U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO) recently sat down with Ripon Forum Magazine for a professional and personal profile in which he discussed his family life, political priorities, and positions on tough issues such as legalization of marijuana and the “war on women.”
When asked how his life had changed since his election last fall, Gardner said, “Most importantly, my daughter Caitlyn was born just a few weeks after election night, in December of 2014. She was just days old when I was sworn into office.”
“Keeping up with her, (along with) my two other kids, has been the biggest change for me over the past few months,” he said. “And that’s to say nothing of going from representing my congressional district to representing the whole state.”
In regards to the Republican victories in the 2014 elections, Gardner explained that, in his opinion, voters in Colorado and all across the country made a decision to elect officials who would be proactive and make a difference.
“I believe voters were fed up with the inactivity and bickering in Washington, and they elected people to get stuff done and let America work,” he said.
With his home state of Colorado being the first of now 23 states that have legalized marijuana in some form, Gardner certainly has strong opinions on the issue.
“I think that Colorado and these other states are functioning as the Constitution intended for states to function – as laboratories of democracy,” he said. “I’m closely monitoring what’s happening in each of these cases, and I think all Coloradans and Americans are trying to figure out where exactly the right balance lies between personal responsibility and personal freedom.”
The Senator also discussed how his experience as a United States Representative has been extremely beneficial as he continues to serve his constituents in Colorado.
“It’s great to be able to build on the progress I made on various issues in the House while in the Senate, and to rely on the relationships I developed there to help craft legislation here,” Gardner said. “While the Senate and the House are obviously quite different institutions with different rules and traditions, I believe that the time I spent in the House helped me develop knowledge on a variety of issues and certainly gave me a chance to engage in frequent collaboration with my colleagues.”
During the November elections, Gardner was consistently attacked by Democrats, accusing him of perpetuating the “war on women.” The Senator successfully met that challenge head on, staying the course on discussing his game plan and not being derailed by negative rhetoric.
“I think voters around the country are searching for a positive message,” he said. “They want to hear what your plan is, and they want to hear how you’re going to get it done.”
“The constant negativity, the personal attacks, all of those things eventually just turn voters off,” Gardner added. “If Republicans are able to get their good ideas out, refuse to let their opponents define them and keep up a relentless positive message, voters will respond. Staying on offense, not on defense, helped us fight back when our opponents ‘jumped the shark.’ “
Speaking of game plans, Gardner has a specific list of initiatives on which he is diligently working.
“I’m going to continue to pursue the Four Corners plan that I presented during the campaign,” he said. “My focus is going to be economy, energy, education and the environment.”