Climate change, the country’s divisiveness and bringing Boulder County’s progressive policies to the national level dominated the discussion at a well-attended Sunday forum for Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District candidates.
About 100 people packed into a small room at the Boulder Public Library’s Meadows Branch for the forum hosted by Our Revolution Boulder.
In attendance were four of the five candidates in the race to replace Boulder Democrat Jared Polis, who is running for governor. Not present was Republican candidate Peter Yu, of Loveland.
The four candidates — Lafayette Democrat Joe Neguse, Nederland Democrat Kristopher Larsen, Boulder Democrat Mark Williams, and unaffiliated candidate Nick Thomas, of Boulder — fielded five audience questions during the hour-and-half session.
Larsen was elected as Nederland’s mayor in 2016 after previously serving on the Board of Trustees. A planetary scientist at the University of Colorado, he previously was a science education policy analyst in Washington, D.C.
He said he would bring Nederland’s progressive policies to the national level, noting the town’s pledge to move to 100 percent renewable energy sources and decision to pay its employees a living wage. He also said he would use his science background in evaluating issues.
“As a scientist, we need to be part of the decision making process,” he said.
Neguse, in preparation for the campaign, resigned this summer from his job as executive director of the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies. He also served on CU’s Board of Regents for six years and co-founded New Era Colorado.
As a child of refugees from Eritrea in Africa, he said, he’s dismayed by President Donald Trump’s policies and will fight for policies around climate change, universal health care and a living wage.
“The fate of our country, our democracy, our republic, really is at risk,” he said.
Thomas has worked for a video production company and his family’s real estate and property management business. He said he also has experience working with both Democrats and Republicans in various capacities.
He said he offers the opportunity to get away from “polarized, tribal” politics and will get things done by collaborating with both parties.
“I can be a champion of everything this district represents,” he said. “We need independents right now.”
Williams is the former chairman of the Boulder County Democratic Party and a retired combat veteran, having served as a U.S. Air Force pilot, intelligence officer and Reserve Officers’ Training Corps instructor.
Calling the 2nd Congressional District a “safe blue district,” he said, “we need to be leading the country in terms of progressive change.”
He said he would fight against “a system that’s rigged for the powerful.”
“I can be an independent democrat who can vote against leadership,” he said.
The candidates generally were on the same page around the need for universal health care, renewable energy sources and shrinking the military.
Larsen and Williams took the strongest stances against fracking when asked if it’s possible to both be an environmentalist and support the oil and gas drilling method.
“Fracking is a disaster for local communities,” Larsen said, pointing to leaking wells and explosions. “We need to end fracking now.”
Williams said candidates can’t take money from corporate Political Action Committees and say they oppose fracking.
“If you’re a politician and shilling for the industry, you’re complicit,” he said.
Neguse said he would work toward banning fracking on public lands and closing the federal “Halliburton loophole,” which exempts fracking from certain environmental protections.
Thomas said the best way to address energy needs is to move to renewables.
The three Democratic candidates are campaigning for the primary election is in June, vying for the nomination to represent their party in the November general election for the heavily Democratic 2nd Congressional District seat.
The 2nd Congressional District is a multiple-county district that includes all of Boulder County other than the northeast county Longmont area — which is in the 4th District — as well as all of Larimer County and all or parts of Broomfield, Clear Creek, Eagle, Gilpin, Grand, Jefferson, Park and Summit counties.
Amy Bounds: 303-473-1341, boundsa@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/boundsa