PRIORITIES

Rural Colorado should be a place where working families can afford to live, grow, and age in place. While housing costs are still relatively affordable in many of our communities, we face a shortage of available homes and limited new development in our small cities and towns. Duane will champion a Rural Tax Credit to help offset the higher cost of living in rural areas and keep more money in the pockets of working families and small businesses. He will also support smart, community-driven housing development that increases inventory while respecting rural and frontier lifestyles. Protecting space for larger lots, supporting well access where appropriate, and ensuring growth strengthens, not changes, the character of our communities. At the same time, he will focus on maximizing the impact of public investments to reduce everyday costs and create long-term affordability.

Water is the lifeblood of Southeast Colorado supporting our farms, our economy, and our way of life. But growing pressure from urban expansion is increasingly putting rural water at risk, with policies and market forces that can redirect water away from the communities that depend on it most. Duane will fight to protect rural water rights and ensure that water is not diverted to support urban growth at the expense of rural necessity. He strongly supports the Arkansas Valley Conduit as a long-term solution to increase water reliability, reduce costs through shared infrastructure, and address workforce challenges in certified operators. He will also work to modernize aging systems, reduce water loss, and ensure rural communities have sustainable, locally controlled water solutions for generations to come.

Rural Colorado has the opportunity to grow, but we need to be intentional about how we do it. Economic development should build on our strengths, reduce costs for local producers, and create long-term stability for our communities. Duane will work to attract light manufacturing in agriculture, support local businesses, and promote policies that keep dollars circulating within rural communities. He will also focus on developing regional industrial clusters and localized supply chains creating circular industrial economies that allow us to produce, process, and distribute goods closer to home. This approach will lower production costs for our agricultural producers, strengthen regional resilience, and create higher-paying jobs and export opportunities for rural Colorado. He also sees an opportunity to attract remote workers, bringing higher incomes into our region while allowing families to live and work in the communities they love. In addition, Duane supports exploring small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear energy projects as a way to create high-quality, blue-collar jobs, strengthen energy reliability, and diversify rural economies.

Access to healthcare in rural Colorado is limited, and too many families must travel long distances or delay care due to cost and availability. Duane will focus on expanding access to healthcare by strengthening rural clinics, supporting loan repayment programs for providers who live and serve in rural communities, and investing in innovative solutions like telehealth. He will also champion policies that create a statewide shared electronic medical record (EMR) system to reduce administrative burden and lower costs across providers. In addition, Duane supports hub-and-spoke healthcare models that allow rural communities to share workforce, technology, and specialty services ensuring patients can access high-quality care locally while staying connected to broader systems of support. Rural Colorado deserves healthcare that is accessible, efficient, and built to meet the unique needs of our communities.

Duane will fight to ensure public funding stays in public schools, while supporting local flexibility so communities can educate students in ways that best fit their needs. He will also expand workforce training and access to higher education, recognizing that increased educational attainment leads to higher incomes, stronger families, and more resilient local economies. Rural students should have real pathways to succeed whether that’s in the trades, college, or careers that allow them to stay and thrive in their communities. At the same time, Duane understands that we cannot expect better outcomes without making the necessary investments. He will push for reasonable, responsible changes to the TABOR cap to ensure Colorado can adequately fund K-12 education especially in rural districts that have historically been under-resourced. By making strategic adjustments, we can invest more in our schools while still being mindful of taxpayers and maximizing the impact of every public dollar. Duane believes that strong public schools are one of the most important investments we can make in the future of rural Colorado.

Rural communities are not one-size-fits-all, and our policies shouldn’t be either. True progress means recognizing that different communities have different needs, and ensuring everyone has a fair opportunity to succeed. Duane believes equity should be at the center of policymaking, and that local control is one of the most effective ways to achieve it. When communities have the flexibility to make decisions that reflect their unique challenges, values, and opportunities, we create solutions that actually work. While statewide policies have their place, Duane will advocate for flexibility, exemptions, and opt-in approaches when policies impact local governments. He also believes in maximizing the value of every public dollar ensuring investments are efficient, accountable, and truly serve the communities they are intended to support.

Public safety is essential, and in District 35, correctional facilities are also a major part of the local economy. We must ensure our system is not only safe, but effective at reducing crime and creating better outcomes for individuals and communities. Duane brings lived experience to this issue. He has been an inmate in both state-run and private correctional facilities, and he knows firsthand the difference. The education and programming he received in state facilities played a direct role in his success proving that when we invest in people, we create better outcomes for everyone. Duane supports state-run correctional facilities and believes private prisons should not exist. He will fight to invest in corrections staff through better pay, training, and support so they can maintain safe environments and deliver meaningful rehabilitation programs. Strong staff lead to stronger outcomes. He will also champion workforce and entrepreneurship training inside correctional facilities, developed in partnership with trade unions and industry leaders, to ensure individuals leave with real skills and real pathways to employment. When people re-enter society with opportunity, we reduce recidivism, strengthen families, and improve public safety.