The Jefferson County Republican Party on Thursday demanded that the House District 23 candidate nominated by delegates at last Saturday’s county assembly quit the race after learning he had been charged in an online scam and espoused white supremacist positions. And later that day, that’s exactly what happened.

Lakewood construction manager Nate Marshall, 42, won the GOP’s designation to run against state Rep. Max Tyler, D-Golden, in what was one of the state’s most competitive legislative seats in the last election, but that was before party officials learned about Marshall’s past, according to Jeffco Republican Party chairman Bill Tucker.

“Nate Marshall does not reflect the values of the Republican Party. We strongly oppose his continued candidacy and demand he end his campaign,” Tucker said in a statement issued Thursday.

“The values of the Republican Party — family, community, care and tolerance — are not compatible with Marshall’s views, and we condemn the hateful words and actions associated with him,” Tucker concluded.

On Marshall’s campaign website, which was still linked from the Jeffco GOP site at press time, the candidate calls for expanding the death penalty to include anyone guilty in the “murder of children including negligence and manslaughter.” He also proposes doing away with lethal injection and instead executing death row inmates by “either firing squad or hanging as these methods cannot be challenged by a need to acquire pharmaceuticals from companies opposed to the death penalty.”

According to the Rocky Mountain Antif website, which bills itself as “a crew of dedicated antifascists,” Marshall organized a “recruitment and networking event for white nationalists and neo-Nazis” last summer in Evergreen and posted hundreds of times to Stormfront.org, a self-described “White Nationalist” message board.

Marshall’s Twitter feed includes pronouncements such as “RUSSIA HAS THE RIGHT IDEA WHEN IT COMES TO ANTI GAY POLICIES,” and links to news about the European fascist organization Golden Dawn. Marshall also references a company called Red Wave Consulting, which he describes as “a firm that specializes in Dirty Work for politicians [and] political organizations.”

Marshall could not be reached for comment, but sources said he has dropped out of the race as of press time.

— Ernest@coloradostatesman.com