Four of Colorado’s seven congressional districts are considered to be “safe” districts, given the makeup of voters. That’s one of the reasons why the races haven’t received much attention. However, we think it’s also because the incumbents in each race have served their districts well.
In the 1st Congressional District, Rep. Diana DeGette has been a stalwart on important issues such as food safety, women’s reproductive rights and embryonic stem-cell research. As she has climbed the leadership ladder in Congress, the Denver Democrat has proven herself a steady voice who has served the interests of her district and the nation.
Voters should return her to Congress so she can continue that important work.
We’ve been impressed by her challenger, Republican Mike Fallon, who is an emergency-room doctor, an affable man and a thoughtful person. However, some of his views are too conservative for Denver’s left-of- center majority. Fallon describes himself as a social conservative, though he says he wouldn’t try to legislate a personal social agenda. Still, he opposes federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research.
DeGette has been an effective congresswoman whose views mesh with the consensus in her district, and voters would do well to re-elect her.
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Rep. Jared Polis has been a dynamo in representing the interests of the 2nd Congressional District.
He has pursued diverse legislation that ranges from funding for wildland firefighting to support for solar energy development to a measure protecting students from discrimination based on their sexual orientation.
Polis, a Boulder Democrat, faces three challengers, but not much of a threat of losing the election in this Democratic district. And that’s a good thing. The freshman representative has served his constituents with energy and ideas and deserves another term.
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In the 5th Congressional District, we don’t see eye to eye with Rep. Doug Lamborn on many issues, but we think he represents his district well, and we’ve been pleased to see him working across the aisle on issues important to his district. Lamborn doesn’t have any serious competition in his heavily Republican district.
His opponent, Democrat Kevin Bradley, agreed not to raise any money so Democrats could spend money on campaigns that party leaders considered “winnable.”
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In the 6th Congressional District, we think voters ought to send Republican Rep. Mike Coffman back to Washington. Coffman, a longtime public servant and Marine, is one of the hardest-working members of the delegation. Coffman has answered the populist call to control federal spending by proposing a new and improved “balanced budget amendment.”
Coffman also takes on the issues that might not draw big headlines, but are important. For instance, he introduced intriguing legislation meant to supercharge the rebirth of competitive domestic mining, processing and development of rare earth metals. Why? The U.S. now gets all of its rare earth metals to support our national defense and quality of life (cellphones, hybrid cars) from abroad.
Coffman’s opponent, Democrat John Flerlage, also is a Marine, and has been active in his community as a hockey coach. He agrees with Coffman that the biggest issue facing the country is its national debt, and has some interesting ideas for jump- starting the economy. But Coffman is our pick for the district.
