Radical Rutinel Railed Against Meat and Dairy Industries
Democrat frontrunner, Manny Rutinel, is being called out for his radical anti-meat and anti-dairy crusade.
Rutinel spent years condemning animal agriculture going as far as calling it a “horrific, exploitive industry” while pushing initiatives to “discourage meat products.”
Colorado’s 8th congressional district “is one of the state’s ranching and agricultural centers” that includes Weld County, “home to roughly 4,000 farms and ranches.”
“As the legendary Pepper Brooks once said, it’s a bold strategy, Cotton, let’s see if it pays off for ’em.” – NRCC Spokesman Zach Bannon
Read more from The Washington Free Beacon here or see excerpts below:
Colorado Dem Seeking Swing Seat in Ranching District Spent Years Calling Animal Agriculture ‘Horrific’
Washington Free Beacon
Ethan Barton
February 2, 2025
When Manny Rutinel, a Democrat running in a swing district in Colorado, was a University of Florida student, he stripped his shirt and donned a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sign to promote veganism.
“In order to go green, you have to eat green,” he told the Independent Florida Alligator in 2016. At another college protest, he stood before a group of cows while holding a sign that read, “Animal liberation is human liberation,” and told a local reporter he hoped “some people will change their lifestyle and hopefully go vegan.” On National Hug a Vegan Day one year earlier, he dressed as a pig.
That was just the beginning of Rutinel’s anti-meat crusade. While attending Yale Law School as a Law, Ethics & Animals Program fellow, he called animal agriculture “a horrific, exploitive [sic] industry” and proposed a plan to push farmers away from the meat industry. More recently, he founded and led Climate Refarm, an organization that helped schools and hospitals transition to plant-based meals. It also pushed for tax increases on meat, dairy, and eggs.
Now, Rutinel, a state representative since 2023, is leading a crowded field of Democrats aiming to flip Colorado’s Eighth Congressional District in a race that’s expected to be one of the closest in the nation and could determine which party leads the House.
The district is also an agricultural hub, with JBS, an international meatpacking giant, serving as one of the district’s biggest employers. Part of the district sits in Weld County, which is home to roughly 4,000 farms and ranches, with commodity sales hitting $2.4 billion in 2022.
Rutinel’s long-running campaign against meat could put him at odds with a district that relies heavily on the agriculture industry. By contrast, the Republican incumbent, Rep. Gabe Evans, owns a small cattle herd and is a beef producer.
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After law school, Rutinel served as an attorney for Earthjustice, a far-left environmental group. As part of its Sustainable Food & Farming Program, he helped force the Environmental Protection Agency to issue tighter regulations on slaughterhouses.
From there, Rutinel went on to launch and head Climate Refarm, which used its own “verified carbon credit system” to bankroll its efforts to help institutions transition away from meat-based food. It would also support initiatives that would discourage meat products.
Climate Refarm, which has since dissolved, signed onto a 2022 letter to an international group of mayors urging cities to “consider taxing meat, dairy and eggs.” The letter cited Greta Thunberg’s 2022 book and said the 2015 Paris Agreement didn’t “go far enough.” It also complained that the menu at the C40 World Mayors Summit that year featured meat and dairy and offered several suggestions on how cities could transition away from meat.
“Serve only plant-based foods at all council events,” the letter read. “Start phasing out animal products from all city food purchases by swapping in more plant-based foods. Ban public advertising and sponsorship for all animal products from the city.”
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