{"id":15645,"date":"2025-11-18T15:50:55","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T22:50:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/a-sit-down-with-the-montezuma-county-young-republicans-leader\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:49:03","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:49:03","slug":"a-sit-down-with-the-montezuma-county-young-republicans-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/a-sit-down-with-the-montezuma-county-young-republicans-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"A sit-down with the Montezuma County Young Republicans leader"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Delta
Delta Suckla, a leader of the newly formed Montezuma County Young Republicans, stands outside of the Cortez Chamber of Commerce in early November. (Benjamin Rubin\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Young people deserve a voice to advocate for rural life on the Western Slope, says Delta Suckla, the 20-year-old local leading a newly formed group in Montezuma County.<\/p>\n

Suckla founded the Montezuma County Young Republicans in September. If you recognize her name, it\u2019s likely because she\u2019s the daughter of \u2013 and a legislative aide to \u2013 Larry Don Suckla, the House District 58 representative in the Colorado General Assembly and a former Montezuma County commissioner.<\/p>\n

Delta Suckla sat down with The Journal<\/em> earlier this month to talk about the MCYR and what\u2019s on her mind as a young conservative passionate about politics.<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s note: the following interview has been edited for length and clarity.<\/em><\/p>\n

Question: Can you tell me more about your background getting into politics through your father?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Absolutely. He\u2019s definitely been the main source. I didn\u2019t have much involvement at all. He used to be a county commissioner, so it\u2019s always been something that ran through my household. Then he ran for state representative for HD 58. When he was elected, I had just graduated high school and was trying to figure out what my next steps were. He brought up the idea of being an aide for him. I decided it was similar to a lot of my interests. I\u2019m a very social person and saw a lot of problems growing up.<\/p>\n

I learned about different groups like the Young Republicans while I was up in Denver. Those are organizations that aren\u2019t as prominent in areas like Montezuma County or other rural areas. I was very eager to hop on that. I think it\u2019s also a bit of a crazy world right now. There\u2019s a lot going on. I would say everything is pretty heightened. I\u2019m starting to learn about these things and feel it\u2019s very important to be involved.<\/p>\n

Question: I\u2019ve often heard that state-level politics, on the Front Range in particular, can be disconnected from what\u2019s happening in rural, Western Slope communities. Can you talk about that disconnect?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think there\u2019s definitely a huge disconnect. We do share similarities. The Front Range and Eastern Plains are very similar to the life we live on the Western Slope, especially in terms of ranching and farming. But there\u2019s definitely a big disconnect between the two, namely from the metro area. That\u2019s one of my reasons for forming the Young Republicans here. Over on the Western Slope, our voice seems silent, and we rarely get opportunities to speak up about what affects us.<\/p>\n

A lot of these decisions made by people in the metro area have no effect on urban people at all, and the only effect is actually on those of us in rural areas. Many people don\u2019t realize that Colorado is not just Denver. There\u2019s a lot of beautiful rural communities. We definitely need to make our voices heard because that often doesn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n

Question: Are there any policies that come to mind as examples of what\u2019s passed in the Front Range area that are felt here differently?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first one that comes to mind would be the wolves being reintroduced into Colorado. It was a ballot measure. People on the Front Range and in metro areas voted this in because they believe it\u2019s important. However, wolves being reintroduced isn\u2019t affecting them. They\u2019re not dropping wolves in downtown Denver. They\u2019re dropping them here on the Western Slope \u2013 right in some of our communities.<\/p>\n

They don\u2019t live this day-to-day life of actually seeing how this is affecting farmers and ranchers. And they don\u2019t quite understand that a wolf is not the same thing as a bear, a mountain lion or a coyote, all animals we already have here. It\u2019s actually quite different and they\u2019re very harmful to farmers, ranchers and especially cattle producers. They\u2019re attacking the livestock. If our voices were heard here, this wouldn\u2019t be happening because we all know how detrimental it is.<\/p>\n

Question: Can you tell me more about the mission of the Young Republicans here?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I started the Young Republicans group here because we don\u2019t have something like that in Montezuma County. We have the GOP and Republican Women of Montezuma County. Our group is specifically for young people, which hasn\u2019t existed here before.<\/p>\n

For me personally, I thought it would be very important to bring something like that into the community. People need an outlet where they can be involved and make a difference. They\u2019ve had these groups in Denver and in El Paso County. These are all amazing groups. The whole Colorado Federation of Young Republicans is a great organization, but it hasn\u2019t been very prominent on the Western Slope.<\/p>\n

For my group here, we\u2019re focused on local issues, as other groups are too. Our main priority is protecting our rural way of life so that our children can have the same life we had, without excessive regulation or control.<\/p>\n

Question: What other takeaways did you get from the concerns of young Republicans local to the area?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A lot of the people in my group have young children. They\u2019re just now starting their families. That is probably the most highlighted thing for them. They\u2019re seeing a lot of what\u2019s going on, whether it is local, state or federal, that will affect their children in the future.<\/p>\n

Question: Do you have visions of running for office one day?<\/strong><\/p>\n

At this time, I don\u2019t have a vision to run for office. I don\u2019t know what the future will hold. I will say, I see my life deeply involved in politics, no matter what happens. I think politics will be something that I always stay heavily involved in. Whether it\u2019s a career path outside politics, I\u2019d still volunteer heavily.<\/p>\n

Question: What do you value in political leaders? What sort of values would you hope to see in someone you\u2019d vote for?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There\u2019s many values that a person needs to have. Something that\u2019s really huge for me is following through with promises made to constituents. A lot of times that doesn\u2019t happen. Often, constituents don\u2019t notice. I\u2019m not talking one side or the other. It happens on both. Much of what\u2019s said during campaigning often changes once they\u2019re in office.<\/p>\n

Then, of course, just someone who values the rural way of life, like I do, and someone who has the same conservative values as I do. Someone willing to go beyond what was promised.<\/p>\n

People say it\u2019s good to do kind gestures when someone\u2019s not looking because that\u2019s not what it\u2019s all about. Actually, I think with politics specifically, sometimes it\u2019s the opposite. That\u2019s when it\u2019s most important \u2013 doing those things when everyone is looking, without worrying about public opinion. If it\u2019s the right thing to do and what\u2019s best for their constituents, it should be done regardless.<\/p>\n

Question: The news outlet Politico<\/em> reported in mid-October on a leaked series of group chats among Young Republican leaders across Arizona, Kansas, New York and Vermont containing highly racist messages. What is your response to that sort of talk being normalized behind closed doors among Young Republican leaders?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve talked a lot about it with various people. And this would just be my own personal opinion, not on behalf of the Montezuma County YRs or the Colorado Federation of Young Republicans. I personally think that\u2019s not OK. I don\u2019t agree with that at all. I don\u2019t think there should be any time or scenario where that\u2019s OK. I don\u2019t think that language like that needs to be used. If those are the people that are the leaders in groups like these, that\u2019s also not OK. I will say I don\u2019t think that they\u2019re bad or horrible people. I\u2019m sure a lot of horrible things have also been said about them. I think they said very stupid things that they shouldn\u2019t have said.<\/p>\n

People have said, \u2018Well, these messages were jokes,\u2019 or whatever they might have said about it. I think it\u2019s unacceptable. I don\u2019t think those are jokes you should be making. But I also don\u2019t think that anything was actually intentional in wanting those things to happen. Similar things have happened on the Left as well, and I don\u2019t think that should be accepted either.<\/p>\n

Question: These are polarizing times. Do you have a certain approach to bipartisanship or working together across division?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In light of recent events with Charlie Kirk\u2019s assassination, I think he is actually a great role model when it comes to that. One of the main things, especially when it comes to bipartisanship, is that everyone should be open to conversations. It\u2019s a shame when hostility prevents change on issues where there\u2019s agreement. I think dialogue should always be present. Some people aren\u2019t willing to have that dialogue. As Charlie Kirk would say, that\u2019s when bad things happen.<\/p>\n

If we\u2019re having some type of meeting, or if we were to have a tabling of some sort, if someone were to want to come open up a discussion, even if it might be something that we don\u2019t agree with, we do allow for that. We allow conversation, as long as it\u2019s respectful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

spearheads a group for young people to become politically engaged<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-15645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15645","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=15645"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19766,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15645\/revisions\/19766"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15645"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=15645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}