FRISCO — Kim McGahey is running as the Republican candidate for Colorado’s House of Representatives in District 61, which includes Delta, Gunnison, Lake, Pitkin and Summit counties. McGahey will face incumbent Julie McCluskie in the general election Nov. 3. Both candidates are from Summit County.

McGahey earned his undergraduate degree at The University of Mount Union and has worked since 1983 as a real estate broker, which he said led him to being a community advocate and volunteer. McGahey has lived in Breckenridge since 1978 and had his two children in Summit County. He is the founder of the Breckenridge Soccer Club and High Country Youth Soccer, and he recently retired from being a high school referee.

When asked what led him to run for House District 61, McGahey said he thinks it’s important that Colorado moves in a different direction.

“Right now, there’s too many liberal influences on the state of Colorado,” McGahey said. “It’s a pretty state, but it’s pretty screwed up politically, and I’ll be a conservative voice for the Western Slope and independent thinker stemming the tide on the liberal takeover of our individual rights.”

Bringing “conservative common sense” back to the Capitol is McGahey’s goal, along with defending police, passing Proposition 115 to prohibit abortion after 22 weeks and reopening the economy. Basing his belief system on constitutional freedoms, McGahey lists several legislative priorities, including defending the Second Amendment and promoting quality health care, but he said curtailing the emergency powers of the governor is at the top of his list. 

“We had a medical emergency, we solved the medical emergency, and yet the governor keeps pushing the goal post farther down the field every two weeks and keeps expanding his powers,” McGahey said. 

McGahey advocates for opening the state and said he wants to get people back to school, work and church. He said Colorado has an economy that is “busting at the seams” ready to get back to it, so McGahey said he wants an end to the COVID-19 lockdowns. He said we will never conquer the virus so we should learn to live around it and get people out and immune to the virus as quickly as possible. 

He added that he wants to retain the Electoral College and defeat the popular vote. McGahey also advocates for parental choice in education and said there should be more support for charter and home-school options. As House District 61 expands across a variety of landscapes from ski slopes to farms, McGahey said his philosophy is to make sure that any vote that comes to him puts the interests of House District 61 first, rather than the state of Colorado as a whole, saying a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work.  

“I can’t be bought, I can’t be bribed, and I can’t be brow-beaten into submission by the powers that be in either the state Legislature, Republican Party or any special-interest groups. I think if we continue to put the people first, then the decisions are made in the right way,” McGahey said.

McGahey has pledged to support congressional term limits, saying term limits are the key to getting rid of the dissension between political parties. He said he only plans to serve two terms himself if elected. McGahey said the Founding Fathers created a system where people come out of the private sector into the public sector for a short time, then return to the private sector, which he believes is how the government should run.

As for health care, McGahey opposes a universal health care system, which he said hasn’t worked anywhere and won’t work in Colorado. He believes the private sector needs to have a menu of health care options and that affordable health care is possible in the private sector via supply and demand.

In Summit County, McGahey has helped organize rallies that have been held to show support for law enforcement. McGahey said he wasn’t sure what the response would be but that the experience has been rewarding and the rallies have had a good following, with about 100 people showing up to four rallies. 

“I think there’s a lot of people out there who understand the value that police protection and law enforcement provides for the security and the civility of our community,” McGahey said. “Without police protection, it’s chaos in the streets.”