Welcome to Carmen Broesder: Gubernatorial Candidate for Colorado

How We Get Things Done:

 I’m not running for attention or a power grab.  I’m running to do the work because I'm tired of seeing people hurt by leaders who prioritize corporations over communities.

That means using the real, practical powers of the Governor’s office to deliver results people can actually feel in their lives.

How I’ll get things done:

• Executive action to protect civil rights, raise transparency, and stop government abuse
   
• Directing agencies (Health, Labor, Education, Housing, Natural Resources, Transportation) to work for people and not special interests
   
• Appointing leaders who serve the public, not industry insiders
   
• Community advisory councils so every region has a real voice, not symbolic input
   
• Budget priorities that invest in hospitals, housing, schools, & water and not waste and bureaucracy
   
•  Public accountability: explaining tradeoffs honestly so legislation can pass 

This is how the plan pays for itself.

1. Keep Dollars Local

Farmer-owned and community-owned cooperatives reduce dependence on middlemen and corporate monopolies. Profits stay in Colorado communities instead of flowing to Wall Street or overseas.

Local trade strengthens small towns, stabilizes rural economies, and keeps families rooted where they live.

When our farms thrive, our towns thrive.

2. Reduce Emergency and Crisis Costs

 Keeping hospitals open reduces the need for expensive emergency transports and crisis-driven care. Preventative, community-based healthcare saves taxpayer money and improves outcomes.

Replacing detention-based responses with housing-first and cooperative healthcare solutions lowers long-term costs while improving public safety.
It is far less expensive and far more effective to heal people than to warehouse them in crisis.

3. Create Jobs Through Cooperative Investment

Cooperative hospitals, housing, and infrastructure projects create immediate construction jobs and long-term careers rooted in the community.

Jobs in agriculture, healthcare, energy, trades, and disaster preparedness give people real reasons to stay in rural Colorado instead of being forced to leave.

Veterans, young adults, and displaced workers gain clear, practical pathways into stable work.

When we invest in people, we build Colorado’s future workforce.

4. Protect Colorado’s Food Supply

A resilient state must be able to feed itself.

Direct trade agreements and local supply chains ensure Colorado food feeds Colorado first. Locally controlled food systems protect families from national market shocks and supply disruptions.

Regional partnerships generate fair-market, premium revenue for producers while strengthening long-term food security.

Food security is economic security.

5. Save Money Through Disaster Preparedness

Preparation is cheaper than rebuilding.

Disaster-ready cooperatives reduce losses from wildfires, floods, and drought.  Preparedness reduces recovery costs and prevents loss.

Emergency hubs that also function as community centers maximize public investment while protecting lives, property, and local economies.

Prepared communities save both lives and taxpayer dollars.

6. Grow Revenue Without Raising Tax Rates

Revitalized rural towns mean more local businesses, more workers, and a broader tax base.

Cooperative models attract private investment without creating federal dependency. Strong communities strengthen tourism, agriculture, entrepreneurship, and local economies.

Growth comes from the ground up, not from higher taxes.

This plan isn’t just morally right, it’s financially responsible.

By keeping hospitals open, protecting farms, preventing disasters, and investing in people, we reduce long-term costs for taxpayers while building a stronger, more resilient Colorado economy.

This is not about growing government.
It’s about building systems that work.

Colorado is already feeling the consequences of federal funding chaos. These aren’t abstract numbers... they’re real people. Our neighbors, friends, and allies. I personally know Coloradans whose pay, jobs, and stability disappeared overnight when programs were cut. People are scrambling, panicked, and falling through cracks that should not exist.

And this is bigger than Colorado.

Red states often don’t have these services at all. Blue states are becoming the backstop and then getting targeted with cuts that punish the people doing the work. When essential systems 

depend on Washington politics, real people get hurt every time power shifts.

Colorado must stop building life-saving services on funding that can vanish overnight. We need durable, state-level infrastructure and multistate cooperation that can’t be “turned off” by politics.

What we will do:

• Build a Colorado Behavioral Health Stability Plan to protect critical services when federal funding changes (crisis response, recovery supports, school mental health, harm reduction, rural access). 
• Create Blue-State & Regional Compacts so states can pool solutions: workforce pipelines, telehealth licensing cooperation, shared crisis support standards, and joint planning for federal instability. 
• Treat mental health and recovery as public infrastructure, like roads, fire response, and hospitals, not optional programs that disappear during political fights. 
• Be honest about urgency: Colorado needs stronger mental health supports now, not someday. I will push immediate stabilization actions as Governor, and I will spend this campaign organizing real partnerships so we’re ready on day one.
   

Colorado’s job is not to “wait and hope.” Colorado’s job is to lead with resilience, cooperation, and systems that protect people even when national politics break down.

Save Rural Hospitals and Make Them Thrive

Rural hospitals are essential to the survival of small towns. When they close, emergency response times increase, families leave, and local economies collapse. This is not abstract policy because this is life and death.

We will:

• Convert at-risk and closing rural hospitals into community-owned and state network cooperatives, keeping care local and governance accountable to the people served
• Use farm revenue models and interstate trade partnerships to help stabilize rural healthcare costs, recognizing that strong agriculture and strong healthcare depend on each other
• Establish regional partnerships with established hospital networks to secure staffing, supplies, telehealth access, and specialist care without surrendering local control

Every Coloradan deserves timely emergency care, regardless of ZIP code.

Protect Family Farms

Family farms are being squeezed by corporate consolidation and speculative land purchases that strip communities of control over food and water.

We will:

• Prevent corporate and foreign buyouts of Colorado farmland that undermine food security and water sovereignty
• Build a farmer-owned Farm & Freedom Cooperative Network to strengthen local ownership, bargaining power, and long-term viability
• Create direct trade agreements with partner states and cities that pay fair, premium prices to Colorado farmers and cut out exploitative middlemen
• Expand housing options tied to farm cooperative membership so workers and families can live where they work and stay rooted in their communities

Farmer-owned. Community-run. Never corporate-controlled unless the cooperative chooses it.

Rural Development & Community Survival

Nearly every part of this platform connects to rural Colorado — this section simply makes that commitment unmistakable.

Rural communities deserve more than survival. They deserve stability, opportunity, and long-term investment.

My priorities:

• Keep rural hospitals open and locally accountable 
• Strengthen family farms and protect farmland from corporate consolidation 
• Expand rural housing options tied to real jobs (healthcare, agriculture, trades) 
• Support rural infrastructure: water systems, roads, broadband, emergency services 
• Build rural job pipelines so young people can stay and thrive 
• Respect local voices in land use and development decisions
   

A strong Colorado cannot exist without strong rural communities.

Housing & Stability

Communities cannot survive without stable, affordable housing.

We will:

• Expand tiny-home, farmworker, and workforce housing models that are owned by the people and not mega corporations. 
• Use cooperative ownership structures to keep housing affordable long-term while securing real residency rights, not temporary solutions
• Tie housing development directly to agriculture, healthcare, education, and essential-service employment
•  Reduce unnecessary zoning barriers and require transparent processes 

Homes built by and for the community.

Colorado’s strength comes from connection: rural and urban communities, farms and hospitals, water and life, freedom and responsibility.

As national politics grow more volatile, Colorado must lead with stability. That means protecting essential systems (food, water, healthcare, trade) from political interference, corporate concentration, and crisis-driven collapse and ensuring those systems are accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities, elders, and vulnerable populations.

This administration will prioritize resilience over chaos, access over scarcity, and local control over extraction. We will use existing civil rights frameworks like the ADA and Section 504 not as paperwork exercises, but as practical tools to build systems that actually work for real people.

Building a Stable Interstate Economy

Colorado will position itself as a secure interstate trade hub, connecting rural and urban economies across red and blue states.

We will:

• Leverage  interstate commerce authority already available to states to safeguard food, medical, and critical supply chains 
• Establish direct state-to-state and city-to-city trade agreements that stabilize prices and protect producers and consumers 
• Prioritize essential goods: food, healthcare supplies, energy, and disaster resources 
• Model cooperation through multistate climate, infrastructure, and emergency-response compacts 
• Ensure that supply chains, emergency distribution systems, and public infrastructure meet ADA and Section 504 accessibility standards, so disabled Coloradans are not cut off during crises

When others fight, Colorado connects and keeps families supplied.

Water Sovereignty for the Long Term

Water is life, agriculture, healthcare, and economic security. Colorado must protect it accordingly.

We will:

• Keep Colorado’s water rights under local and state control, protected from privatization and speculation
   
• Negotiate fair, enforceable agreements with neighboring states that respect Colorado’s long-term needs
   
• Invest in drought resilience, conservation, watershed protection, and infrastructure modernization
   
• Support farmers, ranchers, and municipalities without forcing land or water-right selloffs
   
• Apply ADA and Section 504 principles to water infrastructure planning so that access to safe water, public facilities, and emergency resources includes rural residents, elders, and disabled Coloradans
   

Water policy should protect people, not just assets.

Healthcare Freedom That Works Everywhere

Healthcare freedom means access in cities and rural towns alike, without fear, delay, political interference or systemic exclusion.

We will:

• Defend reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy under Colorado law
   
• Guarantee emergency maternal and reproductive healthcare access statewide
   
• Prevent rural healthcare deserts by expanding community-owned cooperative hospitals and clinics
   
• Build durable partnerships with nonprofits, regional health systems, and partner states to stabilize care delivery
   
• Use Section 504 and the ADA as active enforcement tools to ensure healthcare systems, hospitals, clinics, telehealth, and emergency services are accessible to people with disabilities, chronic illness, neurodivergence, and mobility limitations
   
• Require that public health planning includes disabled and high-risk communities at the design stage, not as an afterthought
   

Healthcare that excludes people is not freedom. It’s failure.

Climate Resilience & Disaster Preparedness

Colorado faces increasingly severe wildfires, floods, and droughts. These disasters threaten rural towns, family farms, and critical healthcare infrastructure.

We will:

• Transform agricultural, housing, and healthcare cooperatives into disaster-ready community hubs with backup power, emergency supplies, and evacuation resources
• Integrate disaster planning with water sovereignty to ensure reliable access to clean water during emergencies
• Keep rural hospitals open and prepared to serve as emergency coordination centers
• Build statewide emergency networks connecting farms, hospitals, local governments, and families before disaster strikes
•  Support agriculture projects that restore aquifers and water tables through technical help and streamlined permitting and education for larger deployment. 
• Work with local nonprofits and experts to ensure conservation efforts aren't hurt while we grow, relying on those who have spent a large portion of their lives dedicated to Colorado nature. 

Prepared towns save lives and protect the future.

Protecting Democracy & Election Integrity

Colorado must remain a model for secure, accessible, independent democracy.

We will:

• Guarantee safe and accessible voting for every Coloradan
• Defend mail-in ballots and early voting to protect the rights of our citizens, especially rural, military, and disabled voters. 
• Block interference in Colorado’s election administration
• Create transparency systems that build public trust while protecting voter privacy

Your vote is your voice. It will be protected.

Technology & Transparency

Colorado’s communities deserve clear information and real accountability.

We will:

• Launch public open-data dashboards to track state spending
• Require counties to have digital records to support requests and transparency
• Require counties to have clear zoning processes, prices, and uniform standards
• Provide clear reporting on rural hospital funding, farm cooperative support, and infrastructure investment
• Require measurable accountability standards for state agencies
• Use technology to connect rural communities to services and emergency coordination
• Require Data Centers to use technology that doesn't destroy our environment and resources, like geothermal cooling, solar, wind, and innovative technology that as a state we can adapt faster with an engineer as governor. 

Transparency isn’t optional. It’s the foundation of trust.

Protect Children from Coercive “Treatment” Programs

Colorado believes in healing, not punishment disguised as care.

We will:

• Require enforceable standards for residential, wilderness-based, and out-of-home youth programs
• Guarantee due process, transparency, and meaningful family access in all treatment programs
• Prohibit isolation, deprivation, and humiliation labeled as therapy
• Require licensed mental health professionals and trauma-informed care
• Strengthen oversight, inspections, and independent reporting

Children are not problems to manage. They are people to protect.

 Care must be real care. When treatment removes dignity, it becomes punishment and punishment traumatizes children.

Veterans & the Rural Workforce

Veterans and rural workers are the backbone of Colorado’s communities.

We will:

• Create job pipelines linked to cooperative farms, hospitals, and disaster response systems
• Offer retraining pathways for veterans entering agriculture, healthcare, infrastructure, and emergency response
• Expand workforce housing in rural communities
• Ensure no rural worker or veteran is left behind
•  Expand peer support, crisis services, and culturally competent mental healthcare for veterans 

Safe Haven for Survivors

Colorado has chosen dignity, safety, and care while other states  while other states roll back rights and protections.

Because of Colorado’s protections:

• Abortion remains legal and accessible
• Gender-affirming care is protected
• Patients and providers are shielded from out-of-state retaliation
• Survivors can seek care without fear of criminalization

We will:

• Defend safe-haven laws for abortion, gender-affirming care, and survivors
• Strengthen privacy and non-cooperation protections
• Expand emergency and transitional housing
• Increase access to confidential, trauma-informed healthcare statewide
• Train rural hospitals and first responders to protect, not criminalize
• Invest in survivor-led and LGBTQIA+-led organizations

Colorado will not backslide with the right leadership. Rights must work in practice, not just on paper.

Recovery & Rehabilitation That Actually Works

We will:

•  Expand voluntary, evidence-based, community treatment 
• Invest in trauma-informed treatment addressing root causes
• Ensure accessibility for people with disabilities and complex medical needs
• Support locally run, culturally competent programs

Punitive systems don’t heal addiction. Care does.

Responsible Gun Ownership & Public Safety

I own firearms.
I shoot.
I respect responsible ownership.
I believe in civil liberties and due process.
And I do not believe law-abiding gun owners are the problem.

But I also refuse to pretend the current system is working.

Colorado deserves a public safety approach grounded in rights, reality, and responsibility & not fear, slogans, or political theater.

What guides my policy:

• The Second Amendment protects an individual right 
• Due process and privacy are non-negotiable 
• Disability and neurodivergence are not suspicion, those prone to violence is
• Government overreach creates long-term harm 
• Law-abiding people should never be punished for crimes they didn’t commit
   

Focus on behavior, not broad restrictions

Public safety policy should:

• Target credible threats, not lawful citizens 
• Focus on behavior and evidence, not diagnoses or labels 
• Protect privacy and guarantee due process before rights are restricted 
• Reject broad bans, registries, and mass surveillance 
• Reward responsible ownership instead of treating everyone as suspect
   

Security without freedom is not safety.

Community Safety Built With Real Expertise

This isn’t theoretical. I’ve begun working with a respected local firearms expert, someone highly skilled, deeply experienced, and widely trusted in the community, who has offered to help guide how these policies and programs are developed and implemented.

Not as a political prop.
As a practitioner who understands safety culture, training, and responsibility.

That’s how strong policy gets built: grounded in real-world expertise, not party talking points.

This is the platform I promise. One where you are heard, even if every idea isn't implemented, we will do our best to compromise and at the very least hear you. 

Civil Liberties & Public Safety

Colorado will not participate in programs or policies that forcibly detain, institutionalize, or punish people under the guise of “care” without due process, individual rights, and judicial oversight. Care must remain care, not punishment by another name.

We will protect:

• Due process and judicial oversight before liberty is taken 
• Vulnerable communities, including immigrants and LGBTQ+ youth, from discriminatory enforcement 
• Transparency and independent oversight for all state-run or state-funded facilities
   

We will invest in solutions that actually work:

• Community-owned cooperative clinics and hospitals 
• Integrated mental health services embedded in local healthcare systems 
• Housing-first solutions that stabilize people before crisis escalates
   

Colorado can choose care over confinement, rights over fear, and solutions that strengthen communities rather than criminalize them.

Police Education & Crisis Response

Police are often sent into situations they were never trained to handle. That’s not fair to officers or the public.

We will:

• Require training in de-escalation, trauma, disability, neurodivergence, and substance use 
• Expand co-responder models pairing officers with mental health professionals 
• Prioritize diversion to treatment when appropriate 
• Increase transparency on use-of-force and outcomes
   

My Commitment

I believe in structured listening, not performative politics.

That means building policy with:

• People directly affected 
• People across the political spectrum 
• People with real-world experience
   

If you agree with me, I want your support.
If you disagree, I still want the conversation.

Because real solutions don’t come from slogans.
They come from people willing to engage honestly.

Reclaiming Public Spaces Through Art & Innovation

We will:

• Pair cleanup programs with public art initiatives
• Fund youth mural programs and community art grants
• Support reuse of discarded materials as public infrastructure and art

Beauty builds pride. Pride builds stewardship.

Circular, Self-Sustaining Cities

We will:

• Establish compost and soil exchange hubs
• Support reuse infrastructure through makerspaces and trade schools
• Invest in smart, sustainable public infrastructure
• Launch eco-innovation labs

The result: cleaner, lower-cost, resilient public spaces.

Community Safety & Land for the People

We will repurpose:

• Abandoned public buildings
• Closed hospitals and schools
•  underused public land where legally appropriate and conservational aware

Into:

• Community land trusts
• Cooperative farms
• Resilience hubs
• Housing
• Cultural and healing centers

These spaces will be locally governed, transparent, and community led.

 Colorado’s economy runs on workers. When work fails, communities fail.

We will:

• Protect the right to organize and bargain collectively
• Support responsible minimum wage tied to cost-of-living and housing affordability 
• Require strong labor standards for all state contracts
• Support worker-owned cooperatives
• Tie workforce development to housing, healthcare, childcare, and transportation access
• Strengthen protections for rural and essential workers

Strong workers build strong towns. Strong towns build a strong Colorado.

 We will:

• Require data centers to disclose water and energy use
• Create public dashboards for infrastructure impacts
• Ensure all public data is ADA-accessible
• Require transparency and human review for AI systems used in government
• Ban black-box automated decisions affecting essential services without human review and appeal. 
• Create independent oversight through a Technology & Infrastructure Transparency Council

If infrastructure affects the public, it answers to the public.

Cannabis: Healthcare, Agriculture, and Personal Freedom

Cannabis is already part of Colorado’s economy and culture. It should also be part of our public policy in a way that’s fair, responsible, and grounded in real-world use. Locals are saying the industry appears to be collapsing and shops are closing in rural areas. 

Legal should mean legal. Safe should mean accessible. Fair should mean everyone gets a chance.

We will:

• Protect medical cannabis patients from discrimination in housing, employment, healthcare, and family court when use is lawful and responsible 
• Recognize cannabis as agriculture, with the same respect given to family farms and specialty crops 
• Support regenerative, water-responsible cultivation practices that protect long-term soil and watershed health 
• Support small growers and independent businesses while preventing corporate monopolization and out-of-state consolidation 
• Direct cannabis revenue toward healthcare, housing, education, infrastructure, and rural economic development 
• Fully expunge past cannabis convictions, not just seal records 
• End cannabis-based pretext policing and odor-based probable cause 
• Legal means legal: adults following the law should not live in fear of harassment or selective enforcement
   

Creative, Practical Ways to Support the Industry

These are policies other states are already experimenting with and Colorado can lead instead of lag.

1. Cannabis Social Lounges (Public, Regulated Spaces)

Other states (including California and Oregon) allow licensed cannabis lounges where adults can consume legally in a safe environment.

Colorado can:

• Allow licensed cannabis cafes and social lounges 
• Encourage models similar to coffee shops, wine bars, or hookah lounges 
• Reduce public nuisance issues by giving people legal places to go 
• Support tourism while keeping consumption regulated and age-restricted
• Support reducing zoning obstacles in previously zoned areas or areas for agriculture.
   

This helps renters, travelers, and people who can’t legally consume where they live.

2. Cannabis Hospitality & Tourism Zones

Create optional, locally approved Cannabis Hospitality Zones where:

• Hotels can offer cannabis-friendly rooms (with ventilation standards) 
• Event venues can host cannabis-friendly events 
• Local businesses (yoga studios, art spaces, wellness centers) can offer cannabis-inclusive programming if they choose
   

Participation would be opt-in for communities, not mandated.

Local control stays intact.

3. Small Grower & Co-Op Protections

Colorado’s cannabis market has increasingly tilted toward big corporate players.

We can:

• Create a “Colorado Craft Cannabis” designation, like farm-to-table 
• Support cooperative grow licenses for small farmers and rural communities 
• Offer micro-grant programs for small operators transitioning to regenerative methods 
• Protect independent businesses from predatory consolidation
   

This keeps money in local communities instead of exporting profits out of state.

4. Cannabis as Healthcare Infrastructure

Instead of treating cannabis like a loophole, treat it like a tool.

We can:

• Encourage medical cannabis research partnerships with universities 
• Allow cannabis use in hospice, palliative care, and trauma recovery settings with patient consent 
• Support education for healthcare providers on cannabis interactions and uses 
• Protect patients from losing benefits, housing, or custody over lawful use
   

That’s harm reduction, not recklessness.

5. Workforce & Re-Entry Programs

People harmed by past cannabis criminalization should benefit from legalization.

We can:

• Prioritize expungement + job pipeline programs in the cannabis industry 
• Offer training and licensing assistance for formerly incarcerated Coloradans 
• Support community reinvestment in neighborhoods disproportionately impacted by drug enforcement
   

Legalization should repair harm, not just generate tax revenue.

6. Ending Hypocrisy in Enforcement

If alcohol can be consumed responsibly in public venues, cannabis should be treated with similar logic.

That means:

• No odor-based probable cause 
• No fishing-expedition stops 
• No family court punishment for legal use 
• No treating cannabis users as second-class citizens
   

TABOR: Protect Taxpayers Without Breaking the State

TABOR was created to protect taxpayers from unchecked government growth. That principal matters. Many Coloradans support TABOR because they value transparency, accountability, and control over how their money is used.

But over time, TABOR has drifted far beyond its original intent. Today, it is increasingly being used to block Colorado from meeting its own constitutional responsibilities, including education, healthcare access, infrastructure, and emergency response.

This is not a partisan issue. It’s a functional one.

Colorado can respect taxpayers and still operate a government that works.

The Problem We Have Now

TABOR was designed to:

Protect taxpayers from surprise tax increases.
 

It was not designed to:

• Force cuts to schools during population growth 
• Prevent emergency responses during disasters 
• Undermine rural hospitals while surplus refunds go out 
• Make it harder to maintain roads, water systems, and public safety 
• Create permanent austerity even when voters clearly support public investments
   

Right now, Colorado is trapped in a system where:

• Revenue can increase because the economy grows 
• Needs grow at the same time (more students, more patients, more infrastructure demand) 
• But the state is still legally forced to refund money instead of meeting basic obligations
   

That is not fiscal responsibility. That is structural dysfunction.

Our Approach:  Reform first. Repeal only if voters decide 

We are not proposing to eliminate TABOR protections.
We are proposing to restore common sense.

We will:

• Commission a full constitutional impact analysis of how TABOR currently conflicts with Colorado’s other constitutional obligations (education, civil rights, public safety, healthcare access) 
• Be honest with voters about the real-world consequences of permanent budget caps, including school funding shortages, rural hospital instability, and infrastructure decay 
• Support narrowly tailored legal challenges when TABOR is used in ways that violate other constitutional rights 
• Advance voter-centered reforms, not legislative power grabs — because any lasting fix must be approved by the people of Colorado
   

What Reform Could Look Like (Not Abolishing TABOR)

Instead of vague promises, here are concrete, reasonable reforms that many fiscally responsible Coloradans already support:

• Allowing the state to retain revenue for education and infrastructure during population growth, instead of forcing refunds while systems degrade 
• Creating emergency flexibility so natural disasters, public health crises, or infrastructure failures don’t require months of procedural delays 
• Giving voters clearer choices like:
   “Would you rather receive a $70 refund, or fully fund your local school district and keep your rural hospital open?”  
• Modernizing the formula so TABOR reflects real economic conditions, not outdated assumptions from the early 1990s
   

This isn’t about growing government.
It’s about making sure government can still function.

The Principle

Fiscal responsibility matters.
Taxpayer consent matters.
But so does reality.

A constitution should protect the people — not trap the state in permanent dysfunction.

Fiscal responsibility is not constitutional paralysis.
Accountability should strengthen Colorado, not weaken it.

Coloradans deserve a government that works for them & not for insiders, donors, or bureaucracies.

What this means in practice:

•  Independent performance and fiscal audits by ethical agencies
•  If an agency fails basic performance standards, leadership changes 
• Public transparency dashboards showing how tax dollars are actually used 
• Strong whistleblower protections for public employees 
• Clear reporting on outcomes, not just spending 
• Anti-corruption rules that prevent regulatory capture 
• Plain-language government communication (not legal fog)
   

If the public pays for it, the public should be able to see how it’s working.

 Core principles:

• Focus on behavior and harm, not ideology 
• Protect civil liberties 
• Prioritize prevention and recovery over punishment
   

Policy priorities:

• Statewide fentanyl response strategy (treatment + interdiction + education) 
• Expansion of crisis response teams (non-police alternatives when appropriate) 
• Victim support services: housing stability, trauma care, legal support 
• Violence prevention through early intervention 
• Safe recovery infrastructure that respects autonomy and rights
   

Public safety should mean fewer victims, stronger families, and more people getting help before tragedy happens.

 Colorado deserves a governor who actually understands modern systems and not one guessing at technology policy.
 

What this includes:

• Smarter technology regulation (protecting people without suffocating innovation) 
• Cybersecurity protection for state systems and citizen data 
• Infrastructure designed by evidence, not ideology 
• Technology used to increase transparency, efficiency, and access 
• Protection against exploitative tech systems that harm workers or communities
• Encouraging responsible innovation in water systems, energy, agriculture, healthcare
•  Set procurement standards and cybersecurity requirements across state agencies.

A strong economy isn’t built by corporate subsidies. It’s built by healthy communities.
Policy focus:

• Support small businesses and local entrepreneurs 
• Expand apprenticeships and paid career pipelines 
• Invest in trades: construction, healthcare, water systems, agriculture, tech 
• Support rural job creation that keeps people in their communities 
• Strengthen the outdoor economy (public lands, conservation jobs, recreation access)
• Encourage manufacturing where it strengthens local resilience

 The current system punishes working people and small businesses while letting massive corporations extract wealth. In an ideafl system, working people would not carry the tax burden while multinational corporations extract record profits. I believe we should be moving toward a future where everyday Americans keep more of what they earn, small businesses can thrive, and the largest corporations contribute to the systems they rely on.
 

Ideally:

• Reduce harmful and hidden fees that function like backdoor taxes 
• Make state fees serve the people, not bureaucracies 
• Protect small businesses from excessive regulatory cost burdens 
• Advocate nationally for corporate tax reform that reduces pressure on working families 
• Support long-term reform toward a fairer tax structure
• As governor, I’ll focus on fees, permitting costs, and transparency so working people aren’t nickel-and-dimed 

 A healthy society makes room for  Artists, Makers, and Nontraditional Work without forcing dependence on the state. 

Core ideas:

• Legal cooperative living models 
• Community-supported creative spaces 
• Local zoning that allows art/live/work spaces
• Support for mutual aid models 
• Encouraging community-based economic ecosystems 
•  Protecting lawful ways of living and working outside the mainstream. 

Transportation & Infrastructure

You may see connections here to disability access, rural investment, public safety, and economic policy throughout this platform.

Infrastructure is freedom: it determines who can work, who can access healthcare, and who can safely move through their community.

My priorities:

• Invest in rural road safety and infrastructure maintenance 
• Support transportation access for seniors, disabled residents, and rural communities 
• Ensure evacuation routes and disaster planning are built into infrastructure decisions 
• Require infrastructure planning to meet ADA accessibility standards 
• Prioritize practical, high-impact projects over politically flashy ones 
• Improve transparency so communities understand what projects cost and why
   

Infrastructure should serve real people, not political optics.

Early Childhood & Families

Families cannot thrive when childcare is inaccessible, unaffordable, or unavailable. Especially in rural Colorado.

My priorities:

• Expand access to affordable childcare, especially in rural and underserved areas 
• Support community-based and cooperative childcare models 
• Strengthen early childhood education without imposing one-size-fits-all systems 
• Ensure childcare workers are respected as professionals and paid fairly 
• Support working parents so family stability does not depend on wealth 
• Reduce unnecessary bureaucratic barriers for quality childcare providers
   

Supporting families early strengthens every system that follows.

Every young person deserves real pathways & not just debt, not just survival jobs.

Protecting children means protecting their future, not just their safety. Colorado must offer real pathways for young people, whether that is college, trades, entrepreneurship, or alternative learning, instead of funneling everyone toward debt and instability. This includes expanding Career & Technical Education, supporting paid apprenticeships beginning in high school, strengthening mentorship pipelines, and enforcing meaningful protections for neurodivergent students and alternative learners. Schools should serve diverse strengths, not force conformity. By investing in practical skills, accessible education models, and early career pathways, we can reduce long-term harm, strengthen families, and give every young person a real chance to thrive.

Governor powers used: budget priorities, appointments, executive leadership, legislative agenda

As governor, I can:

• Direct the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) to expand state-supported Career & Technical Education (CTE) programs 
• Prioritize funding for trade-based programs in rural and underserved districts 
• Appoint State Board of Education members who support career pathway expansion 
• Propose legislation that requires equal recognition of trade certification pathways alongside college prep
   

This is not symbolic; this is structural policy control.

Paid apprenticeships beginning in high school

Governor powers used: workforce agency authority, grants, executive orders, budget

I can:

• Expand the state’s existing apprenticeship grant programs 
• Direct Colorado Department of Labor & Employment (CDLE) to partner with local employers for paid youth apprenticeships 
• Create a Governor’s Apprenticeship Initiative using executive authority 
• Tie workforce funding to real paid placement outcomes, not just “program completion”
   

Mentorship pipelines for youth

Governor powers used: convening power, partnerships, executive initiatives

Governors can:

• Launch a statewide Governor’s Mentorship Corps 
• Partner with trade unions, community colleges, rural hospitals, tech companies, farms, and small businesses 
• Use the governor’s office to coordinate programs across agencies that currently operate in silos 
• Incentivize participation through recognition programs, grants, and tax credits (via legislation)
   

This doesn’t require new bureaucracy, it requires leadership.

Support for young entrepreneurs

Governor powers used: small business agencies, economic development funding, rulemaking

As governor, I can:

• Direct OEDIT (Colorado Office of Economic Development & International Trade) to prioritize grants and micro-loans for young founders 
• Expand access to business incubators in rural communities 
• Simplify startup licensing and reduce barriers for under-25 entrepreneurs 
• Prioritize state procurement contracts for small and local youth-owned businesses
   

Governor powers used: legislation, pilot programs, waivers, funding priorities

I can:

• Propose legislation to expand alternative education pilot programs 
• Support hybrid learning models and competency-based education 
• Expand support for community-based education partnerships 
• Use state innovation grants to reward schools that successfully serve diverse learning styles
  

Protection for neurodivergent students and alternative learners

Governor powers used: enforcement authority, agency leadership, disability compliance

Governors can:

• Direct stronger enforcement of IDEA protections at the state level through state monitoring, complaint resolution timelines, and funding conditions. 
• Fund better training for teachers on neurodiversity 
• Expand access to alternative learning environments 
• Support parent advocacy offices to help families navigate school systems
   

This is not federal-only, states control implementation.

You may recognize these themes from climate, infrastructure, and resilience sections above.

Colorado needs reliable, affordable, locally resilient energy & not ideology-driven policy or corporate exploitation.

My priorities:

• Strengthen grid reliability and disaster resilience (wildfires, storms, outages) 
• Support community-owned and rural energy projects (solar, wind, microgrids, storage) 
• Encourage energy independence for rural towns, farms, hospitals, and critical infrastructure 
• Require transparency around large energy users (including data centers) and their impact on water and resources 
• Support innovation in clean energy technology without sacrificing land, water, or local control 
• Prioritize energy solutions that protect affordability for working families 

Energy policy should serve the people who live here, not just outside investors.

 Jobs & Economy

You may recognize many of these priorities from earlier sections of this platform. This section brings them together clearly.

A strong economy is built from the ground up & not through corporate subsidies, but through strong communities.

My priorities:

• Support small businesses and local entrepreneurs, not monopolies 
• Expand paid apprenticeships and real career pipelines (trades, healthcare, agriculture, tech) 
• Invest in rural job creation so people don’t have to leave their communities to survive 
• Support worker-owned cooperatives and community-owned enterprises 
• Strengthen the outdoor economy through conservation, access, and sustainable use 
• Encourage manufacturing when it strengthens local resilience and supply chains
   

Strong communities are Colorado’s best economic strategy.

 If you only remember one thing: strong communities are Colorado’s best economic policy.

This platform is not built for comfort. It is built for survival, resilience, and durability.

It is about restoring local control, strengthening worker power, protecting civil rights in practice, and building systems that actually work.

If you believe Colorado deserves leadership that tells the truth and builds real solutions:

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© 2026 Carmen Broesder for Colorado Governor