{"id":120361,"date":"2014-05-12T22:24:39","date_gmt":"2014-05-13T04:24:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/tapia-aims-at-tiptons-seat\/"},"modified":"2014-05-12T22:24:39","modified_gmt":"2014-05-13T04:24:39","slug":"tapia-aims-at-tiptons-seat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/tapia-aims-at-tiptons-seat\/","title":{"rendered":"Tapia aims at Tipton\u2019s seat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Abel
Abel Tapia, Democratic candidate for Colorado\u2019s 3rd Congressional District, speaks with Durangoans on Saturday afternoon at Rotary Park. Tapia is challenging Republican incumbent Scott Tipton.<\/span>JENNAYE DERGE\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

After a short stint in retirement, former state senator Abel Tapia decided to get back in the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m all about getting something done,\u201d he said. \u201cI can\u2019t just stand by and idle.\u201d<\/p>\n

During a multiweekend tour of Colorado\u2019s 3rd Congressional district, Tapia, a Democrat from Pueblo, held a \u201cmeet and greet\u201d in Durango\u2019s Rotary Park, shaking hands and sharing ideas about his run against incumbent U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, for the house district seat.<\/p>\n

Born and raised in Pueblo, Tapia founded an engineering firm before embarking on a political career in the 1990s that led him from the Pueblo School Board to the Colorado House and on to the Senate.<\/p>\n

In the House, he served on the Legislative Council and as Democratic and Latino Caucus chairman. He was a lead sponsor of the \u201cRead to Achieve\u201d bill, setting third-grade reading standards. In 2010, he became director of the Colorado Lottery.<\/p>\n

The 3rd District, covering the Western Slope and much of the southern portion of the state \u2013 more than 34,000 square miles \u2013 is the size of Florida. It\u2019s made up of 33 entire counties and portions of three more.<\/p>\n

On a platform of building business, rural development and education, Tapia bills himself as a \u201cproven champion for Colorado\u2019s middle class.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the steps of the Rotary Park gazebo, he addressed energy development and called for less dependence on foreign oil.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to be independent,\u201d he said, saying he supports development of alternative energies like wind, solar and geothermal.<\/p>\n

His primary concern with medical marijuana, which he called a fledgling industry, is public safety, he said.<\/p>\n

Tapia said his time in communities is essential to representing the people he wishes to serve.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 3rd is not one county; it\u2019s a whole mass of counties. I need to be present. They need to know me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

On education, a campaign focal point, he emphasized an urgent importance for Coloradans.<\/p>\n

\u201cEducation should come first, before everything else,\u201d he said. \u201cI am what I am today because of my education.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ex-state senator touts education, public safety<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":120362,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[981,13,23],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-120361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-colorado-3rd-congressional-district","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-u-s-rep-scott-tipton"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120361\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120361"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=120361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}