DENVER — Colorado Democrats are coming under pressure to force out a newly appointed state legislator after he flippantly refused to denounce Hamas atrocities against Israeli women and children while attending a pro-Palestinian rally.
State Rep. Tim Hernandez joined several dozen people waving Palestinian flags and chanting slogans like “no peace on stolen land” at the Colorado State Capitol on Saturday, hours after the terrorist attack that killed over 1,200 Israeli and other civilians.
In a now-viral video, Mr. Hernandez was asked whether he condemned “the murder of women and children in the streets by Palestinian terrorists.”
He replied, “I condemn any form of colonial violence.”
The man who recorded the video, a local citizen journalist identified as Russell, told Mr. Hernandez he thought it was despicable “that you can’t condemn women and children and elderly people being murdered in the streets.”
“What about it?” Mr. Hernandez replied.
Now the House Democratic House supermajority is facing calls to replace the 26-year-old Mr. Hernandez, who was not elected to the seat but rather selected in August to represent the northwest Denver district by a party vacancy committee.
The Colorado Republican Party said he was “a disgrace to the Colorado House of Representatives and should resign immediately,” while former Denver Broncos wide receiver Brandon Stokley has whipped up opposition to Mr. Hernandez on social media.
“Guess what @_timhernandez I’m not going anywhere,” tweeted Mr. Stokley, who hosts a sports talk show on radio station KKFM, 104.3 the Fan.
“Some of my best friends are Jewish right here in Colorado and I stand with them and Israel. No backtracking now buddy. I’ve seen all I need to see and so will everyone else,” the star pass-catcher said.
Mr. Hernandez issued a statement Monday saying that “I’m against attacking innocent people,” and that he had sought to show solidarity with the Palestinian people, not Hamas.
“I did not speak or attend the rally in support of Hamas or in support of the attacks on Israel that took place over the weekend, nor did I ‘spit on Israel,’” said Mr. Hernandez, a former Denver Public Schools teacher and member of the Democratic Socialists of America.
Tim Hernandez (D-CO 4th) at a Hamas rally refusing to condemn the pogrom. Will @GovofCO @jaredpolis demand the expulsion of this open antisemite? https://t.co/EpgSJ4zWqx
— russ (@_walruss) October 10, 2023
Hamas, a recognized foreign terrorist organization, has ruled the Gaza Strip since winning the 2006 parliamentary elections and seizing control from the main Palestinian Authority, centered in the non-contiguous West Bank area.
The Denver Gazette editorial board called Wednesday for Mr. Hernandez to step down or be removed, saying he showed “little regard for rape victims, decapitated babies and Holocaust survivors” by attending the Colorado Palestine Coalition’s “emergency protest.”
“By doing so, he joined those who celebrate and champion a resistance movement that tortures and kills,” said the right-tilting Gazette board.
“Colorado Democrats have a problem of their making that only they can solve. To defend their long-respected brand, leading Democrats should pressure Hernández to resign,” it said.
So far no Democratic legislator has urged Mr. Hernandez to step down — at least not publicly — although several have denounced his comments.
The strongest statement on the left has come from Democratic state Sen. Dafna Michaelson Jenet, an Israel-born Jew.
“I wholeheartedly disagree with Rep. Hernandez’s decision to attend a rally in support of the unconscionable terrorist campaign unfolding against thousands of Jewish families in Israel,” she posted on the social media site X.
“Further, his posting of harmful rhetoric supporting the terrorist action on social media is reprehensible and dangerous,” she added.
Democratic House Speaker Julie McCluskie and House Majority Leader Monica Duran said in a joint statement that they had spoken with Mr. Hernandez and were “deeply disappointed” by his failure to “explicitly condemn the violent Hamas terrorist attacks on innocent Israelis.”
The left-tilting Denver Post editorial board also criticized Mr. Hernandez, saying ““we cannot help but note what Hernandez has refused to do – condemn Hamas’ terrorism,” without calling for him to resign.
Former Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler, a Republican who hosts a show on the talk-radio station KNUS 710-AM, accused the newspaper of “weakness and hypocrisy.”
“The Post had harsher words for Rep. Lauren Boebert for a video of her at Beetlejuice than it does for this Hamas-celebrating extremist,” Mr. Brauchler tweeted. “The Post should have called for him to step down from our legislature.”
Colorado Democrats control both houses of the state legislature as well as all state constitutional offices. Three of the four Democrats elected statewide — Gov. Jared Polis, Attorney General Phil Weiser, and Secretary of State Jena Griswold — are Jewish.
“Russell,” who posted the video on his @_walruss account, also called for the Democrats to expel Mr. Hernandez or hold him accountable.
“That was in the midst of the slaughter, and he was out there celebrating on that day,” he told CBS4 in Denver.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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