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Ryan Gonzalez (i) Republican
Residence: Greeley
Profession: Banker
Education: Bachelor’s Degree; Monfort School of Business, UNC
Experience: Elected to first term in 2024. I successfully sponsored, passed and signed into law 12 bills and one resolution this past session, including “The Tamale Act,” which garnered national attention.
What are your top three priorities, if elected?
1) Protect TABOR 2) Work to eradicate the overreach and over regulation of government to help lower the cost of living, which in turn makes home ownership attainable. 3) Protect both the Colorado and US constitutions.
What specific actions would you support to improve affordability for Coloradans, whether aimed at housing costs, tax burdens or other impacts?
Reducing regulations on housing to make building cheaper allows everyone to move up. Current homeowners can afford to buy up, opening up lower cost housing for current renters to become homeowners. Likewise, reduced regulation allows for more multifamily housing construction at lower costs. Repealing many of the cumbersome regulations put on retail industries (bag fees, plastic and Styrofoam laws, etc.) can help lower the cost of living. Additionally, ending the numerous enterprise fees passed over the past 5-6 years is necessary to lower the cost of living.
Whether your party is in the majority or minority next year, where do you see actionable common ground with the opposing party?
I think my track record as a freshman, minority legislator passing and having signed into law 12 of the 15 bills this past session that I sponsored speaks for itself.
A new governor will take office next year. What opportunities are there for legislation or other changes that did not gain traction under Gov. Jared Polis?
That is yet to be seen. Although all candidates make promises, I won’t know if those are kept or what oportunities are possible until I know who that is and how he acts on bills.
Tommy Butler Democrat
Residence: Greeley
Profession: Owner, Greeley Bagel Company
Education: Bachelors of Arts in English, University of Northern Colorado, Class of 2012
Experience: Greeley City Council, Ward 1 Representative, 2019-2026
Board Member Greeley-Weld Habitat for Humanity
Co-Founder and Owner Greeley Bagel Company
What are your top three priorities, if elected?
Building the affordable housing this region and our state need. The cost of housing is the No. 1 expense for most Coloradans. Lowering that cost should be the top focus of the state legislature.
Fully funding public education, from pre-Kindergarten to Higher Education.
We need to invest in our state’s future. We need to invest in public education.
Tackling our childcare crisis in Weld County. Counties across Colorado are under a CCCAP freeze, which prevents low-income families from accessing the child care they need.
What specific actions would you support to improve affordability for Coloradans, whether aimed at housing costs, tax burdens or other impacts?
Housing: I support reforms to streamline the state grant process so we can build affordable housing faster. I will do the stakeholding work with local governments to hear where in the process state law holds back the building of the homes Coloradans need.
Healthcare: I will work to lower prescription drug and insurance costs and reduce bureaucracy in our healthcare system.
Childcare: I will work to remove CCCAP freezes and enable low-income families to get the childcare they need. Once we remove that freeze, we must work toward long-term, sustainable funding for childcare in Colorado.
Whether your party is in the majority or minority next year, where do you see actionable common ground with the opposing party?
We can and should be able to find common ground to create a more affordable Colorado. One important area in the affordability conversation is housing. I worked across the aisle on the Greeley City Council to change our code and better fund nonprofit housing developers. The result was more than 1,000 new, affordable housing units in our community. We should streamline the processes that fund affordable housing and work closely with local governments to help build the housing our communities needs. I am happy to work with anyone to lower Colorado’s housing costs.
A new governor will take office next year. What opportunities are there for legislation or other changes that did not gain traction under Gov. Jared Polis?
We have a real opportunity with an incoming administration to repair the relationship that this region, and Weld County in particular, has with state agencies like CDOT. This house district is growing rapidly and has significant infrastructure needs, particularly state highways and interchanges. Over the last decade, too much of that burden has fallen on local municipal partners to fund those improvements. I would be happy to work with local and state leaders to bring more attention to this critical need and advocate for funding for improvements that benefit this region.
