Three-term U. S. Rep.  , Joe Neguse , suddenly faces a problem for his seat in the House of Representatives from a Longmont-based technical employee.
Neguse won the 2nd Congressional District culture in 2018 and , has held the position , since then. He’s risen through the ranks in House Democratic administration,  , becoming secretary Democrat leader , earlier this year in the majority party congress.
If reelected in the Nov. 5 vote, Neguse, 40, a Lafayette resident, said his leading priorities would be enacting laws to increase the middle course, address climate change, protect public land and reduce gun violence.
Prior to running for Congress, Neguse, an counsel,  , worked , as the executive producer of the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies and served on the University of Colorado Board of Regents.
His Republican opponent, Marshall Dawson, 58, works as a director and expert for a California-based system business and, if elected, pledged to try to reduce the federal government’s energy.
Dawson ran for the seat in 2022 and lost by more than 146, 000 votes to Neguse, who garnered 70 % of the vote. This time, Gaylon Kent, a Libertarian, and Jan Kok, a Libertarian, and Cynthia Munhos de Aquino de Aquino of the Unity Party, are also on the ballot.
The Democrat-dominated 2nd District spans north-central Colorado and includes Boulder, Fort Collins, Vail, Steamboat Springs, ski-centric Summit County, and ranching communities in Grand, Jackson and Routt counties.
In an interview with The Denver Post and in responses to a survey sent to all House candidates, Neguse praised his work on wildfire, public lands, and water.
He co-founded the , Colorado River caucus , and the wildfire caucus to address pressing needs on the shrinking and overused river and in forests impacted by climate change, respectively. He helped launch the Climate Corps — a jobs program for young people who want to address effects of climate change — and introduced , bills , to restore watersheds after wildfires.
Neguse supports expanding tax credits for the middle class, raising the federal minimum wage, and upholding the right to abortion in federal law. If he were to win, he would also look to increase investments in renewable energy and give climate change and environmental protection more priority.
Bipartisanship is an important principle of his work in Congress, Neguse said. Since taking office, he has had 18 bipartisan bills signed into law by presidents from both parties.
” Notwithstanding the political divisions in the country, there’s a lot we should and can get done to improve people’s lives”, he said.
Dawson did not respond to The Post’s request for an interview or complete its candidate questionnaire. His campaign website does not contain any specific policy recommendations.
He attended , a debate in September  , in Grand Junction that was hosted by Club 20, a , coalition of Western Slope groups, which Neguse did not attend. Many of Dawson’s remarks focused on reducing regulation and federal bureaucracy. Dawson claimed that because it took too long to obtain building permits, there was a regulatory issue that led to the lack of affordable housing.
In the Boulder Daily Camera ‘s , recent questionnaire, Dawson said talking to voters had reinforced his priorities from the 2022 race.
He wrote that “overspending and regulatory costs continue to lead to higher costs, making it more difficult to make ends meet.” Our open-border system continues to permit fentanyl availability and unchecked national crime.
Asked how he would represent the district’s communities, Dawson wrote:” I hear frequently from Gilpin and Clear Creek voters about how they feel underrepresented, however it’s even worse on the Western Slope. On the Western Slope, I intend to keep a business going. And having grown up in a small town, I put a lot of emphasis on safeguarding lifestyles outside of our urbanized areas.
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