SEIU Local 105 Endorsements

Incumbent State Rep. Susan Lontine, who has served southwest Denver in the Statehouse since 2015, is an enthusiastic and tireless advocate for progressive values. Her priorities include increasing access to affordable health care, fighting to defend women’s reproductive health, advocating for more funding for public schools, and protecting Colorado’s environment.

As the chair of the House Health and Insurance Committee, Lontine has spent a lot of time working on issues related to health care access, affordability, and patient safety. Some of her legislation that has been signed into law include bills to increase hospital transparency and accountability, to remove barriers on telehealth access, and to expand dental coverage for pregnant patients.

Perhaps her biggest legislative achievements are passing a bill that prohibited Colorado law enforcement from holding undocumented immigrants solely on the basis of a request from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as well one that requires school districts that teach sex education to teach about consent and what it means to be in a healthy relationship.

Progressives clearly can and should support Lontine.

She is being challenged by Republican candidate and avid conspiracy-theory enthusiast Samantha Koch. Koch regularly espouses coronavirus conspiracy theories including implying that Bill Gates is plotting to use a vaccine to implant tracking devices and that COVID-19 has been overblown by Democrats and public health experts to exert control over people’s lives and defeat President Donald Trump in the election. She also embraces anti-mask views and believes that hydroxychloroquine is a known cure for COVID-19.

Koch’s theories aren’t limited to coronavirus: She has promoted numerous QAnon-linked theories, the debunked theory that Wayfair is literally selling children, and the urban myth that “antifa and professional anarchists” leave pallets of bricks for protesters to throw during marches. Koch also helps run a Facebook group supporting a driver who struck a Denver protester with her car. Progressive voters should avoid Koch on the ballot and probably in the community as well.

Incumbent State Rep. Alec Garnett has represented central Denver’s District 2 since 2015 and is running for reelection. Serving as the House majority leader since 2019, Garnett has played a large role in decision-making and setting priorities during the last two extremely productive legislative sessions. Under his leadership, the legislature enacted the most sweeping reforms to oil and gas laws in the last 60 years, put Colorado on a path to reduce carbon emissions by 90% by 2050, established universal free full-day kindergarten for all Colorado families, created paid sick leave for all Colorado workers, repealed the state’s death penalty, and much more.

Garnett has focused specifically on working with his colleagues to improve the lives of middle-class families across Colorado, help more high school and college graduates find stable employment, and provide the best education possible for Colorado’s kids.

A strong advocate for stricter gun laws, Garnett co-sponsored the 2019 Extreme Risk Protection Order Bill, otherwise known as the Red Flag bill, that gave law enforcement an important tool to keep our community safe, but Garnett understands there is more work that needs to be done on this issue.

Garnett believes accessible government is one of the most important things in a democracy and always strives to make it as easy as possible for his constituents to get in touch with him. He also holds town hall meetings constantly and is a regular presence at every in-district event you can think of. Garnett is a hard-working representative and an effective leader who is passionate about making Colorado a better place to live, work, and raise a family. He is definitely the progressive voter’s best choice in this race.

Running against Garnett is Republican Victoria Partridge. Partridge, who has worked as a flight attendant for 16 years, is a proud supporter of Donald Trump. She has asserted one-party Democrat rule has not worked out for Colorado and that we need to have more Republicans in elected offices throughout the state. Her platform says that she promotes using the free market to bring down the cost of housing and making sure Coloradans have a choice when it comes to health care — clearly issues that most Coloradans care a lot about — but on The Steffan Tubbs Show, Partridge lamented that under Democrat rule “homeless people have more of a say” than she does. Keeping Garnett in office over this point of view is a must for Denver voters.

Incumbent State Rep. Meg Froelich has a long history of activism for women’s rights, children’s welfare, education, community leadership, and environmental protection. Since being appointed to the District 3 seat in 2019, she has co-sponsored and passed bills on issues ranging from public-sector collective bargaining to accountability in law enforcement to expanding Medicaid. She used her position on the Energy and Environment Committee to introduce legislation that efficiently manages Colorado’s natural resources, and she has supported the economic balance of development that complements open spaces. In an interview with the Englewood Herald last year, Froelich said she commended the legislature’s work to ban anti-LGBTQ “conversion therapy” and helping create true ID documents for transgender folks and that she would continue to work on issues like paid family leave and protecting the new full-day kindergarten program.

Froelich’s experience as a successful legislator, dedication to the people of Colorado, and progressive policy platform make her the preferred candidate in this race.

Taking her on in this race is Republican Dean Titterington. Titterington is the owner and president of a property management company and a longtime charter school advocate. He recently replaced Bill Klocek as the Republican on the ballot, but Titterington has made no public statements on what he would do if elected to the state legislature. He seems to have no campaign social media presence or even a website. Progressive voters should reelect Froelich to a full term in the Colorado House.

Born and raised in the community she now represents, incumbent State Rep. Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez is running for her second term in the Colorado House. Her experience serving her community includes time as an advocate for domestic violence survivors, a youth counselor, and a caseworker. In addition to serving as a state representative, she is the director for the Denver Collaborative Partnership, where she works with youth who have had contact with the juvenile justice system and their families to make sure their needs are met.

Gonzales-Guiterrez believes quality education is the most effective path to equity and opportunity and must be accessible and affordable from early childhood through college. She has passed legislation that will make sure kids are taught the history of American minorities in public schools as well as legislation to increase student loan regulation.

Some of the other bills that Gonzales-Gutierrez played a critical role in passing include the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, prohibiting employer discrimination on the basis of gender; a bill to make sure defendants’ cases are handled expediently, cutting down the wait time for those who cannot afford bail; and the sweeping police reform bill signed into law this June that enhances accountability, integrity, and transparency in law enforcement.

Gonzales-Gutierrez’s pursuits have also included advocating for affordable housing by pushing to develop housing trusts and expand tax credits, championing legislation that combats climate change by holding polluters accountable, and working to ensure health care is accessible to those who need it most. She is the clear progressive choice and deserves reelection to the Colorado House.

On the ballot also is Republican Grant Price. Price appears to be a Denver resident and an estimator at a pipe company. His campaign website as of early September featured only a contact form and zero personal information, much less any policy stances. He has no profile completed on the state’s GOP website and no discoverable social media presence.

Incumbent State Rep. Alex Valdez is running for what would be his second term representing District 5. He is a self-described “environmental warrior” who started a grassroots residential solar company several years ago that is now one of Colorado’s largest. In his first term, Valdez has already passed legislation focused on boosting renewable energy use, establishing more public protections from toxic air emissions, and increasing the number of electric vehicle charging stations in Colorado.

The environment is not the only issue Valdez champions. He’s committed to an inclusive Colorado and currently serves as the chair of the LGBTQ Caucus. He was instrumental in passing a bill for easier, prescription-free access to life-saving HIV prevention medications. Valdez also carried a bill that prohibits people convicted of animal cruelty from owning an animal. His other top priorities include universal access to affordable health care, housing affordability, and an education system that prepares students for the jobs of tomorrow and pays teachers a fair wage.

Valdez is clearly the candidate for progressive voters.

He faces Republican Jonathan Woodley, a sergeant in the Colorado Army National Guard who ran unsuccessfully for the Denver City Council in 2019. He has a typical pro-Trump platform — evident on his campaign website with pledges for the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR), school choice, the Second Amendment, to ban abortion, and “law and order.” Woodley’s social media posts have downplayed the threat of COVID-19, and he opposes mask mandates. Also on his campaign Facebook page, he posted support for counter-boycotting the NBA — which skipped games recently in protest of continued police violence against Black Americans. It is imperative Woodley not be elected to office.

Also running for this seat is Unity Party candidate Joe Richardson, who runs a mail-order business and served for two years as a Downtown Denver Ambassador for the Business Improvement District. He does not have a campaign website or a social media presence.

Incumbent State Rep. Steven Woodrow, who was appointed to the District 6 seat earlier this year after a vacancy, is a strong progressive who has been described by fellow legislators as a “fierce advocate for the voiceless” and a “tireless public servant.” He’s familiar with going toe-to-toe against powerful interests with a career as a consumer protection attorney. Already in his first few months in office, he has co-sponsored highly relevant bills on repealing Colorado’s death penalty, allowing state employees to collectively bargain, and kick-starting comprehensive police reform.

The Democrat has said he will prioritize expanding economic opportunity by pushing for universal access to health care, equal pay, paid family leave, fair taxation, and affordable housing. He is working to gain support in the legislature to make publicly funded state House and Senate races a reality to get special-interest money out of politics, and he is passionate about ensuring a high-quality education is accessible to all children and increasing teacher pay. His campaign motto is to leave Colorado “better than we found it,” which he applies to many different issues but especially the environment.

Woodrow is a clear choice in this race.

He is running against Bill McCaleb, an engineer with over 38 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. McCaleb’s public stances indicate he’s a more moderate Republican. However, his positions in favor of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR), against additional gun safety measures, and against moving to a national popular vote reveal why he’s not who progressives want in office.

Also on the ballot is Jeffrey Kennedy Crowe for the Libertarian Party. He does not appear to have a widely known platform.

State Rep. Leslie Herod is the incumbent for District 8 and faces no opposition. She has been very busy since her election in 2016 with numerous bills to her credit on criminal justice reform, civil rights protections, clean energy, and more. She will continue to be a champion on progressive issues.

Incumbent State Rep. Emily Sirota, who was first elected to the statehouse in 2018, has been described by former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb as a “progressive with strong roots in her community and deep experience in government, social work, and education.” Before joining the legislature, she helped run an early learning center; worked for the Colorado Progressive Coalition, where she organized support for paid sick leave policy; and has been an aide to a U.S. senator, a congressman, and a governor.

In her first term, Sirota passed critical legislation to end tax breaks for special interests to help fund K-12 education and give relief to working families, enact sweeping reforms to early childhood programs as well as mandating the teaching of the Holocaust and genocide in public schools, place contribution limits on campaigns for county elections, and have Colorado join the National Popular Vote Compact. Sirota also carried a bill for a task force to analyze how much money Colorado could save by going to a health-care-for-all system.

Sirota is the clear progressive choice.

Challenging her for the seat is Republican Larry Braig, a retired Denver firefighter who is running on a typical conservative platform. He fully supports the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) and protecting the Electoral College instead of moving to a national popular vote. Most disconcerting, however, is a July post Braig shared on his campaign Facebook page saying that the Black Lives Matter movement “supports black genocide” because it favors abortion rights and “supports white supremacy” because “it only addresses when a white man kills a black man” and not “black on black crime.” With this racist line of thinking, we strongly recommend against voting for Braig.

Also on the ballot is Libertarian Wes Pinchot. His platform is widely unknown.

Incumbent State Rep. Edie Hooton has been an effective progressive leader since she was first elected in 2016. The longtime Democratic activist has focused much of her efforts on reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and growing the renewable energy sector, ensuring equal access to a quality education, and finding commonsense ways to create good-paying jobs.

Hooton, who is the majority caucus chair and vice chair of the Energy and Environment Committee, was instrumental in several bills last session aimed at serving those in need, including adding information about safe haven laws — which allow parents to relinquish a newborn at a fire station or hospital within 72 hours without legal consequences — to the health education curriculum in public schools. She also backed increased protections for mobile home park residents, making medical marijuana legal for children on the autism spectrum, and a consumer protection bill that limited document fees for elderly and new homeowners.

With her views and a strong track record of getting things done, Hooton is the progressive voter’s clear choice.

Taking her on is Republican Ken Stickney. Stickney supports vouchers for private schools, is against gun safety legislation because “restrictions on law-abiding citizens do not prevent [tragedies],” and staunchly defends the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR). He also has been vocal with his skepticism of the state and local governmental COVID-19 public health measures, calling them “an overreaction.” In an August 15 column for The Boulder Daily Camera, he insisted that all primary-age students go “back to school now.” We discourage electing someone with these kinds of views.

Karen McCormick is a longtime Boulder County veterinarian who ran against Republican Ken Buck for Congress in 2018 and won over 65% of the local vote. In the community, she has volunteered as an English teacher for the immigrant community, served on nonprofit boards, and is a member of Citizens’ Climate Lobby.

McCormick has said she is running to advocate for Colorado families by fighting to increase access to affordable health care, expand economic opportunity, and take action to mitigate the effect of climate change. She plans to pursue placing a price on carbon-based fuels at the source of production to accelerate the move to a renewable energy economy and to work to hold industries accountable for polluting our air and water. She also intends to promote LGBTQ rights, reproductive rights, commonsense gun safety legislation, and increased investment in our education system.

McCormick is the progressive voter’s best choice in this race.

Vying for this seat on the Republican side is Mark Milliman, and his Trump-like political ideas cross into dangerous territory. He has repeatedly asserted that COVID-19 is a hoax, claims 99.97% of people recover from the virus, and is suing Gov. Jared Polis over mandatory mask-wearing — which he says “will make you sick.” He denies anthropomorphic climate change exists and has shared conspiracy theories on social media questioning the validity of Colorado’s election system. Milliman has dubbed Black Lives Matter a “racist hate group” and leans into the idea that “criminal propagandists run the media.” He must not be elected to this or any office now or ever.

Tracey Bernett, a staunch progressive and longtime community leader and volunteer, says she seeks to represent District 12 with three guiding passions she calls the “Three Es”: equity, environment, and education. Her recent work has been to help analyze policy for State Sens. Faith Winter and Mike Foote, who has called her “smart, diligent, and knowledgeable.”

Bernett, who served as president of the homelessness prevention nonprofit Outreach United Resource Center, wants to be “a voice for people who don’t have a voice” at the Capitol. Her priorities are to create a public health care option, expand worker protections and access to affordable housing, and unweave systems of racial injustice with meaningful criminal justice reform. For combating climate change, she supports a carbon fee and dividend proposal, incentivizing affordable electric vehicles, and holding oil and gas companies accountable for the environmental damage they cause. She would work to get rid of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) and invest in teachers.

Bernett’s passion for addressing some of the most pressing issues of our time makes her a candidate progressives can easily support.

She is running against Republican Eric Davila. As of mid-September, Davila did not have any personal information or policy stances on his under-construction campaign website, and he does not have a discoverable social media presence.

Judy Amabile, a businessperson and committed progressive activist, is running to succeed term-limited Speaker of the House K.C. Becker as the District 13 representative.

Amabile wants to bring the voice of “the progressive business owner” to the legislature and “foundational change” to a system that for too long has been fixed in favor of the wealthy. Her platform focuses on three main issues: acting boldly on climate change, improving the lives of working people “at the bottom of the economic ladder,” and increasing access to mental health resources to address the rise in homelessness, substance use disorders, incarceration, and suicide. She has ambitious policy ideas like putting a price on carbon emissions to incentivize businesses to cut them, raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, transitioning to a single-payer health care system, equalizing internet access, fairness in banking, instituting balanced executive pay, and more.

Electing Amabile will definitely advance the progressive causes in Colorado.

On the Republican side for this seat is Kevin Sipple, a co-founder of Eldorado Natural Spring Water. He has a long history of public service and leans on a traditional party platform — he supports right-to-work laws that make it harder for people to form unions, defends the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR), and is against abortion rights from “conception to natural death.” Sipple has concerning stances on gun policy and COVID-19. He has advocated for arming school staff, and on the virus, he has strongly criticized health measures and calls on people to “stand up” to the “tyrants.”

Libertarian Jed Gilman is also on the ballot. He gained attention in May for his own “tyranny” commentary on Tri-County Health Department COVID-19 restrictions where he praised a restaurant for defying public health orders and staying open. His stances on other issues, outlined in a July video interview on Facebook, are as expected for the Libertarian Party.

Incumbent State Rep. Tony Exum, who was first elected to the seat in 2012 after a 35-year career as a firefighter, has been a champion of Colorado working families. As the coronavirus has wreaked havoc on communities, Exum introduced and passed a housing assistance bill that bridged using federal CARES Act funds for eviction defense and development grants.

Exum believes in high-quality, affordable health care for all and stands ready to take on ways to make health care dollars go further. Another of his priorities has been education. He was part of the sponsoring group behind Breakfast After the Bell, which provides access to nutritional meals for students in schools. This session, he worked on bills to provide emergency assistance to students in state universities and help children in foster care obtain their driver’s licenses. Exum has also focused on investment in renewable energy and protecting public lands, earning him a 100% lifetime score from Conservation Colorado.

Exum is the clear choice in the upcoming election.

Two challengers also have eyes on the seat: Rob Blancken and Susan Quilleash-Nelson. Blancken is a retired water treatment specialist with Colorado Springs Utilities. On his campaign website are the usual Republican positions, but what’s overtly missing is his far-right-wing extremist philosophy. In 2016, Blancken was photographed at the Republican state convention running for national delegate wearing a sign describing himself as a Tea Party member. Blancken has also protested gun violence vigils with other gun rights activists, once even trying to get near the lectern of a vigil with a protest sign. Despite a long history of conservative activism, Blancken suddenly stopped talking about his previously held extreme anti-immigration and anti-gun-safety views. Progressive voters beware.

Libertarian candidate Quilleash-Nelson is a substitute teacher in Colorado Springs. She has previously run for District 17 and ran for the state senate as well. But in all those campaigns and all that time, Quilleash-Nelson has seemingly made no policy statements, public positions on the issues, or even had a website or social media profile to inform people on her candidacy. In a 2012 candidate survey, however, she failed to address a question on the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) while publicly endorsing forcing undocumented graduates of Colorado schools to pay out-of-state tuition for Colorado universities. This is not the kind of representation progressives want in the Statehouse.

Incumbent State Rep. Marc Snyder has served District 18 since 2019, having come to the seat after a 12-year tenure as mayor of Manitou Springs. He also has a legal practice in estate law, primarily helping adults and children with disabilities.

In addition to an interest in legislation aimed at protecting vulnerable citizens, Snyder has supported environmental protections, including sponsoring a bill for the legislature to detail the net impact that future legislation would have on greenhouse gas emissions. He has boosted efforts to connect Coloradans with vital housing, health, and education resources via 211 and the Department of Local Affairs as well as those aimed at bolstering small businesses with Energize Colorado grants. Among his other aims are to help the state better manage its natural resources and increasing transparency costs for health care services to reduce cost as a barrier to access to care.

Synder is the most qualified candidate and should get the progressive vote in this race.

He faces challengers Republican George Rapko and Libertarian Nathan Foutch. Rapko is a veteran living in Colorado Springs. In the numerous opportunities he has had to campaign and tell people about what he wants to do if elected, his almost singular position is that he wants to get more Republicans into office. And that’s when he even feels like speaking up; he ignores the majority of requests to expand on his single idea. Rapko offers no unique positions and seems only to be seeking office to be in power.

Foutch is a Colorado Springs resident and has been connected to right-wing militia and vigilante groups. He has said the government has no business making public health decisions to protect people from the coronavirus. Voters should avoid both Rapko and Foutch at all costs and reelect Snyder to another term in the Colorado House.

Incumbent State Rep. Chris Kennedy has served House District 23 since first being elected in 2016. He is a former architectural engineer who left that field to pursue “solving public policy problems instead.” This past session, Kennedy was elected by his colleagues to serve as assistant majority leader of the Democratic Caucus. In his time in office, he has proven to be a communicative representative who has his finger on the pulse of an impressively wide array of issues.

Kennedy’s top priorities at the end of this year were drawn to immediate needs: police accountability legislation and coronavirus relief measures for both families and small businesses. He has also been vocal in refuting the Trump administration’s false attacks on Colorado’s vaunted vote-by-mail system, emphasizing how accessible and secure our experiences have been. His yearlong efforts have ranged from health insurance transparency and insurance reform to renters’ rights laws and investment in affordable housing. Kennedy has also been a leader in the battle against the opioid epidemic and for lowering insurance premiums and rates across the state. In his public messaging, he has consistently backed doing more to support mental health access, housing assistance, abortion rights, and a number of approaches to battle climate change, such as carbon pollution limits, infrastructure for electric vehicles, and steps toward 100% renewable energy.

The clear progressive choice in this race is Kennedy.

Challenging him for the seat are Fred Clifford and Doug Anderson. Clifford is a machinist and Republican activist. Like a lot of other Republican candidates on the ballot this year, Clifford has publicly offered up no ideas of what he wants to do in the legislature. But he does want you to know that he likes the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR), which is killing the state’s ability to fund education and transportation like it should. He also doesn’t like red-flag laws, which help protect communities by keeping guns away from violent criminals and domestic abusers. Voters should reject Clifford and his handful of bad ideas.

Anderson, who is a former Lakewood city council member and a Libertarian, is also on the ballot. He has not commented on his positions to the press or on social media, so all we can say is that he’s supportive of the Libertarian Party of Colorado’s idea to privatize public education in the state. A progressive voter should instead support Kennedy’s experience and proven record.

Incumbent State Rep. Monica Duran won her first term in the Colorado House in 2018. She started as a grassroots activist who took her fight to the public policy arena. Her priorities are ensuring working families can thrive, improving gender and racial equity, boosting health care access, and providing for safer communities. Another focus is commonsense gun safety laws: In June, she noted in an opinion piece in The Colorado Sun that while the COVID-19 pandemic put off certain legislative measures in the works, she would not give up on a law for the safe storage of firearms.

As a survivor of domestic abuse, Duran often introduces and supports bills that protect other survivors. In particular this legislative session, she sponsored and passed a bill to make unemployment easier to access for domestic violence survivors and has raised awareness about hidden abuse during lockdown that can take place. She also advocates for the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. Duran is also a strong supporter of increased mental health care services and animal rights.

In this race, Duran is by far the preferred candidate and deserves another term to keep fighting for us in the Colorado House.

She is being challenged by Laurel Imer, a Jefferson County Republican activist and the former chair of the Trump campaign for the county. Imer is clearly a fan of Trump’s, arguing that we should “end the COVID chaos,” and in a recent campaign press release named Black Lives Matter as a “domestic terrorist group.” She is supportive of Trump’s racist “America First” policy and likes to be in the company of other right-wing racists and conspiracy theorists. Voters in District 24 shouldn’t elect anyone like Imer to the state legislature. 

Incumbent State Rep. Lisa Cutter is running for reelection in District 25. She’s held the seat since 2019; before that, she owned her own small business, a public relations and communications consulting firm. Cutter has an eye toward environmental legislation, mental health and education services, and a more transparent government. Cutter is a vocal advocate for bipartisanship and working with anyone who will put politics aside to do what’s best for Colorado. Among her legislative accomplishments is the Moving Colorado to Zero Waste bill, which was converted into a study committee she chairs. She also co-sponsored a mandate for schools to now include behavioral-health-related absences as excused.

Cutter is active in community engagement both online and off and believes in encouraging civil discourse among her constituents with pandemic-conscious events like “Virtual Community Coffees” and virtual town halls. Her stances span a wide range of issues — from holding that reproductive care is fundamental for women and families to asserting we must address environmental racism and injustice to promoting the voices of those facing LGBTQ discrimination.

With her solid track record, Cutter is the clear candidate of choice in District 25.

She faces Republican Donald Rosier, a civil engineer and former Jefferson County commissioner. Rosier seems to have some bona fides for the Statehouse, but he isn’t acknowledging the present we’re facing with the pandemic. One of the few things he has talked about is supporting “economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic,” but he makes no mention of what that means specifically. He doesn’t speak to education, public health, or any number of economic issues related to the pandemic. Cutter, by contrast, has a long list of COVID-19 resources for everything from government updates to ways for small-business owners and unemployed workers to find financial help and how students and their families can access emergency food programs. Stick with the proven leader, Cutter.

State Rep. Dylan Roberts is the incumbent for District 26 and faces no opposition. Since being sworn into office in 2017, he has championed health care issues — including introducing a public coverage option — as well as affordable housing, water conservation, and more. We’re looking forward to what’s in store next.