ML: Dwayne Romero is running against Republican Jeff Hurd for Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District seat. Around two dozen people were in attendance for the town hall in New Castle.
DR: We’re trying to just absolutely role-model what a US Representative should be doing to stay close to their constituents, the classic get together face-to-face. Don’t curate it, don’t try to limit it, don’t try to buffer it, that’s what we’re doing. We’re going down to Monte Vista next week in the San Luis Valley as well. Great feedback, great questions. Every time we do this it sharpens our overall knowledge and our overall game plan.
ML: Romero began the forum by discussing his background and qualifications.
DR: Combat Veteran, served 7 years in the Army after 4 years at the United States Military Academy West point. Married 35 years to a school teacher, we’ve got 3 kids that were all raised right here in the district, we’ve been in the district over 30 years. Two of my daughters went into the Army as well to serve our country, one is still active duty. I am a small business owner with the Romero Group, we have 100+ year-round full-time employees, and 25 years and counting in elected and appointed positions in Colorado, state level, school board, city council, water board, fire board, a lot of lessons learned and I’d like to bring that to Congress with a strong backbone for the people of the district.
ML: Romero says the biggest issues he has been hearing across the district are the cost of living, access to healthcare, protecting our natural resources, and accountability in government.
DR: There’s a bunch of tactical moves, getting rid of stock trading for Congress, getting rid dark money and PACs and pay-to-play to win over Congressman, and put some stops on the executives and get to the bottom of what is being done with use of public funds with forays into self-aggrandizing and big egos in the Oval Office
ML: New Castle residents asked Romero multiple questions during Thursday’s forum, including how to keep Medicare and Social Security whole. He said this must be a bipartisan effort. Another concern is the national debt and Congress’ role in dealing with it. The new socialist wing of the Democratic Party also came up, as compared to Romero’s more centrist approach.
DR: I come from humble beginnings from a conservative perspective of just trying to do well for others even at your own peril, it’s a set of values for me. I’m also an engineer coming out of West Point and serving in the military and we’re just more practical and focused on problem solving and I think we need more of that frankly in Congress.
ML: Romero also stated that he is against corporate money in politics and that the role of Congress should be to focus on the economy and balance the federal budget with revenue matching costs, which may involve raising taxes or rescinding tax cuts. To learn more about his campaign visit Romero-For-Colorado-dot-Com.
Election Day is Tuesday, November 3rd, and county clerks send out mail-in ballots starting October 6.
