When Manny Rutinel, now a Democrat seeking Colorado’s competitive Eighth Congressional District seat, was a student at the University of Florida, subtlety wasn’t his strong suit, according to the Washington Free Beacon. To promote veganism, he ditched his shirt, strapped on a PETA sign, and declared, “To go green, you have to eat green,” to the Independent Florida Alligator. A few months later, he was back—this time standing before cows, holding a sign proclaiming, “Animal liberation is human liberation.” For National Hug a Vegan Day, he went all in again—wearing a pig costume.
Rutinel’s activism didn’t end with graduation. At Yale Law School, where he became a fellow in the Law, Ethics & Animals Program, he described animal agriculture as “a horrific, exploitive [sic] industry” and suggested redirecting farmers away from livestock farming altogether. Later, he channeled that passion into founding Climate Refarm, an organization that tried to green the planet by helping schools switch to plant-based meals and supporting taxes on meat.
Today, Rutinel, now a Colorado state representative, wants to trade vegan rallies for Congress; his would-be district, however, relies heavily on the very industry he once called “horrific.” Weld County alone hosts nearly 4,000 farms and ranches and generated $2.4 billion in agricultural sales in 2022. It’s also home to meatpacking giant JBS—one of the area’s largest employers. Meanwhile, his GOP opponent, Rep. Gabe Evans, actually raises cattle.
After The Colorado Sun resurfaced his meatless past, Rutinel moved quickly to clarify. His earlier statements, he said, were meant to target only “bad actors” in the industry. Now, he calls Colorado ranchers “the envy of the globe.” A campaign spokesperson insisted Rutinel “stands with family farmers and ranchers,” pledging to protect their livelihoods from the “chaotic” trade policies of Donald Trump and Gabe Evans. Still, critics note this is a curious pivot for a man who co-wrote a Yale paper urging farmers to “transition from animal to plant agriculture” for the sake of the planet.
“As of now, farmers are polluting a lot in animal agriculture, and if they switched to plant agriculture, they would emit much less while still producing great products that provide people with nutritious, delicious, and sustainable foods,” Rutinel said in an interview about the project, according to the Free Beacon.
Before launching his political career, Rutinel’s activism kept expanding. He once petitioned Popeyes to go plant-based, told Connecticut lawmakers the world must “dramatically shift away from animal products,” and, as an Earthjustice lawyer, helped force the EPA to tighten pollution rules for slaughterhouses. His brainchild, Climate Refarm, signed a 2022 open letter urging global cities to “consider taxing meat” and phase animal products out of public menus. Later, Rutinel said he didn’t agree with “every single sentence” of that letter.
His focus in office has shifted toward environmental justice, sponsoring a 2024 bill that created Colorado’s Office of Environmental Justice and backing two controversial Denver ballot measures to ban fur sales and slaughterhouses. Both failed, thanks in part to opposition from Indigenous artists and ranching advocates who argued the bans would hurt working-class communities.