HD 58 candidates speak: Kevin Kuns

Hello, fellow House District 58 voters and neighbors. Make no mistake: your vote matters on Nov. 8. For every person — left, right, or center — your fundamental freedoms and human rights are on this ballot.

For the first time in the history of the United States, six conservative Supreme Court Justices overturned Roe v. Wade to remove a human right from the Constitution. This misguided decision seemed solely based on political ideologies and religious doctrine, neither of which belong in the halls of the Supreme Court.

This trend threatens to continue in the current Supreme Court. Will other fundamental rights be passed back to states? Voting rights? Other women’s rights? The rights of our LGBTQ+ community? The protections of Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals (DACA)and other rights of our Latinx community? If so, how will our state respond?

House District 58 deserves a representative who will fight for everyone’s rights. Once any government picks and chooses whose rights are more important than others, there is no freedom for anyone.

In the last six months, I’ve been fortunate to meet with some of Colorado’s leading experts regarding water policy, water law, and forest management.

They all shared with me that we are not in a mega-drought; this is the aridification of the Southwestern U.S. This is climate change and denying it won’t change that fact.

Our region will continue to get hotter and drier, and the seven states of the Colorado River Compact must figure out how they will share a river running at 10 million-acre feet, not the 14 million acre-feet that have been used for the last 20 years. If they don’t, I fear the Bureau of Reclamation will step in, and no one will like their demands. The federal government is not going to let Lakes Mead and Powell fail.

It takes innovation, collaboration, and incentives to face a changing Colorado River Basin, which made passing the Democratic-sponsored Inflation Reduction Act crucial because it included $40 billion for agriculture and forestry, and $4 billion alone to assist with the Colorado River Basin. It amazes me that every Republican in their self-proclaimed “party of agriculture” voted against this bill.

All the water in the world, however, will not address the other critical issues facing HD 58, including our woefully underfunded public school program; the lack of sufficient mental health resources; the need for innovative, affordable workforce housing options; more competitive health insurance plans; and funds to combat our fentanyl crisis.

House District 58 deserves a representative who will work hard on all the critical issues in our district and always puts people over party. I will fight hard to preserve our rural values and agricultural history. I will work to bring hope and healing to the Western Slope and deliver innovative solutions that unite us in solving our many challenges.

I am Kevin Kuns, a Western Slope Democrat, and I would be honored to have your vote and trust to represent you in Denver for the next two years.

Kevin Kuns is the Democratic candidate for House District 58. His website is kuns4hd58.org