Democrats at long last have a challenger for U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, in the November election.
Pueblo County Commissioner Liane “Buffie” McFadyen said Tuesday she plans to get into the race against him. Tipton is going for his third term in Congress.
McFadyen and Tipton served together in the state Legislature.
“Although I believe the incumbent is a nice man, we need more than nice. I call the 3rd Congressional District in Colorado the forgotten district. It needs a champion for it,” McFadyen said. “I believe it needs a more maverick personality.”
She represented Pueblo West in the state House from 2003 to 2010. She had chaired the House Transportation and Energy Committee and advocated on behalf of state employees, especially prison guards and highway workers.
Tipton had little say on his challenger in an interview with the Herald on Tuesday in Washington.
“I think, before we have any comment, we need to hear what she has got to say, if she’s going to get into the race,” he said.
McFadyen has not yet formally filed paperwork to declare her candidacy.
With just nine months until the election, she will have to quickly raise money and boost her name recognition in the sprawling 3rd Congressional District, which covers most of the Western Slope, plus the San Luis Valley and Pueblo.
Contrasts between the two were clear already Tuesday afternoon when Tipton voted with most House Republicans against raising the country’s debt limit. Republican leaders let the debt increase pass with mostly Democratic votes in favor.
“Given our nation’s staggering debt, raising the debt ceiling without at least getting comparable spending cuts in exchange is not appropriate,” Tipton said in a news release.
McFadyen said she recognizes the need to control spending, but raising the debt ceiling pays for spending Congress has already approved.
“Essentially, voting against the debt ceiling would be defaulting on our bills,” she said. “It destabilizes our financial markets every time we do that.”
Tipton easily beat former state Rep. Sal Pace, D-Pueblo, in the 2012 election; Pace now serves alongside McFadyen on the Board of County Commissioners.
Technically, McFadyen is not the first Pueblo Democrat to get into the race against Tipton. Abel Gebre Laeke filed to run last May. But McFadyen is a virtual lock to win the Democratic nomination because Laeke is a patient at the Colorado Mental Health Institute.
jhanel@durangoherald.com. Herald Washington correspondent Katie Fiegenbaum contributed to this report.
