Gilpin County

Joe Biden is one of the nation’s most experienced public servants, having served as a U.S. senator from Delaware for 36 years and the U.S. vice president for eight years. Biden is running on a comprehensive progressive platform.

Biden has championed individual rights throughout his career — from spearheading the Violence Against Women Act to passing laws that expanded the definition of hate crimes to include those based on gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability. Biden led the fight to pass the Brady Bill, which established the national firearms background check system, and helped secure a 10-year ban on assault weapons from 1994-2004. As vice president, Biden oversaw the implementation of one of the largest economic recovery plans in American history in 2009, saving the American automobile industry and millions of American jobs in all sectors of the economy. During the Obama/Biden administration, the United States made significant progress toward a clean energy economy and provided health coverage to millions of Americans via the passage of the Affordable Care Act — a law Biden has vowed to expand and improve.

If elected president, Biden has pledged to work to reverse the damage from the last four years of partisan obstruction and executive branch policies solely benefiting the wealthy and well-connected. Biden supports a $15-per-hour minimum wage and 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave for all workers. He also seeks to address the country's racial wealth disparity, equal opportunity, and jobs gaps by empowering small-business creation and expansion in economically disadvantaged areas. On the climate crisis, Biden proposes net-zero CO2 emissions in the U.S. by 2050 and rejoining the Paris climate accords. On the immediate front, Biden has proposed a national crisis response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Biden’s experience handling the economic recovery with Obama after the Great Recession of 2009 will inform his actions to help individuals, families, small businesses, and local and state governments that are struggling badly as a result of the botched response to the pandemic. Biden will restore the long-standing precedent that public health decisions are best made by public health professionals.

Biden has pledged to defend abortion rights, expand and protect union membership, bring together an equitable and diverse group of experts to handle the nation’s institutional racism crisis, and restore dignity to the office of president of the United States.

Biden is the clear presidential choice for progressive voters.

In this election, he faces Donald Trump — considered by progressives to be the most corrupt, incompetent, anti-progressive president in recent memory and perhaps in American history. Trump’s biggest achievement as president was forcing through a massive tax cut that overwhelmingly favored the wealthiest Americans, making the nation’s historic income-disparity problem even worse. Trump unilaterally withdrew from the Paris Climate Accords, making the U.S. one of very few countries that are not signatories. Trump’s administration has encouraged repeated unsuccessful attempts by Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which has provided health coverage to millions of Americans, including a federal court challenge in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic to dismantle the law. Trump has supported racist immigration practices that contravene international law on the treatment of refugees.

Trump’s decisions have trickled into even the most mundane things, affecting Americans on a daily basis. Trump scrapped a bill requiring airlines to disclose bag fees, blocked consumers from suing banks, ignored the growing crisis over student loans, lifted bans on transferring military equipment to local law enforcement which has exacerbated police-citizen conflicts, particularly in relation to Black Lives Matter protests, and has set off a trade war with China that has done tremendous economic damage to American agricultural producers and manufacturers.

Controversies involving Trump’s presidency are too numerous to list here but include lying about mail voting to such a degree that social media platforms have been forced to remove his misinformation, racist, sexist, and defamatory statements against his political opponents, dispatching federal police to attack protesters in unmarked vehicles, installing corrupt and incompetent tools of special interest into every level of government, nominating federal judges and Supreme Court justices who seek to overturn Roe v. Wade, banning transgender Americans from military service, helping spread baseless conspiracy theories, defending the actions of overt white supremacists and racist nationalists, downplaying the severity of the coronavirus pandemic to the public despite detailed foreknowledge of the coming disaster, pursuing diplomacy with dictators while scorning traditional American allies, and changing federal guidelines to undermine racial equality. For a more comprehensive list, we encourage you to visit the Wikipedia page for Trump administration controversies.

Evidence abounds showing that Trump never disassociated himself from his businesses and has used his office for personal enrichment. And let’s not forget he was impeached over revelations he first blocked military aid to Ukraine and then pushed its president to dig up damaging info on his political opponent as a “favor.”

Trump must not only be defeated, but the margin of victory must be so resounding as to prevent him from calling the results of the election into question as he has already pledged to do.

Former Colorado Gov. and incumbent U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper did not take the usual path into public office. After being laid off from his job as a geologist, he opened a successful brewpub. But as a small-business owner, he became involved in his community, and he ran for office. He served two terms each as mayor of Denver and governor of Colorado, using his unique perspective to bring people together to get things done.

When Hickenlooper was sworn in as governor in 2010, Colorado ranked 40th among the states in job creation. By the time Hickenlooper left office eight years later, Colorado had the #1 economy in the nation. Under Hickenlooper, when he was governor, Colorado’s economy grew without leaving Coloradans behind. Hickenlooper expanded Medicaid to cover an additional 400,000 Coloradans and cut the uninsured rate by nearly two-thirds. He signed three landmark gun safety laws in 2013 that banned high-capacity magazines and required background checks for any firearm transfer. On the environment, Hickenlooper made Colorado the first state to limit methane pollution from oil and gas wells. Working with the General Assembly, Hickenlooper signed legislation to ensure every eligible registered voter in Colorado gets a mail-in ballot, made voter registration more accessible, and pushed for numerous other election reforms that have made Colorado a model for election innovation. He also signed historic legislation granting in-state tuition to DREAMers.

Hickenlooper has vowed to improve and build on the Affordable Care Act and supports a federally administered public health coverage option. Hickenlooper recognizes the existential threat of climate change and favors a bold, science-based approach. He supports commonsense policies on gun violence, including restoring an assault weapons ban. Hickenlooper was the first governor of Colorado to apologize for the Sand Creek Massacre and has committed to listening to the voices of marginalized communities and rooting out systemic racism where it lurks in our society, from police brutality to immigration laws to racial disparities in economic status to access to quality education.

Hickenlooper is the progressive voter’s best choice for U.S. senator.

He faces incumbent U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner in this election. While in the Senate, Gardner has been a reliable Republican vote on the overwhelming majority of issues. He has supported Donald Trump’s position on votes 89% of the time, and Politico notes that Gardner is “reliably conservative on most issues.” In 2014, Gardner promised in a campaign ad to speak out when his party is wrong and called on Donald Trump to pull out of the race for president in October of 2016. Since then, however, Gardner has fully embraced Trump and was one of the first senators to endorse Trump’s reelection.

From his earliest votes in Congress, Gardner has consistently sought to repeal the Affordable Care Act. He has voted to repeal the ACA and to replace it with a bill that would dramatically decrease health care coverage and increase the cost of coverage. He was quoted at a private luncheon that failing to repeal the ACA would result in fewer donations to Republicans, suggesting he is not motivated by the common good.

Gardner has rejected most gun safety legislation throughout his career and is a top recipient of donations from the National Rifle Association. He has voted against expanding background checks to include gun show sales, which has been the law in Colorado since just after the Columbine High School shooting in 1999. He even voted against banning gun sales to people on the terrorist watch list.

In a historic change of heart, The Denver Post editorial board declared in 2019 they made a mistake in their 2014 endorsement of Gardner, stating he “has been too busy walking a political tight rope to be a leader.”

This race also has a Libertarian candidate: Raymon Doane. Doane is a Denver native who currently works for the Colorado Department of Revenue as a property tax specialist and business analyst. He previously ran for the state senate in 2016 as a Republican, and in 2018, he first filed to run for state treasurer and then for Congress against Democrat Diana DeGette as a Libertarian.

Doane’s few public statements should give voters pause. While the country has been dealing with the coronavirus outbreak, Doane was quoted as saying, “The federal government should not have to intervene on behalf of local municipalities and states that make poor decisions during a pandemic.” He also has said he thinks public health mandates should be more like “suggestions.” Additionally, among the four policy positions Doane takes on his website, one statement endorsing an unregulated Second Amendment stands out: “The government should NEVER have a monopoly on force. The U.S. Senate must … refuse to vote for any legislation which limits an American’s right to self-defense.” These kinds of statements don’t represent Colorado progressives.

Incumbent U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse is running for reelection in Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District. Neguse, a lawyer and the son of Eritrean refugees, is the first and so far only Black American to serve in Congress for Colorado.

As a vice chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Neguse advocates for bold progressive policies to address the most pressing issues facing our nation, such as Medicare for All and the Green New Deal. His priorities to date in Congress have included lowering prescription drug prices, raising workers’ wages, ensuring greater accountability in government, and protecting public lands, which make up over 50% of his district.

Although he was first elected just two years ago, he has introduced more legislation than any freshman lawmaker in the country and has had more legislation signed into law than any member of Colorado’s congressional delegation. Before Congress, Neguse fought to expand opportunities for families across Colorado in a variety of roles: as a co-founder of New Era Colorado, the state’s largest youth voter registration and mobilization nonprofit; as a six-term member of CU’s Board of Regents; and as leader of the state’s consumer protection agency for two years.

Neguse is a self-described eternal optimist who will continue to provide Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District with enthusiastic, diligent, and bold representation if reelected.

Running against Neguse is Charles Winn, a radiologist and first-time candidate. Winn asserts that he’s running to change a “false narrative” about the Republican Party, but it’s a challenge to see how he will do that with his public statements on Donald Trump and the coronavirus.

When asked to assess the president’s response to the pandemic, Winn dodged the question and instead said it’s “tragic we need to point fingers.” He later tried to clarify that he thought Trump was “a good commanding officer.” Winn also tried to downplay the threat posed by COVID-19, blaming partisanship for the widespread virus and saying Americans “started politicizing [the pandemic].” Winn also claimed we should open the economy back up because “the risk is less than riding in a car.” He made comparisons to the 1968 flu pandemic to try to prove the U.S. can reopen its schools, but he wasn’t on-point about the facts; he said we should “do what we did in 1968: get on with our lives.”

This kind of thinking has helped get us into the health crisis we’re in today and cannot be elected to office.

Callie Rennison has been a strong progressive leader in higher education for many years. A first-generation college student, she worked as a statistician before becoming an instructor, professor, and prominent voice of change at universities in the Midwest and Colorado. Her work has focused on victimization and violence against women and people of color with a particular interest in victims’ interactions with the criminal justice system. Rennison has served the University of Colorado as the associate dean of faculty affairs, director of equity, and Title IX coordinator and has participated in numerous public panels and boards. In her leadership roles, she proved her ability to successfully navigate various institutional levels and bring people together in discussing contentious issues. Rennison is committed to making college more affordable and accessible to low-income students, ending sexual assault and discrimination on campuses, and striving to make diversity and inclusion a priority among students, faculty, and staff.

In the wake of recent changes to Title IX under Betsy DeVos, Rennison has pledged to work harder to ensure survivors are supported. Importantly, she champions accountability and transparency as key factors in combatting the businesslike model of CU’s institutions that centers around “returning investments” instead of prioritizing learning and a holistic higher education.

Running against her are Republican Dick Murphy and Libertarian Christian Vernaza. Murphy is a longtime financial consultant who served as a deputy state treasurer from 2003 to 2004. He has made few public statements on his own policy positions, and his campaign website serves as a personal resume detailing a career in investment banking and management rather than a true statement of platform.

Vernaza is a car sales associate in Fort Collins and a first-time Libertarian candidate for office. He has not made any public statements about his own positions on the issues, so it can only be assumed he supports the Libertarian Party of Colorado’s position to completely privatize education. For that reason, we cannot recommend voting for Vernaza.

Rennison is the clear progressive choice for regent in this district.

Karl Hanlon is an attorney and the Democratic candidate to represent District 8. He is a bastion of the Western Slope community, having grown up on a ranch in Jackson County to parents who survived the Great Depression and World War II. He knows the struggles people have in this area and what life is like for regular folks. And with Hanlon’s experience working on water law and environmental issues, he knows that climate change really means something to working people. This is exactly why District 8 needs a change in representation — Hanlon will go to Denver prepared to fight for the people. He is the best choice in this race.

He hopes to unseat appointed State Sen. Bob Rankin. Rankin, who represented House District 57 before moving into the state senate, says he “share[s] extreme frustrations with our state government that’s controlled by one party with very progressive leadership” with conservatives. However, that progressive leadership was swept into office in 2018 and has already accomplished a lot for the state of Colorado. We don’t recommend keeping Rankin in office.

Democratic candidate Yara Zokaie is a tax attorney, mom of two young children, and first-generation Iranian American whose platform issues lean toward supporting the services people need to live well in this modern world. Topping her priorities are helping working families by ensuring paid family leave, fair wages and union rights, and universal preschool. She wants to see agricultural lands protected from fracking and drilling and the repeal of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) to ease the burden on the middle class.

Zokaie’s outlook and ambitions are fresh with a clear progressive edge, and she is the recommended candidate for District 49 representative.

Opposing her in the race is Mike Lynch, whose background is as a business executive and thought leader in a wide variety of industries. His campaign materials build up this experience but don’t talk much about where he stands on exact issues other than “freedom from tyranny,” “keeping capitalism alive,” and “moving Colorado forward into a more conservative, free-market thinking system.” And his social media presence and sound bites are largely for railing about how he thinks “incompetent” Democrats have “let our state turn into a third-world country.” Putting this rhetoric into office feels likely to bring nothing but more bluster. Vote for Zokaie.

Alexis King is a former deputy district attorney, magistrate judge, and currently works as an attorney with the Rocky Mountain Victim Law Center. King brings a host of experience as a former deputy DA, but she’s also strongly in favor of many desperately needed progressive criminal justice reforms. While she supports seeking incarceration for violent crime, King also realizes the necessity of alternatives to incarceration for people who really need help more than punishment. Her personal accountability pledge should also give progressive voters hope in the future as King promises data-driven solutions to criminal justice problems and increasing accountability for police officers who break the law.

Progressive voters should feel confident in voting for King.

Running on the Republican side is Matthew Durkin, who is a chief district attorney with the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office. While Durkin pays a lot of lip service to the general idea of criminal justice reform, he often seems more interested in playing politics and being seen with other local and former Republican elected officials. The district attorney’s office is too important to flippantly play politician. We recommend voting for King.