What experience (personal, professional, other) would you bring to your role as Senator that will benefit our state?

For decades Paul Lundeen has experienced success in business and public policy in Colorado. Paul represents Senate District 9 in the Colorado General Assembly. Previously he was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives (HD 19), State Board of Education from the Fifth Congressional District where he served as a member and chairman. He is the founder of numerous small businesses providing services ranging from brain training & learning centers to real estate development to golf course association landscape management, and investment management.

What is your vision for being a Colorado State Senator?

Paul has worked to advance the cause of charter schools, innovation, and choice in education, supporting the right and responsibility of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children. An unflagging champion for “Smaller Government, Freer People”, Paul knows a free market approach naturally eliminates bad and outdated ideas and businesses over time, as opposed to government bureaucracies which tend to live on and expand even when proven inefficient. Paul has fought this dynamic in the sphere of education, which is a prime example of the inadequacies of government controlled and managed systems.

Do you believe that elections in Colorado should be conducted differently? Should voters in Colorado be required to verify their identity and residential status in the respective counties in which they vote? Are you in favor of a single-day, in-person voting system consisting of all-paper ballots? Why or why not?

The bookends of Colorado’s elections must be cleaned up. The list to whom ballots are sent must be corrected to include only verifiably valid voters. At the other end of the election process, ballot harvesting must be stopped. Individuals have the right and responsibility to vote. Collection of bunches of ballots by a third party must be stopped. The only way to make these changes is to change the political paradigm by winning the Colorado State Senate into Conservative Republican hands. That is my key project and goal in the 2022 election.

As a Senator, how would you seek to protect the most vulnerable in our state, including the lives of the unborn, the trafficked, and the elderly?  

I would refer you to my website to see my 20 minute (that all the time the rules allow) closing argument against the expansion of abortion in Colorado inherent in HB22-1279. My portion of the second reading debate in opposition to this bill was approximately two hours long. Regarding human trafficking, I have run five pieces of legislation to provide protection and services to survivors of human trafficking, tools to law enforcement, tougher penalties for traffickers, and clarifications to make the law more enforceable.

What will you do as Colorado State Senator to protect our 1st Amendment rights to: the free exercise of religion, freedom of speech, peaceably assembly, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances, all of which are becoming more difficult to exercise in America (and around the world)?

After scripture, the words of 1st Amendment to the US Constitution are the most beautiful and powerful words written on behalf of human freedom and sovereignty. I will continue to fight to assure that no voice is cancelled–even perspectives with which I disagree. That is the American way; over time the voice of common sense and common decency will win out. But this concept has been under assault by leftist activists that seek to shout down voices like mine that have a more constitutional perspective.

Do you believe that gun ownership is a civil right, and what are your positions in regards to red flag laws, magazine capacity bans, legislation that regulates gun storage, and permitless “Constitutional carry”?

I am a gun owner and as a son of the west have been most of my life. I carry to hunt, protect myself and my family, to protect the 1st Amendment of the Constitution written about near here, and to protect the sovereignty of each American citizen.

Do you believe that the government has the legal power and authority to dictate what a person does with his or her body? If so, how?

The crux of the great political experiment known as America is found in the power of the sovereignty and responsibility of the individual. All of the principles that build and promote freedom and progress in America are rooted in this idea. Even the ability to protect those weaker than ourselves are rooted in and must be harmonized with this principle.

As a State Senator, what will you do to improve the education of our K – 12 students? What is your position on parental authority in education, including school choice?

The guiding principal of education must be, “it is the parent’s right and responsibility to direct the education and upbringing of their children.” Here’s what former Congressman Bob Schaffer had to say about Paul in a recent endorsement: As Chairman of the Colorado State Board of Education, Paul stands out as one of the nation’s leading defenders of parental choice in education and academic free markets. He always finds the courage to put principle ahead of politics. He is always guided by the Constitution and always does what is right, honorable and decent.

Do you believe that the Colorado legislature should make any adjustment to the level of taxes paid by residents in order to fund school district budgets? If so, how?

We spend about $14 billion per year on K-12 public education in Colorado. It works out to an average of about $15,000/student. Properly allocating those dollars in a way that is focused on the student instead of the protection and continuation of the education establishment must continue to be our goal. Currently too much money is siphoned off to pay for ever expanding administrative costs. Too little money is put into the paychecks of hard working teachers. Our exceptional teachers should be paid dramatically more–and the government employees union has testified time and time in opposition to my efforts to so improve public eduction. I welcome you into the fight to make the allocation of public money for students.

What is your position on Colorado joining the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, which would effectively eliminate the electoral college’s role in presidential elections in favor of a national popular vote?

I fought against it and voted against it. I encourage you to do the same.