his words are parsed by the 9News journalist.
“Honestly, your logic was a little scattered in that speech,” Clark says, apparently ready for round two.
“If abortion was the best choice for your friend, why would you deny that choice to other women?” Clark asks point blank to get started.
Holtorf initially seems to be looking for a clear answer, before saying that he is “a pro-life Catholic” who believes that “everyone must choose life”
“What I’m questioning is the fact that you said you respected your friend’s right to an abortion and then gave her money to help her through an important time.”
“Exactly what I did,” Holtorf replies.
“Yet you’ve tried to deny that to other women, and I wonder why an abortion is good for your girlfriend but bad for other women,” Clark continues.
‘That’s my question. Simple, simple question.
“So you deviated. And you did a good job, by the way.”
Holtorf seems visibly irritated at this point and has also not put on his characteristic cowboy hat for the outing.
He responds by saying that “the main theme of that presentation, if you listen to it, and I want you to listen to it again, is ‘choose life,'” a message he claims to have said “20 times” during the January edition. display.
“There are times when that choice can’t be made or it’s complicated, especially for the woman, okay?” he continues.
“What did you do when you were twenty years old,” he asks Clark at this point, referring to his and his then-girlfriend’s young ages at the time of the procedure.
“I respected her rights and even gave her money to help her through her important, critical time,” Holtorf said in January of the previously unknown procedure. He currently represents Colorado’s Eastern Plains
When Clark responds that he was a junior in college, Holtorf provides more insight into the decision.
‘I found out she was pregnant the week I was deployed for military training in the
summer of, I think it was 1986, and guess what you do when you have military orders: you get deployed. Okay? I went to Fort Washington, spent a month and a half there, then went to California and spent another month, and then I came back from my military training to Fort Collins Colorado, where I attended as a student.
“Guess what my friend told me she did, but I asked her not to,” he says.
“I said, Kyle, we’ll figure this out when I get home… She had an abortion.
‘Is that her choice? Yes. Did she have that right? Yes. Was it my choice, Kyle? No.’
Clark asks with apparent disinterest, “Why are you trying to deny the choice you said was best for your girlfriend’s life?”
Holtorf tries to interrupt him, but Clark doesn’t give him the opportunity this time.
“Why are you trying to deny it to other women?”
Holtorf sponsored a failed 2020 measure that would have banned the procedure in the state after 22 weeks. He made headlines that same year when he dropped his approved firearm on the House floor as he rushed to vote for the ill-fated leadership.
He will face off against Lauren Boebert (pictured on April 30 outside the US Capitol), who he recently said “needs to learn how to dress” after comparing her to women working the streets near the Colorado capitol building and who were wearing “high heels, shorts.” skirts, low-cut blouses’
Holtorf responds by saying that, as a “pro-life person,” he believes that “you should try to choose life every time.
“But there are exceptions,” he continues. “And there are times when you need an abortion. Abortion is a medical procedure.”
“Is one of the exceptions when Richard Holtorf is the father?” Clark asks, egging the politician on.
‘It’s not about me. Don’t make it personal and make it about me,” Holtorf shoots back.
Clark then reminds Holtorf again how he had discussed his girlfriend’s abortion on the floor of the Colorado House – a fact that the politician dismisses as an unimportant detail.
“That doesn’t matter,” Holtorf says in the now viral clip. ‘That’s a story. That’s not that important. The policy is more important.’
In addition to his stance on abortion, Holtorf recently made headlines by criticizing his Colorado Republican rival in Boebert, saying the representative “needs to learn how to dress” while comparing her to women working the streets near the capitol building of Colorado.
‘[The ones that wear] high heels, short skirts, low-cut blouses,” he said.
Boebert’s personal and family tragedy would also encourage Colorado voters to support someone else, according to Holtorf.
“She has a lot of problems with her family, and with herself, and her family life, and a lot of legal problems,” he said last month. “And that doesn’t sit well when it comes to a son who was recently arrested and charged with multiple crimes.”
Holtorf is referring to Boebert’s son Tyler who was arrested and charged with 22 criminal charges, including five felonies, while police say he and his friends were caught using stolen credit cards in connection with a string of car burglaries in Rifle, Colorado.
He previously admitted that he understands why former President Donald Trump supported Boebert, but he thinks Colorado voters want someone who doesn’t have as much personal drama.
“I still don’t think the electorate will go for it, despite the fact that they are very strong supporters of Donald Trump as president,” he said. “I don’t think this completely exempts her from packing up carpets and changing chairs.”