{"id":50837,"date":"2020-10-22T23:48:58","date_gmt":"2020-10-23T05:48:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mitsch-bush-pushes-collaboration-denounces-extremism\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:53:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:53:19","slug":"mitsch-bush-pushes-collaboration-denounces-extremism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mitsch-bush-pushes-collaboration-denounces-extremism\/","title":{"rendered":"Mitsch Bush pushes collaboration, denounces extremism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Diane
Diane Mitsch Bush, Democratic candidate for Colorado\u2019s 3rd Congressional District, held a virtual town hall with counties in Southwest Colorado Wednesday evening.<\/span>Emily Hayes\/The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Democratic candidate for the 3rd Congressional District Diane Mitsch Bush touted her history of collaboration during her time in the Colorado Legislature, along with her evidence-based policies, in a virtual town hall with Southwest Colorado counties on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Mitsch Bush said she was \u201cknown for working across the aisle\u201d in the legislature during disasters like wildfires, floods and drought, and \u201csupporting evidence-based, science-based policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The online event had about 40 participants.<\/p>\n

One of those participants, Hilary Cooper, asked Mitsch Bush what she would do to bridge the urban and rural divide in Southwest Colorado.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best way to solve problems is to get everyone to the table and get folks to listen to each other,\u201d Mitsch Bush said. Those conversations then provide the basis for bills in Congress, Mitsch Bush said.<\/p>\n

This was her strategy when she worked with Republican colleagues on a local bill to make it easier for constituent communities to have micro-hydropower systems, which produce electricity using the natural flow of water, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTackling climate change will increase economic opportunity,\u201d not stifle it as some conservatives have suggested, Mitsch Bush said.<\/p>\n

Colorado State Rep. Barbara McLachlan, D-Durango, expressed her support for Mitsch Bush during the town hall, saying Mitsch Bush has \u201cthoroughly read the bills she has talked about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Durango Mayor Dean Brookie also expressed his support, and said Mitsch Bush can improve the economy in the district by providing training for clean-energy jobs.<\/p>\n

Brookie also noted the importance of the race for U.S. Congress on the national level.<\/p>\n

Republican candidate Lauren Boebert has drawn attention to Southwest Colorado for her stances on gun rights and messaging against federally funded assistance and health care.<\/p>\n

But Mitsch Bush said \u201cpeople want to solve problems, and the way to solve problems is not partisan gridlock,\u201d<\/p>\n

Brookie said the Rifle-based Boebert is out of touch with places like Southwest Colorado, and that she \u201cdoesn\u2019t know where Mancos is because she can\u2019t shoot that far.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before answering questions from participants, Mitsch Bush told voters she is \u201cnot an extremist and not a celebrity\u201d like her opponent is.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need empathy and evidence, not extremism,\u201d Mitsch Bush said.<\/p>\n

Boebert has sympathized with the fringe movement QAnon and supported its idea that a deep-state network is trying to undermine President Donald Trump, telling NPR<\/a> \u201cI\u2019m glad the IG and the AG are investigating deep state activities that undermine the President.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Republican candidate has since distanced herself from the conspiracy theory group, which started on the dark web forum 4chan. She stated in an interview with The Durango Herald she is \u201cnot a follower.\u201d<\/p>\n

New finance reports show Mitsch Bush has outraised Boebert by about $700,000.<\/p>\n

The former state lawmaker raised $2.6 million from July 1 to the end of September, according to the Federal Elections Commission. Boebert\u2019s campaign is reporting a total of $1.9 million.<\/p>\n

ehayes@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CD3 candidates vie for support in Southwest Colorado<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50838,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-50837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50837","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=50837"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50837\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87836,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50837\/revisions\/87836"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50837"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=50837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}