Democrat Michael Bennet has a strong record of delivering to the Southwest. Bennet worked harder than many over 13-plus years with accomplishments that include improving broadband access through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, expanding the child tax credit for a year and securing $4 billion for Colorado River water conservation in the Inflation Reduction Act.

Bennet also has a quiet body of work behind him. Serving on committees, helping constituents, negotiating policy and funding, and co-sponsoring – or putting his touch on – dozens of bills signed into law. Bennet’s holding out hope for his stalled Colorado Outdoor Recreation Economy Act, which would grant protections to about 400,000 acres of federal land in Colorado.

And Camp Hale is a national monument in large part to his unwavering dedication.

Along with U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper, Bennet also introduced the Dolores River National Conservation Area and Special Management Area Act in the Senate to protect this glorious stretch.

Whether leading the pack or working behind the scenes, Bennet gets stuff done.

Former Aspen City Council member and businessman Adam Frisch is smart and qualifed. Moderate and pragmatic, Frisch is pro-business and pro-energy. He’s running as a Democrat but doesn’t flash that “D” so much. Instead, he leans “unaffiliated.”

We’re ready to have a representative with a work ethic to legislate and prioritize the 3rd Congressional District and all of its constituents.

We can’t keep our own jobs if we don’t do the most basic, required work. We expect the same from our representative.

Frisch is much better suited to represent the 3rd Congressional District. He is eager to log real accomplishments.

In Democrat Gov. Jared Polis’ Colorado, the future is bright, steady. Keeping his promise, Polis capped the cost of insulin; provided free, full-day kindergarten and preschool; and offered more than $1 billion in property tax relief for homeowners and businesses.

Polis’ realization of free kindergarten and preschool was significant, especially in our state that underfunds public education. We agree wholeheartedly that education is the great equalizer in our communities.

During the pandemic, Polis was a rock. He led Colorado through the many unknowns and vetted data, when talk about vaccines, masks and the number of respirators for gravely ill COVID-19 patients was new. He was grounded and showed much leadership.

Polis is all about individual freedoms, unequivocally defending women’s reproductive rights. He pushes government work back to local levels, as much as possible.

And he’s eliminated state taxes on Social Security and encouraged entrepreneurship – making it $1 to start a new business.

Polis is the right choice for governor.

Republican Pam Anderson intends to eliminate partisanship in this highly professional position. This mission alone – simple and needed – won us over. A nonpartisan approach would best serve voters. As secretary of state, we hope Anderson will restore more voter confidence among all parties.

Anderson has an ambitious agenda – signature verification, voter registration audits, equitable funding streams for elections and more. She also plans to take seriously office employee turnover and implement a citizens’ academy, which explains voting processes and what, exactly, the office of secretary of state does.

Anderson has served as head of the Colorado County Clerks Association, building policies and procedures to safeguard – and make accessible – our election system. She is a former Jefferson County clerk and recorder, and Wheat Ridge municipal clerk, and has had a hand in election reform for 20 years and counting.

We appreciate that Anderson wants to focus on the nitty-grittiness of the process. We see her as the person to take us to this next level of evidence-based elections.

Attorney General Phil Weiser, a Democrat, is one fine lawyer. Thanks to Weiser, our region will receive between $200,000 to $250,000 a year for 18 years from the first round of opioid settlements. This money will provide treatment – in a capacity a local coalition will determine – for Southwest residents who struggle with substance abuse and, possibly, mental health challenges.

He backs the state’s Reproductive Health Equity Act and has worked on cases that range from civil rights, consumer rights and fraud, to public access, health care, pollution and voting rights. Weiser has advanced gun safety measures and addressed the school-to-prison pipeline. He’s passionate about more “emotional intelligence” training for police officers.

Weiser’s also knee-deep studying litigation on the Colorado River compact.

Let’s keep Weiser on the job to finish the good work he’s started.

This race is fairly quiet compared with other hotly contested contests, but it’s becoming more important all the time. The Colorado Board of Education is highly politicized with personal and political agendas blatantly inserted into decisions. Democrat Kathy Plomer is a steady hand, a reasonable person.

Plomer served on the Adams 12 school board for eight years, six of them as president. Plomer’s priorities include academic excellence for every child, respecting teachers, and transparency and accountability. She will expand opportunities for students with pathways to college or the workforce with good paying jobs.

Plomer is student-focused, making her a standout. We need Plomer on our state board of education.

Productive best describes Democratic state Rep. Barbara McLachlan. McLachlan continually punches above her weight, sponsoring bipartisan measures and passing 30 bills. She is a class act, works well across party lines and brings it all back home.McLachlan serves on three committees crucial to the Southwest: the Education Committee she chairs, and both the Agriculture, Livestock and Water Committee, and the Water Interim Committee.She’s delivered a range of legislation, much of it around education. The School Finance Act bumped up funding by more than $430 million and put resources into reducing class sizes, increasing teacher pay. Her bills recruited and retained teachers, and backed school safety and youth mental health efforts. McLachlan helped the oft forgotten group, foster youths, attend college.

Small businesses held onto more sales tax revenue. Police officers can now live outside their district in affordable areas. All thanks to McLachlan.

For tribal neighbors, her bills jump-started investigations of treatment of Indigenous people at Fort Lewis College boarding schools and allocated money for a tribal behavioral health facility.

For agriculture, she incentivized food banks to buy from local producers. Her health care initiative provided more dementia training and specified that COVID-19 hospital patients may have a visitor.

McLachlan is the solid, proven, best choice.

Republican Montezuma County Sheriff Steve Nowlin is running for a third, four-year term. Nowlin has 45 years as a peace officer under his belt, making his experience tough to beat. We like Nowlin’s philosophy in hiring with “character first” as a top trait for deputies.

Besides the boots-on-the-ground work as sheriff, Nowlin manages three budgets totaling $6 million annually for the Sheriff’s Office, detention center and Law Enforcement Authority, a special mill levy. Also, the Sheriff’s Office is awarded about $500,000 in public and private grants every year for equipment and training. Grants are key to purchasing critical equipment, and come with their own requirements and learning curves.

Let’s keep Nowlin on-task in his work fighting the influx of fentanyl in the Four Corners. He has expanded the narcotic drug task force, and plans to add another narcotics detective and intelligence analyst.

Nowlin’s challenger is unaffiliated candidate Odis Sikes, a rancher and Vietnam veteran. But Sikes does not have law enforcement experience. It’s important to stick with Nowlin.

Editor’s note: For more detailed information about endorsements, please search candidates and ballot initiatives on our website.