Erik Underwood is an Approval Voting Party candidate running for Colorado governor in the Nov. 3 midterm election. The Summit Daily asked each candidate five questions about some of the key issues facing the Western Slope.

Question 1: Colorado’s High Country has a severe housing crisis that is pushing out working locals, yet much of the housing legislation that has been passed in recent years has been focused on Front Range communities. As governor, what efforts would you take to bring down costs and increase access to housing in the High Country? 

Underwood: Colorado’s recent housing laws were written for the Front Range. The accessory dwelling unit and transit-oriented housing requirements apply to metro area jurisdictions, so most mountain communities got the rhetoric and none of the tools.

I would change three things. First, my 2.75% state loan program, financed through the state’s own capital, so local governments and housing authorities can build workforce units without waiting on federal tax credits that never pencil at mountain construction costs.

Second, fund deed restriction buydowns at scale. Vail InDEED works. It should be a statewide program, not a local budget line.

Third, cut the cost of building up here. State-backed modular and factory-built housing, tap fee relief for deed-restricted units and state land made available for workforce housing near where people actually work.

And a rent freeze while supply catches up.

Question 2: Rural resort areas navigate a delicate balance between the tourism industry and the need for long-term housing for locals. Do you support legislation to tax and/or limit vacant homes and short-term rentals? Please provide a “yes” or “no” answer to this question before expanding on your reasoning. 

Underwood: Yes.

House Bill 26-1036 should have passed. It did not mandate anything. It gave local governments the option to ask their voters for a vacancy tax, and it exempted short-term rentals. Three Democrats joined Republicans to kill it in committee, and mountain towns lost a tool they had asked for. I would sign that bill.

On short-term rentals, I support the lodging classification for investor-owned units rented more than 90 days, and I support local caps. A town where more than half the homes sit empty most of the year is not a housing market; it is a storage unit for capital.

But taxes alone do not build anything. The revenue has to go straight into deed-restricted units, and the limits have to be set locally, because Summit County and Craig are not the same place.

Question 3: The fight over the future of the Colorado River is likely to spill into the next governor’s administration. What do you believe is the best path forward for Colorado’s water security, and how will you work to protect residents’ critical water rights?

Underwood: The seven states failed, and as of Oct. 1, the federal government is operating this river under rules Colorado did not write. That is the worst outcome for us, because our leverage is the compact and our protection is prior appropriation.

So first, Colorado must get back to the table and stay there. A negotiated deal, even a hard one, beats a federal decree we spend a decade litigating while Lake Powell sits within 30 feet of losing power generation.

Second, any reduction has to be shared and enforceable, with Lower Basin evaporation and system losses counted honestly. Colorado will not be the only state that actually cuts use.

Third, protect water rights here. No buy and dry, no new transmountain diversions, fair compensation for voluntary fallowing, and no AI data centers drawing millions of gallons while ranchers are asked to give up water.

Question 4: Wolf reintroduction remains a contentious issue in Colorado with lawmakers bringing concerns about program cost, transparency, management and impacts on the Western Slope. What actions, if any, would you support to alter the wolf reintroduction program and why?

Underwood: I would keep the program and fix how it is run. Voters ordered this in 2020, and a governor does not get to ignore a result he dislikes. But the ranchers who carry the cost never got what they were promised.

Three changes. First, pay claims fully and fast, including indirect losses like weight loss and lower conception rates, and stop making producers litigate their own paperwork. The state funds some range riders and deterrents now, but patchily and often late. I would make it reliable and upfront for every affected producer, and cover carcass removal. 

Second, transparency. Release location and depredation data on a public schedule, not after pressure.

Third, Colorado should keep management authority in Colorado. Washington, D.C. threatening to take over our wolf program is not help; it is a takeover, and I would fight it.

Releases are already paused. Use that time to rebuild trust on the Western Slope.

Question 5: Colorado continues to face a structural deficit in its state budget, and this year the legislature was forced to cut spending on Medicaid, affordable housing and other key programs. As governor, how would you put the state on a more sustainable spending path while protecting programs and services that Coloradans rely on?

Underwood: You cannot cut your way out of this, and everyone at the Capitol knows it. Medicaid is growing around 9% a year while the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR, lets the budget grow about 3%. That gap is the whole problem, and it repeats every year no matter how many provider rates get trimmed.

So I would take it to the voters, which is the only honest path. A Colorado Wealth Gap Surcharge on the highest earners, and a measure to let the state keep and spend revenue it already collects.

On the spending side, end private prison contracts, cut outside consultants and use the state’s purchasing power on prescription drugs instead of cutting equine therapy for disabled kids to save a hundred eighty thousand dollars.

Borrowing from the reserve and withholding refunds is not a plan. It is a delay.

Ballots for the Nov. 3 Colorado midterm were mailed to voters starting Friday, Oct. 2. To check your voter registration status, visit GoVoteColorado.gov.