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Political Note #305 Diane Mitsch Bush CO CD 03
2020 General Election
Suddenly, through inattention by the incumbent Republican Congressman, CO 03 is a battleground for American civilization. The Democratic nominee, Diane Mitsch Bush has become no ordinary candidate. She has become a protector of civilization.
Scott Tipton, the inattentive incumbent, ran no television advertisements as he committed the political cardinal sin of complacency. He lost to Lauren Boebert, a gun-toting restaurateur and believer in QAnon conspiracy theories. She is now the Republican nominee to represent CO 03 in Congress.
The problem is not so much that Broebert owns and runs Shooters Grill, a restaurant in Rifle, Colorado. Nor that her waitresses tote pistols on their hips. It is not even that Boebert flouted Colorado’s anti-Covid-19 rule against indoor dining. Her belief in QAnon conspiracies certifies her as a danger to us all.
Followers of QAnon believe in a conspiracy identified by the FBI as a potential source of terrorism. The convoluted theory claims that Trump falsely feigned collusion with the Russians in order to prevent a coup d’etat by Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and George Soros. They seek to expose a child sex ring run out of a pizza parlor. (An armed and misguided believer showed up at a DC pizza restaurant with plans to protect the victims.) They claim that former DNC head Debbie Wasserman Schultz hired a Salvadoran gang to murder DNC staffer Seth Rich. They unearth more conspiracies. There are always more conspiracies to unearth. They create their own solidary with the Q patch and a phrase “where we go one, we go all.” Their views are a dangerous delusion which has no business in Congress. .
Boebert is not campaigning on her QAnon beliefs. She has set herself up as the anti-Squad. She is trying to run against AOC – Representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez. To actually run against AOC, Boebert would have to move to Queens, New York. In Colorado, she is running against Diane Mitsch Bush.
Diane Mitsch Bush is the Democratic nominee. She was the nominee in 2018. Running against Boebert is a different kind of election even if the venue is the same. The battleground is CO 03 — a Congressional District encompassing the entire western part of Colorado including the Western Slope. The District is almost as large as New York state. The district borders Utah on the west, Wyoming on the north, and New Mexico on the south. Grand Junction, with fewer than 60,000 people, is its largest city. Aspen is its most famous.
Diane Mitsch Bush is not a conventional politician. She is qualified to defend civilization. At 70, she is old enough to be a sage. She started out in Minnesota as an outstanding student. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Minnesota and earned a PhD in sociology there. She recalls being inspired in high school by books – Rachell Carson’s Silent Spring and Michael Harrington’s The Other America. Consider this a contest of books and ideas v pistols and bravado.
Diane Mitsch Bush left Minnesota for Steamboat Springs, Colorado with, what appeared to be two objectives: to finish writing her dissertation and to ski. In addition to writing and skiing, she spent decades working in tourism related industries, teaching at various universities, being an activist on behalf of Colorado’s environment, and becoming an expert on transportation in Colorado.
Diane Mitch Bush completed her degree in 1979. She taught for three years at the University of Arizona, almost ten years at Colorado State University, and slightly more than ten years at Colorado Mountain College. While teaching and, especially afterwards, she focused on Colorado’s environment, serving for ten years on the Routt County Planning Commission, as a Board Member of the Rocky Mountain Rail Authority, and on various other transportation authorities and planning groups. After her election to the Routt County Commission, she served as the transportation specialist for the newly elected Governor John Hickenlooper’s transition team.
Diane Mitsch Bush moved her activism into elective office. After her time on the Routt County Commission, she was elected to and served in the Colorado House of Representatives from 2013 to 2017. An op ed in the Aspen newspaper urging support for her Congressional candidacy commented on her work in the legislature on conservation, energy, infrastructure, and health issues.
Diane Mitsch Bush was an effective legislator. She won awards. Most effective freshman, the Farmers’ Union’s most effective legislator, the Conservation Commission’s legislator of the year. And more. She was a factor in Colorado politics.
Diane Mitsch Bush was not factor enough to defeat Scott Tilton even during the Democratic wave of 2018. She lost 52-44. She did better than previous Democratic candidates – all of whom, since 2010, lost by double digits. Democrats have won in CO 03, in the past. John Salazar represented the district for three terms beginning in 2004. Ben Nighthorse Campbell represented the district for three terms beginning in 1986.
Diane Mitsch Bush has a different task this time. In 2018, she was trying to replace a conservative Republican. She ran as a conservation and agricultural oriented Democrat. In 2020, she is defending rational thought, normal politics, common decency, and civilization. She is extending herself beyond the Democratic base in CO 03. Help her do that.
Below are Congressional seats Democrats are trying to flip from incumbent Republicans. The ones with asterisks* ran in 2018. In 2018, Democrats flipped 40 Republican seats in the House. Let’s flip 20 more.
Alaska AL Alyce Galvin* to defeat incumbent Don Young
Arizona 06 Hiral Tipirneni* to defeat incumbent David Schweikert
Arkansas 02. Joyce Elliott to defeat incumbent French Hill
California 25. Christy Smith to defeat incumbent Mike Garcia who won the May special election.
California 50 Ammar Campa-Hajjar* to win this now open Rep seat
Colorado 03 Diane Mitsch Bush to in this now open Republican seat
Florida 15 Adam Hattersley to defeat incumbent Ross Spano
Florida 16 Margaret Good to defeat incumbent Vern Buchanan
Georgia 07 Carolyn Bordeaux* to win this open seat
Illinois 13 Betsy Dirksen Londrigen* to defeat Rodney Davis
Indiana 05 Christina Hale to win this open Republican seat
Iowa 04 JD Scholten* to win this open seat
Kansas 02 Michelle De La Isla to defeat incumbent Steve Watkins
Michigan 03. Hillary Scholten to win this open seat
Michigan 06 Jon Hoadley to defeat incumbent Fred Upton
Minnesota 01 Dan Feehan* to defeat incumbent Jim Hagedorn
Missouri 02 Jill Schupp to defeat incumbent Ann Wagner
Montana AL Kathleen Williams* to win this open Republican seat
Nebraska 02. Kara Eastman to defeat incumbent Don Bacon
New York 02 Jackie Gordon to win this open Republican seat
New York 21 Tedra Cobb* to defeat incumbent Elise Stefanic
New York 24 Dana Balter* to defeat incumbent John Katko
North Carolina 09. Cynthia Wallace to defeat incumbent Dan Bishop
Pennsylvania 01 Christina Finello to defeat incumbent Brian Fitzpatrick
Pennsylvania 10 Eugene DePasquale to defeat incumbent Scott Perry
Texas 02 Sima Ladjervardian to defeat incumbent Dan Crenshaw
Texas 21 Wendy Davis to defeat incumbent Chip Roy
Texas 22 Sri Preston Kalkuri to win this open Republican seat
Texas 23 Gina Ortiz Jones* to win this open Republican seat
Texas 24 Kim Olson to win this open Republican seat
Virginia 05 B. Cameron Webb to win this open Republican seat
Washington 03 Carolyn Long* to defeat incumbent Jaime Herrera Beutler
Wisconsin 07 Tricia Zunker to defeat incumbent Tom Tiffany who won the May Special Election
