This article is a follow-up to Cameron Elder’s college election guide from last week on the Colorado Senate race.
For the upcoming House of Representatives election, Districts One and Six encompass the University of Denver, MSU Denver, CU Denver, Regis University, Arapahoe Community College, Community College of Denver and Community College of Aurora among others. For students at these universities and colleges, positions on policy issues such as climate change, college affordability and gender and racial equality will greatly influence which House of Representatives candidates gain young voter support. Such issues are at the forefront of societal conversations for college-aged voters, especially given continued involvement in political activism.
District One
The University of Denver sits at the center of Colorado’s First Congressional District, where Democratic incumbent Rep. Diana DeGette faces GOP political newcomer Shane Bolling. However, Shane Bolling has no published information regarding policy intentions on the Colorado GOP’s website or his campaign website.
DeGette’s track record points to the continued support of higher education accessibility. She has worked to prevent doubling student loan interest rates, supports the “2009 Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act” and co-sponsored the “2020 College Affordability Act.” These pieces of legislation increased education access for vulnerable communities and expanded loan forgiveness programs.
Congresswoman DeGette also is well-known for her climate policies, introducing various legislation during her time as a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. She has expressed a deep interest in combating climate change on a local, national and international level. She plans to do this by targeting carbon emissions, methane waste and pollution to promote environmental justice.
She authored the “Colorado Wilderness Act of 2019” which guarantees permanent protection of more than 660,000 acres of wilderness across the state. DeGette also introduced the “Clean Energy Innovation and Deployment Act,” a groundbreaking federal clean-energy standard that requires U.S. power companies to fully eliminate net carbon emissions by 2037.
DeGette has strongly advocated for reproductive rights as co-chair of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus and co-author of the “EACH Woman Act.” This act sought to overturn the Hyde Amendment preventing federal insurance usage for abortion-related services. Similarly, she firmly believes in increasing access to birth control and family planning services to prevent unintended pregnancy as expressed in the “Prevention First Agenda.”
For DeGette, racial equality intersects with climate change and environmental policies. She is aware that federal failure to protect the environment disproportionately impacts minority and low-income communities. As a result, she has introduced legislation to prevent the rollback of methane and hydrogen cyanide release limits.
District Six
Neighboring the University of Denver, District Six encompasses most of the eastern portion of the Denver metro area. This includes Aurora, Littleton and Centennial. Democratic candidate Jason Crow—a former Army Ranger—currently serves as the District’s representative and is up for re-election. His Republican opponent Steve House has worked for 36 years in healthcare. House has had various stints in Colorado politics, running for governor in 2014 and serving as the Colorado Republican State Party Chair since 2015.
As one of his top priorities, Congressman Crow has been outspoken on the need for equitable access to high-quality education regardless of ability to pay. He values affordable student loans, reasonable education costs and reliable and effective alternate opportunities through community college and technical training. In Congress, Crow has actively supported legislation to lower education costs and provide public service loan forgiveness.
House also speaks passionately about education opportunities. Emphasizing a statewide and local approach, House calls for more diversity in education and support for teachers. In combination with a lack of educator support, House believes skyrocketing college tuition rates are to blame for student failure in subjects like math, science and reading. The way to combat this, according to his campaign, is to incentivize business-education relationships. This would allow students to exchange a year of employment with a tuition stipend or company payment of student loans.
Climate change is another top issue for Congressman Crow. He approaches it from an international perspective by emphasizing the necessity for global engagement to promote renewable, clean energy and jobs. While in Congress, Crow launched the “Sustainable Power Initiative” and “Military Installation Resilience Assuredness (MIRA) Act.” These pieces of legislation emphasize collaboration between the military, economic, energy and environmental sectors to improve climate resilience on military bases vulnerable to extreme conditions.
House similarly prioritizes energy and environmental policies. He supports the continued development and usage of American energy including coal, oil, nuclear, natural gas and renewables. He concurrently calls for greater public awareness and participation in reducing energy use. He believes utilizing new recycling techniques and promoting reforestation will save taxpayer dollars and create a cleaner environment.
Congressman Crow is most well known for his advocacy of gender and racial equality, especially in the military. At the Democratic Convention in 2012, Crow demanded the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Since then, he has called for an expansion of civil rights and protections for the LGBTQ+ military community and cosponsored the “Equality Act.”
As a member of the Pro-Choice, Servicewomen and Women Veterans, and LGBT Equality Caucuses, Crow has been an outspoken supporter for equal pay, reproductive rights and accountability for Congressional members found guilty of sexual misconduct. For Crow, “equal pay is a moral, family, and economic issue,” opening the gates to homeownership, child care, education, family leave and retirement. The Congressman has also worked to continue federal funding for Planned Parenthood and ensure maternity leave protections.
Furthermore, Crow believes systematic racial inequality is an unacceptable reality in the U.S. In Congress, he has advocated for an overhaul of the criminal justice system. Crow’s plan would emphasize restorative justice by calling for the improvement of law enforcement, reduction of incarcerated populations and decriminalization of marijuana. Ultimately, Crow believes a restorative justice approach will support formerly incarcerated individuals in finding stable housing, re-entering the workforce and obtaining treatment or rehabilitation services.
While House does not clearly make a statement on racial or gender equality in his campaign platform, he does call for an increase in recidivism reduction programs to make the criminal justice system “smarter and tougher.” To do so, House advocates for redefining and expanding sentence lengths to violent felons while giving judges greater discretion in deciding said lengths. He states this will encourage job training and education while also promoting public safety.
The 2020 elections for the House of Representatives, Senate and Presidency will be held Tuesday, Nov. 3. Online and mail-in voter registration deadlines for Colorado are Monday, Oct. 26, and the Colorado in-person registration deadline is Election Day. See the following resources for more information on deadlines and how to vote in Colorado.
