Where Alex Kelloff and Dwayne Romero stand on the issues in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District primary

Alex Kelloff

“I believe in affordable healthcare coverage for all,” Kelloff said. “I think that individuals should be able to opt out of that universal health care if they want to pay for private coverage themselves, but otherwise everyone is covered under the system I would envision.”

Dwayne Romero

Romero said he would work to repeal the federal cuts to healthcare in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and restore Affordable Care Act subsidies cut by the Trump administration. “I would definitely be interested in exploring a public option structure,” he said.

Alex Kelloff

Kelloff said he supports the federal government negotiating drug prices with drug companies on behalf of the American people who would be covered under the universal healthcare system.

Dwayne Romero

“Yes,” Romero said. “I would like to push harder to have a more comprehensive and accessible, affordable structure for all medications, for sure.”

Alex Kelloff

“I am in favor of raising the minimum wage federally,” he said. “I don’t have a number in mind.”

Dwayne Romero

Yes, Romero said, to $12-15 per hour.

Alex Kelloff

Kelloff said childcare is a state issue. “We need to ensure that the federal programs are funded that make their way down to the state level — Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, SNAP assistance, veterans benefits, and I think by funding those at the federal level, it would allow the states to better handle the childcare crisis,” he said.

Dwayne Romero

Romero wants additional federal funding for childcare so that the Colorado Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) can be restored.

Alex Kelloff

“I think that’s a state and local issue,” he said.

Dwayne Romero

Yes, Romero said. He said he would support cutting the defense budget and reassigning those funds to childcare and healthcare subsidies.

Alex Kelloff

“No,” he said.

Dwayne Romero

“No,” he said.

Alex Kelloff

Kelloff said he is in favor of a moratorium unless new oil and gas leases on federal land can be done in “an environmentally friendly way” and “that the taxpayers and the constituents of where those public lands are benefit.”

Dwayne Romero

“Yes, I would absolutely,” he said. “What we have in place is sufficient. Anything new should
be stopped.”

Alex Kelloff

Kelloff said he wants to repeal the Trump administration’s tariffs. “I think also, especially in this district, water is critically important, so we need to ensure that our water stays in the district for the benefit of our ag industries,” he said. “We need to ensure that we come to an agreement on an updated Colorado River Compact, and I think the only way that we can do that is through a third-party mediator with the seven states that are parties to the compact.”

Dwayne Romero

Romero said he supports repealing the Trump administration’s tarriffs and restoring and increasing farm assistance programs.

Alex Kelloff

“I would certainly do everything in my power to ensure that those funds are released,” Kelloff said, adding that he would advocate for witheld FEMA funding to also be released.

Dwayne Romero

Romero supports restoring drought resiliency grant funding and getting more federal drought funding. “That’s going to be the duty of this elected representative, to go to Congress and fight like hell to get those funds back in place, and then they have more streams of funds coming around behind them,” he said.

Alex Kelloff

Kelloff said the federal government needs to reinvest in the immigration court system and the foreign service and embassy system. “I think there needs to be a clear, transparent, and expedited path to citizenship, or at least hearings for citizenships with respect to Dreamers and other individuals that are here in the country working,” he said. “We need to rebuild the infrastructure from the ground up.”

Dwayne Romero

“The DACA program is clearly something that needs to be protected and restored,” he said. Romero said he supports “safe, secure borders” and increased staffing in the immigration system to make the asylum application process more efficient.

Read more Are less-thirsty crops a solution to Colorado’s growing water problems?

Alex Kelloff

Kelloff said he supports municipalities revoking special use permits for ICE detention centers and closing down centers where the federal government has violated the constitutional rights of those detained. He supports class action lawsuits brought by those detained.

Dwayne Romero

“Any particular jurisdiction or community where there’s an ICE detention center should be allowed for access and observation to ensure that it is at a level of keeping with being fair and equitable and within the boundary of the law. No different than our police or sheriff’s work. They have to abide by the law,” he said.

Alex Kelloff

Kelloff said he would like to see ICE’s responsibilities revert back to those of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which preceded the Department of Homeland Security. “I would like to see a much more narrow jurisdiction and responsibility, similar to the predecessor organization, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, with the appropriate funding, which is much smaller than what ICE is today,” he said.

Dwayne Romero

Romero said he supports overhauling ICE. “It has gone awry from where you would expect a professional federal department to perform, and that includes professional policies and practices that are trained and developed into the working staff, including understanding and abiding by the law, personal property rights, personal space rights, and the removal of masks, the inclusion of body cams, the inclusion of training, actual training, physical training with weapons, and the application of force,” he said.

Alex Kelloff

“I think we need more sensible building regulations,” he said. “Some of this is going to be more of a local issue, but I also think there are creative ways within the tax code, as an example, to incentivize private capital that could help fund more affordable housing, but to do so in a responsible way, so that the constituents and the taxpayers are truly benefiting, but also private capital is attracted, such that more supply is built to meet demand.”

Dwayne Romero

“Having employee mitigation requirements at the local level, and land use codes is a great start,” he said. “No. 2 would be just strictly looking at the red tape and kind of the processing that may exist that slows the growth and the development of additional affordable housing across our district. And thirdly, there are several initiatives, for example, to prevent private equity firms from aggregating and assembling thousands upon thousands of owned inventory for rent.” Romero said he also supports public-private partnerships and relaxing setback and density requirements.

Alex Kelloff

“No,” he said, citing the $39 trillion national debt. “We need to be fiscally responsible as a country, and it would not be fiscally responsible to extend those tax cuts.”

Dwayne Romero

“No,” he said.

Alex Kelloff

“No,” he said. “I’m not in favor of dismissing that debt. To the extent that they have punitive loans, where there’s predatory lenders that have taken advantage of them, I would be in favor of overhauling their existing debt, such that they can pay it down, pay it off in a reasonable amount of time without egregious interest rates or burdensome costs to carry that debt.”

Dwayne Romero

“I do not support getting rid of it,” he said. “I do support developing additional techniques, additional pathways for students to handle ever increasing student loan burden.”

Alex Kelloff

Kelloff said he supports banning stock trading and betting on preduction markets for members of Congress. Alternatively, he would support “requiring compliance before you make any trades,” he said.

Dwayne Romero

“Yes,” he said.

Alex Kelloff

Yes, he said.

Dwayne Romero

“Something that might work and be easier to digest for Congress would be a cooling off period, say three to five years after coming out of elected office,” he said. “Alternatively, if that’s not enough, I would definitely support a complete and permanent ban, but I do believe there is practicality and appropriateness of a cooling off.”

Alex Kelloff

Yes, he said. “I think behind closed doors we need to pressure Israel to create a durable ceasefire and come up with a comprehensive solution to end all of those conflicts in the Middle East,” he said. “While I’m not opposed to providing defensive weapons, I think we certainly should use our leverage on offensive weapons and potentially withhold those if those are being used in places again like Gaza, Lebanon, elsewhere.”

Dwayne Romero

“Yes, from a defensive perspective, but I do not want to see it so aggressive and offensive where it brings civilians into harm’s way,” he said. “From a values perspective, we need to absolutely recognize that the state of Israel has been a very strong and consistent strategic partner of ours in the region. But I also believe that there are times when a good nation (has) a bad administration, and so you know what’s happening with Gaza and other Israeli citizens, frankly, on both sides, being put in harm’s way and injured, killed — that’s beyond the pale.”

Alex Kelloff

Kelloff said he would support a War Powers Resolution. “I was not in support of going to war in Iran, I think that was a war of choice,” he said. “I do believe we need to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, but I also think that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which was put in place under Obama, was effectively deterring them from obtaining a nuclear weapon.”

Dwayne Romero

“It was not a good idea,” he said. “The goal of trying to ensure that Iran never has a nuclear weapon, I agree with that given the performance over the last 75 years in that region. However, I have two daughters that have served in the military, one of them is actually still serving in the military, so this is very personal, this disastrous forever war, this unprovoked war, this is where we move from being a force for good… I would absolutely vote to end the bombing of Iran through the War Powers Act.”

Alex Kelloff

“I do not support data center development in this congressional district,” he said. “Land is too expensive. We don’t have the water, we don’t have the utility infrastructure. It’s not an optimal place for data center development. We need to pursue data center development, but only where it makes sense, and so that would be where clean energy infrastructure exists to power the data centers, where the local communities themselves want and welcome data center development, where there’s an adequate water supply so it’s not infringing on water needs in that community.”

Dwayne Romero

“I support data center development, but with several strong conditions,” he said. Romero said deep analysis of water and energy usage and compliance with local land use codes needs to be done before localities approve data center development. “I would not want to see a data center go under construction before that type of analysis is conducted at the local community level,” he said.

Alex Kelloff

“I think everyone would agree that we need to ensure that the development of AI is safe and is well considered with respect to the impact that AI will likely have on the labor force, and I think also, how AI is going to play into both our future economic growth as well as national security implications,” he said. “We just need well-intentioned, smart people to really consider these issues and come up with the best plan to move forward.”

Dwayne Romero

“I think, as in all things, there’s a tremendous amount of benefit, and there’s a tremendous amount of risk that comes with the application of AI,” he said. “And so in my mind, there should be some level of federal policy, but not heavy regulation, that provides some level of a guardrail that enhances the benefit of the application of AI, while at the same time it mitigates the downside risk and the cost associated, the impact associated.”

Read more Watch: The Colorado Sun discusses the challenges and solutions for an aging population at Colorado SunFest 2026