6-12-24 *INTERVIEW* CD-16 Republican Candidate Robyn Carnes

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Don't very often have candidates for alocal law for a state legislature on the
show. But some races are reallyimportant for a variety of reasons. For
example, if you can prevent Democratsfrom getting a super majority, that's important.
And so where I could have aRepublican on the show in a race
that Republicans can actually win but thatDemocrats could also potentially win, that's an

(00:25):
important enough race that I want tohave that conversation. Joining us as someone
who is in that very situation.Robin Karnes is running for Colorado Senate District
sixteen. She is a fellow graduateof Leadership Program of the Rockies, and
she joins us now, Hi,Robin, welcome to KOA. Hi Ross,
thanks so much for having me asa fellow graduate of Leadership Program of

(00:46):
the Rockies. I'm going to putyou on the kind of task that you
would get from Bob Schaeffer, forexample, where I'm going to insist that
you that you deliver your message ina very short period of time before I
put you on that clock, though, just tell people quickly what are the
geographic boundaries of Senate District sixteen,and you know, because there are probably

(01:07):
quite a few listeners who are inyour district but might not know the district
number. Sure. Sure. SenateDistrict sixteen is a multi county district.
It's west of Rapahoe East Jeffco Bellevueis on the north sea, or seventies
on the south. It is hometo over one hundred and thirty three thousand
people and east to west would beroughly Ken Carroll on the west and University

(01:30):
of Boulevard on the east. Actionablefor the Quebec Quebec, Quebec on East
Quebec. Okay, yes, exactly, Okay, So why should we care
about this district in particular in thecontext to what I said before. Yeah,
it's winnable and it is competitive.What people need to understand is it
was redistricted a couple of years ago, which means the current incumbent did not

(01:53):
truly win all those votes in thatredistricting process. It gained six seeing precincts,
all of which are heavily conservative,and so they see this as winnable.
It is competitive, and when youlook at what the makeup is down
at the State Senate right now,we are one seat, as you said,
Russ, we are one seat awayfor becoming a super minority, which

(02:16):
is really really bad because it meanswe have one party, the Democratic Party,
they would hold a super majority andthey would have full control. As
Senator Paul Landin often says, weat least have a stay right now,
even if we don't get our way. If we see a super minority take
place, which is where we dipfrom twelve current senators to only eleven,

(02:38):
we won't even have us say andthat's really bad. When you think about
the importance of government. Balanced governmentis the most is the best government.
That is what I've learned on CentennialCity Council as a councilwoman. There.
When we don't have balance, alot of things go wrong. Whether it's
let's just take, for instance,we don't balance of our tires on a

(03:00):
car right, the whole thing shakes. Other things go wrong. Let's say
we're doing yoga. We want tofind that balance, that core strength,
because it impacts everything else we do, whether we're riding a bike. We've
got to find that balance. Wehave none right now. In fact,
to my knowledge, we now haveseven open socialists and one communist down under

(03:22):
the Golden Dome. How did thathappen? Ross, How did that happen?
It's not good for you, it'snot good for me, it's not
the Colorado good for Colorado's and youcan you can interrupt me, but I'm
gonna keep going here if I can. Well one quick thing, one quick
thing. Do you have a primarychallenger or do you want to pose at
this point? No, No,I'm all post. And we did that

(03:43):
very strategically. I think in primarieswe often spend way much fun. So
we intentionally, very strategically got outof the gate lak so we could avoid
a primary, and we don't haveone, which is beautiful because the focus
now is fund raising, it isname recognition, It is getting out there
meeting constituents at S sixteen and there'sa lot of them, and so we

(04:03):
will be on the general ballot.Now, if you received a ballot,
you will see my name on thatprimary. Just fill that bubble and we'd
like to see that. So noprimary. To answer your question, we're
talking with Robin Karnes running for SenateDistrict sixteen. This is a seat that
Republicans can win and should try veryhard to win. Robin's website is Carnes

(04:24):
cr n Ees for Colorado dot comand that's the word for for so car
n E s fo R Colorado dotcom. I will be making a donation
to Robin's campaign later today. Ihaven't done it yet, just been real
busy. Even though I don't livein that district. I think this is
a very important seat, very importantrace. Right now. The Democrats have

(04:46):
a supermajority in the state House ofRepresentatives. They don't quite have one in
the state Senate. If they wereto get one, then the radicals in
the state Legislature could pass anything,even over the v of Governor Jared Poulis,
who believe it or not, we'rein a bad position of Jared Poulis
is our only real defense from theleft right now. And if Democrats pick

(05:10):
up seats in the state Senate,then there will be no defense against the
far left. And that's why Ithink this seat is important. I'll give
you the last seventeen seconds. That'sgreat. Thank you Ross. We would
love your support. Thank you Rossfor supporting me. We need the rest
of you Colorados to come out,even if you're not in my district.
Senate impacts everyone. We need volunteers, we need donations. There's too much

(05:32):
at stake to not get involved.I have stuck my neck out and I
have chosen to run. I havetwo middle school boys, I have a
husband in law enforcement. There's toomuch at stake not to get involved.
I need you and your listeners todo the same. If we can win
this, and we will, wehave the possibility. This is a winnable

(05:53):
steak. Get involved at the locallevel. Don't be distracted by the national
stuff going on. When Colorado isburning, we need to send in may
day and we need to take itback. Thank you, ros all right,
you're welcome, folks. I hopeyou'll support Robin Carnes for Colorado dot
com and it's up on my websiteas well at Rosskominsky dot com. We'll

(06:14):
talk again, Robin. Thank you, very good. Thanks ros byebye.
All right. I'm serious about this. They're not. They're just like at
the national level. Here, atthe state level, most seats are jerrymandered
in a way where one party orthe other is likely to win them.
There are not very many truly competitiveseats, and if you don't like one
party control of the state, infact, you could be a Democrat and

(06:38):
still not love one party dominance ofthe state. This is a state you
really want to support Robin Karnes towin. She does not have a primary
challenge, but I wanted to haveher on right now.