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Rod Pelton (i) Republican
Residence: Cheyenne Wells
Profession: Rancher
Education: High School graduate and 1 year of teade school
Experience: 6 years county commissioner, 4 years state Representative, 4 years state Senate
What are your top three priorities, if elected?
1)Enhance, protect and promote agriculture
2)local control
3)rural healthcare and healthcare facilities
What specific actions would you support to improve affordability for Coloradans, whether aimed at housing costs, tax burdens or other impacts?
The most important thing we can do to bring down costs is to roll back regulations and scale back the renewable energy requirements on housing.
Whether your party is in the majority or minority next year, where do you see actionable common ground with the opposing party?
Rural Healthcare and agricultural have been areas that seems to cross party lines.
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?
Time will tell but honestly I’m not very encouraged that it’ll be much different unless we can get the Republican candidate elected.
Richard Graf Libertarian Party
Residence: Falcon, CO
Profession: Writer/Author
Education: Associate degree, Pikes Peak Community College; History & Political Science, Western State College
Experience: Stay-at-home dad and author; former sheriff’s deputy, TSA officer, postal worker and financial-services processor; Vice Chair, Libertarian Party of El Paso County.
What are your top three priorities, if elected?
1. Make Colorado more affordable by restraining taxes, fees, spending and unnecessary regulation. 2. Restore local control and individual liberty by limiting one-size-fits-all state mandates and protecting property and personal rights. 3. Strengthen roads, water, energy and public safety, especially in rural and growing communities too often overlooked by state government.
What specific actions would you support to improve affordability for Coloradans, whether aimed at housing costs, tax burdens or other impacts?
I would oppose unnecessary tax and fee increases, demand tighter state spending, and remove regulations that needlessly raise the cost of housing, energy and doing business. Housing policy should encourage more supply while respecting local control and property rights. I would also support greater transparency in taxes and fees so Coloradans can clearly see what government costs them and hold lawmakers accountable.
Whether your party is in the majority or minority next year, where do you see actionable common ground with the opposing party?
As a Libertarian, I am not interested in governing by team colors. I can work with Democrats on civil liberties, criminal-justice reform, privacy and government transparency, and with Republicans on taxes, regulatory restraint, small business and property rights. I would support good legislation from either side when it protects individual liberty, is fiscally responsible and respects local control. Colorado needs more issue-by-issue cooperation and less automatic opposition simply because another party proposed the idea.
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?
A new governor offers an opportunity to reset the relationship between state government and local communities. I would support restoring local control over housing, land use and development rather than imposing one-size-fits-all state mandates. I would also push for stronger limits on new fees and regulations, greater transparency in state spending, and a serious review of existing rules that raise costs without producing measurable public benefit. The goal should not simply be reversing one administration’s policies, but asking what truly belongs at the state level and returning decisions closer to the people whenever possible.
Travis Nelson Unaffiliated
Residence: Gardner, Colorado
Profession: Rural Businessman
Education: BS Sociology, Colorado State University – Pueblo
Experience: Rural Colorado advocate, small-business owner, community organizer, CSU-Pueblo graduate, nonprofit founder, policy advocate, and unaffiliated State Senate candidate with deep grassroots experience.
What are your top three priorities, if elected?
My three top priorities are rebuilding rural Colorado’s economy, protecting our water and infrastructure, and restoring essential services.
First, I will fight for good-paying jobs, small businesses, housing and responsible economic development so rural families can build a future without leaving home.
Second, I will protect rural water, agriculture and infrastructure by investing in reservoirs, pipelines, treatment systems, conservation and drought preparedness while opposing the permanent loss of rural water.
Third, I will strengthen healthcare, EMS, law enforcement, schools and senior services. Above all, I will provide relentless representation—showing up, answering calls and fighting for ALL PEOPLE, regardless of party.
What specific actions would you support to improve affordability for Coloradans, whether aimed at housing costs, tax burdens or other impacts?
I will fight for good-paying jobs, small businesses, workforce housing, broadband, and redevelopment in communities like Walsenburg, Trinidad, La Junta, Lamar, and our smallest towns. I will protect agricultural and municipal water through storage, pipelines, treatment upgrades, conservation, and opposition to buy-and-dry. I will also strengthen rural healthcare, EMS, volunteer fire departments, law enforcement, schools, and senior services. From Gardner to the Eastern Plains, rural Colorado deserves investment, opportunity, and relentless representation—not excuses from Denver.
Whether your party is in the majority or minority next year, where do you see actionable common ground with the opposing party?
As an unaffiliated candidate, I am not running to serve a party—I am running to serve the people of Colorado. I see strong common ground on rural healthcare, water, wildfire preparedness, infrastructure, housing, agriculture, public safety, small-business growth, and lowering the cost of living. I will work with Democrats, Republicans, and Independents whenever a proposal helps our communities. Our campaign has always operated on Kindness, Love and Respect because Colorado needs leaders willing to bridge both the rural-urban divide and the partisan divide. Good ideas do not belong to one party, and neither should representation.
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?
Water Optimization.
Labor Legislation.
Law & Order.
Corrections – Reopening of the Huerfano County Correctional Center as a permanent CDOC facility.
Duane L Gurule did not return the questionnaire.
