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Dave Edwards is a community activist who has worked for several nonprofits in Mesa County and served as a trustee and mayor pro tempore in Palisade. He wants to work on issues ranging from safety nets to protect the county's most vulnerable residents to diversifying the county’s economy to protect it from future economic depressions. He also supports repealing the Gallagher Amendment and the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR) to help fund schools and services in the county. These are all big goals, and we support Edwards taking it on.
Running against him on the Republican side is Janet Rowland, a former county commissioner for Mesa County. Her campaign materials mainly discuss only the economy and skip over serious issues like affordable housing, climate change, police brutality, and other issues across the county. More concerning, though, are previous accusations about her: that she allegedly plagiarized her weekly editorial column, lied about managing a campaign while acting as a reporter, and protected a police officer facing his own accusations about misreported hours and weapon handling. Rowland is not at all recommended.
Also on the ballot is Marc Montoni, an eternal Libertarian activist. He has essentially reposted the Libertarian Party of Colorado’s platform for his campaign, with no specific ideas to add. This will do nothing to advance the Mesa County community.
Dave Edwards
Dave Edwards is a community activist who has worked for several nonprofits in Mesa County and served as a trustee and mayor pro tempore in Palisade.
Dave Edwards is a community activist who has worked for several nonprofits in Mesa County and served as a trustee and mayor pro tempore in Palisade. He wants to work on issues ranging from safety nets to protect the county's most vulnerable residents to diversifying the county’s economy to protect it from future economic depressions. He also supports repealing the Gallagher Amendment and the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR) to help fund schools and services in the county. These are all big goals, and we support Edwards taking it on.
Running against him on the Republican side is Janet Rowland, a former county commissioner for Mesa County. Her campaign materials mainly discuss only the economy and skip over serious issues like affordable housing, climate change, police brutality, and other issues across the county. More concerning, though, are previous accusations about her: that she allegedly plagiarized her weekly editorial column, lied about managing a campaign while acting as a reporter, and protected a police officer facing his own accusations about misreported hours and weapon handling. Rowland is not at all recommended.
Also on the ballot is Marc Montoni, an eternal Libertarian activist. He has essentially reposted the Libertarian Party of Colorado’s platform for his campaign, with no specific ideas to add. This will do nothing to advance the Mesa County community.
Dave Edwards
Dave Edwards is a community activist who has worked for several nonprofits in Mesa County and served as a trustee and mayor pro tempore in Palisade.
Diane Mitsch Bush
Diane Mitsch Bush, a former state representative, is now running for Congress. She is a retired sociology professor and previous Routt County commissioner who has lived in the Western Slope — a part of Colorado’s sprawling 3rd Congressional District — for over 43 years. She previously ran for this seat in 2018, when she came closer to winning than any Democrat had in the three prior elections.
Colleagues from her other tenures have commended Mitsch Bush’s extreme attention to detail, her pragmatism, and her willingness to work with all sides. She has shown an ability to lead calmly through disasters, including the Great Recession, wildfires, floods, drought, and the swine flu epidemic. While in the state legislature, Mitsch Bush was a leading advocate for family agriculture, sustainable water infrastructure, and small rural communities. She sponsored many critically important bills, including ones to protect the environment and hold polluters accountable, lower health care and health insurance costs, and increase funding for rural schools. Over 80% of her bills were co-prime sponsored with rural Republicans.
Mitsch Bush has said her family’s early struggles with financial insecurity taught her the importance of helping others through public service. Her goal is to have an America that provides opportunities for all, not just the wealthy and well-connected. She intends to fight to make health care affordable for everyone, to protect the environment for generations to come, and to bring more good-paying jobs to rural communities.
Mitsch Bush is an experienced lawmaker and local leader who, if elected to Congress, will be ready on day one to get to work on policies that will benefit her district.
Running against her is Republican Lauren Boebert. Boebert is the owner of Shooters Grill in Rifle, Colorado — a restaurant known mainly for the fact that the wait staff openly carry guns on their person. Guns are one of the few things Boebert talks about regularly. She once drove across the state to go to a rally for Beto O’Rourke just to confront him about his gun safety position.
What voters really need to know, however, is that Boebert is a strong proponent of the QAnon conspiracy theory: the wild idea that Donald Trump is waging a secret war against Democrats and movie stars who are running an international child trafficking ring. She has been quoted as saying, “I hope that this is real. … It only means America is getting stronger and better, and people are returning to conservative values and that’s what I’m for.” She later added, “Everything that I have heard of this movement is only motivating and encouraging and bringing people together stronger ... it could be really great for our country.”
Boebert hasn’t explained more of her own positions beyond generic talking points, but it seems clear she is very far from being a progressive choice.