He has been active in Mitsch Bush’s campaigns ever since, including as manager of her 2010 county commission re-election. “When Diane brought a bill forward, you knew it had been vetted, you knew it had been researched.”. Ms. Bush has been a Routt County commissioner and served in the Colorado State legislature for 4 years. It was 2014 and she was hearing stories from constituents about truckers who skirted the law by driving the winding roads of the world-renowned Independence Pass, saving gas and time but sometimes getting stuck and jeopardizing other drivers’ safety. The race for Colorado's open 3rd Congressional District seat is a dead heat between Democrat Diane Mitsch Bush and Republican Lauren Boebert, an internal poll conducted for the Mitsch Bush campaign has found. She lost to Tipton by eight points in 2018. That was an easy one, since her Republican challenger was found to be living outside the district and barred from being on the ballot, leaving Mitsch Bush unopposed. By DIANE MITSCH BUSH. “Fortunately, as time goes on, there are fewer and fewer molds that any of us have to fit into.”. Like us on Facebook to see similar stories, Universities face pressure to vet ex-Trump officials before hiring them, Column: You thought McConnell was tough as majority leader? “The biggest problem that campaign managers have is keeping her focused on the broader issues and not get too bogged down in all of the details.”, Her former campaign manager says she has a “compulsive attention to detail” that makes her a better lawmaker than candidate. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Bush raised $4.1 million, spent $3.9 million, and had about $230,000 in cash on hand while Boebert raised $2.3 million, spent $2.2 million, and had about $88,000 in cash on hand. Diane Mitsch Bush is an unflashy pragmatist. She spoke to KDNK's Lucas Turner about legislative priorities including protecting public lands, lowering healthcare costs, creating new jobs and more. mhall@businessinsider.com (Madison Hall,Grace Panetta,Taylor Ardrey,Ashley Collman), Republican Lauren Boebert defeats Democrat Diane Mitsch Bush to represent Colorado's 3rd Congressional District. Microsoft may earn an Affiliate Commission if you purchase something through recommended links in this article. Editor’s note: This is the second of two profiles of candidates for Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District. Rep. Millie Hamner, a Dillon Democrat, knew there was a problem. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories, See live coverage and full results for the US presidential election. Club 20 representatives confirmed that M… “When I was a commissioner, I was a Republican and Diane was a Democrat, the other commissioner was a Democrat. In June 2020, she came under scrutiny for her apparent embrace of the QAnon conspiracy theory that has quickly spread across the US. Hamner was impressed by the Democrat from Steamboat Springs. Wait until you see him as minority leader. Show full articles without "Continue Reading" button for {0} hours. With snow-white hair, she is not the typical congressional candidate, a fact her friends and supporters readily acknowledge, and embrace. In some cases, legislation that Mitsch Bush championed didn’t become law until after she left, such as a tire traction law for Interstate 70. “That’s a huge advantage in a political race. “She was known for her stakeholder meetings, where she would bring all sides into a room to figure out how to get to a solution,” Esgar recalls. Not only transportation, but also agriculture and water, too areas that Republicans typically had more experience with. Send me to Congress and I’ll fight for the Western slope–not insurance or big pharmaceutical companies.I’ll protect our public lands, fix our broken healthcare system, defend Social Security and Medicare, protect women’s health and rights, and invest in job training and infrastructure. Hamner’s plan was to double, or in some cases triple, the penalties on lawbreaking truckers. “It was never for show.”. She expected to have an ally in a fellow environmentalist and Democrat, Rep. Diane Mitsch Bush of Steamboat Springs. “It kind of distracts from her message.”. Mitsch Bush grew up in a working-class home in St. Paul, Minnesota, raised by a single mother who took out payday loans to cover rent. DENVER (AP) — Democrat Diane Mitsch Bush is a policy wonk who has conducted a virtual Zoom campaign focusing on water, energy, public lands, … Diane Mitsch Bush Author’s note: These questions were posed to Diane Mitsch Bush in response to numerous accusations made by Lauren Boebert in her campaign rallies in Meeker, Craig and Steamboat Springs in late September. Mitsch Bush’s campaign says she was married to a police officer at the time and doesn’t agree with Rubin’s description of violence or his language. “That’s kind of a disadvantage when she’s on the stump because when somebody in the audience asks a question, they get a 10-minute discussion with all of the subtle nuances and it overwhelms the audience,” Reynolds said with a laugh. Her opponent has not even held an elective office in Rifle. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Republican Lauren Boebert declared victory and Democrat Diane Mitsch Bush conceded just after midnight Wednesday in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District race. For a Democrat, she had unusual areas of expertise. The race between Bush and Boebert was rated as "leans Republican" by Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics and The Cook Political Report and "tilts Republican" by Inside Elections. “She was the person I went to and she spoke very passionately and eloquently about agriculture in Colorado from her pretty solidly Democratic perspective.”. Diane E. Mitsch Bush (born in Saint Paul, Minnesota) is an American politician and current Democratic candidate for the US House of Representatives in Colorado's 3rd Congressional District. Boebert held a lead at 51% to 46% over Mitsch Bush in the massive district, which spans the Western Slope and reaches around to Pueblo at 1 a.m. the morning after Election Day, according […] Democratic congressional candidate Diane MItsch Bush talks to firefighters in a campaign ad that began running Aug. 25, 2020. It was 2013 and state Rep. Claire Levy, a Democrat from Boulder, was looking to introduce legislation that would increase Colorado’s renewable energy sources and cut back on coal mining. Diane Mitsch Bush addresses a Montrose gathering in 2018. She’s the latest in a line of Democrats to skip the traditional Western Slope venue. “Diane is very much her own person and does not fit into anyone’s mold. 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