Colorado House District 13 candidates in the upcoming November election outlined competing plans for how they would bring down the cost of living during a forum hosted by the Summit Daily News on Monday, Oct. 21. 

Held at the Colorado Mountain College campus in Breckenridge, the debate between Speaker of the House Julie McCluskie (D-Dillon) and businessman Dave Williams (R-Buena Vista), largely centered around how involved the state government should be with addressing the district’s affordability issues. 

District 13 spans Chaffee, Grand, Jackson, Lake, Park and Summit counties, representing some of Colorado’s most expensive communities. As of August, median single-family home prices in every single county in the district — aside from Jackson — were higher than the statewide median of $405,000, according to data from the Colorado Association of Realtors. 

McCluskie championed the creation of state funds in recent years that have channeled hundreds of millions of tax dollars into local affordable housing projects. 

McCluskie said, if reelected, she would continue to support state programs that help increase the supply of affordable housing in mountain towns, adding, “While we have done a lot of work to make affordable housing better in our rural resort communities, we have further to go.”

Williams, a private contractor who claims to have multiple decades of experience in the housing development sector, said he does not see government spending and oversight as a solution to the district’s housing problems. 

“I believe the answer to just about any question is free and open markets, particularly in the building industry,” he said. 

Williams criticized state rules for building codes, such as ones that deal with electrical energy, as being heavy-handed mandates that increase the cost of development and therefore housing. He also said he was opposed to limits on short-term rentals, which have been introduced in some parts of the district but aren’t in place at a statewide level. 

“These (short-term rentals) are a different situation in Salida than they are in Breck. The solutions are different,” Williams said. “You can’t penalize the homeowners. I believe in the highest and best use of your real estate with the absolute bare-minimum government restriction.”

Williams ultimately expressed a desire for fewer government programs, saying, “at some point you gotta say, ‘We can’t afford anymore of these good things that tax dollars buy … you can’t have everything.'”

McCluskie defended the legislature’s role in responding to affordability issues, saying that state intervention has helped blunt the cost of living, citing measures to reduce insurance premiums and make free universal preschool a reality. 

“There are so many challenges when it comes to affordability — the state is playing its part,” McCluskie said. “We have seen incredible changes since the (COVID-19) pandemic, but we’ve turned the corner. We are on our way to a sustainable future.” 

While both candidates differed on the role of government, McCluskie and Williams did find common ground on several other high-profile issues. 

McCluskie championed the multiple legislative efforts over the last year that have mitigated property tax increases following an explosion in home valuations. She called Senate Bill 233, a bipartisan package of property tax cuts passed in the spring, “the grand bargain.” But McCluskie also acknowledged further property tax relief had to be passed during a special session in August because “it simply wasn’t enough.”

The combined cuts from SB 233 and the special session will shave an average of $460 off a homeowner’s property taxes in 2025, according to an analysis from the Colorado Fiscal Institute. 

Williams said the legislature was forced into passing additional cuts during the special session in order to stave off ballot measures being pushed by conservative groups that sought far steeper reductions. Still, he said he supports the property tax bills that were passed and is “grateful that it happened.”

Both candidates also said they had confidence in the state’s election system. In an informal survey of Colorado voters compiled by Summit Daily News in partnership with news organizations across the state, most said good governance and democracy was the No. 1 issue this election. 

McCluskie called Colorado the “gold standard across the nation” when it comes to elections. Williams, distancing himself from other Republicans who’ve embraced election conspiracies, lambasted former Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters, who was recently sentenced to prison for her role in a data breach scandal in her county. Peters has baselessly pushed narratives about the 2020 presidential election being stolen, parroting the rhetoric of former President Donald Trump. 

In closing remarks, Williams pledged to slash government spending and regulation and said the race for House District 13 “comes down to, ‘Are you happy with the direction things are going?'”. 

McCluskie leaned on her ability to work with Republicans and Democrats in the Statehouse and said she would continue to be a pragmatic lawmaker who gets results for her district. 

She said, “In a world of politics where vitriol and politics reign supreme, it has been certainly my commitment to the people I serve to engage in a bipartisan way to reach across the aisle … to find lasting solutions to the challenges we face.” 

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5.