Propositions 133-135 and an Independent Challenge to Melat Kiros

On the October 30, 2026, broadcast, Kim Monson hosts the Friday Dream Team with author and Federalist Papers instructor Allen Thomas, Task Force Freedom Northern Colorado founder Cain, and Spartan Defense Armory & Training owner Teddy Collins, the Republican nominee for Colorado Senate District 4. Matt Alexander, the Republican nominee for Colorado House District 60, explains why he is running, and Marty Neilson, a former president of the Colorado Union of Taxpayers, makes her case for the University of Colorado Board of Regents. Thomas previews his essay on faith and the ballot, Collins explains how tax questions are worded, Cain urges yes votes on Propositions 133, 134, and 135, and Shimon Blau, a Denver physician running as an independent, describes his challenge to Democrat Melat Kiros in Colorado’s 1st Congressional District.

Former Colorado Union of Taxpayers President Runs for University of Colorado Regent

Start listening at 6:10 – Hour 1

Marty Neilson, the Republican nominee for the University of Colorado Board of Regents in the 2nd Congressional District, came to Colorado at 17 to attend the University of Denver, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration and an MBA. She has spent 30 years as a chief financial officer or controller for several companies, and she said her résumé matches the job description of a regent. The district includes all of Boulder County, parts of Larimer, Weld, and Jefferson counties, and mountain counties including Gilpin, Grand, and Clear Creek. Neilson led the Colorado Union of Taxpayers as its president for many years and now serves as its assistant treasurer.

Neilson said a regent’s responsibility is to protect the long-term health of the university by keeping its academics excellent, holding its leadership accountable, giving students a healthy place to learn, and meeting its obligations to students and taxpayers. Her campaign website is neilsonforcuregent.com.

“I see the regent’s responsibility as protecting the long-term health of the university.”

Marty Neilson, Republican Nominee for University of Colorado Regent, 2nd Congressional District

Former Cañon City School Board Director Runs for Colorado House District 60

Start listening at 24:01 – Hour 1

Matt Alexander, the Republican nominee for Colorado House District 60, owns a landscaping company in Cañon City and is a single father of three. A fourth-generation Colorado native born in Alamosa in the San Luis Valley, he moved back to Colorado in 2006. The district runs from Pueblo West to Salida and from Woodland Park to Westcliffe, taking in all of Teller, Fremont, and Custer counties and parts of Pueblo and Chaffee counties. Alexander said his business took in more gross revenue under Gov. Jared Polis than ever before but earned less profit, and that his employees earned two to three times what employees made when he started the company and still could not afford to buy a house.

After seeing transgender ideology taught in schools, Alexander ran for the Cañon City school board in 2023. He won the seat and resigned in late September as the Republican nominee for the House. In both races his opponents drew far more outside spending than he raised, and a Kim Monson Newsroom report named him among the House candidates that outside money targeted in the June 30 primary. He said voters trust him because of the relationships he has built over 20 years in the community, coaching youth soccer and baseball and serving seven years with the Cañon City High School band boosters, including three terms as president. He wants schools to be able to arm staff, and he said Cañon City Schools funds far more counselors than school resource officers. His campaign website is alexanderforco.com.

“People want somebody they can trust.”

Matt Alexander, Republican Nominee for Colorado House District 60

‘Your Ballot Is Not a Valentine’ Essay Says the Bible Endorses No Political Party

Start listening at 36:59 – Hour 1

Allen Thomas, an author and the instructor of the Kim Monson Community’s Federalist Papers class, previewed his essay “Your Ballot Is Not a Valentine,” which the Kim Monson Show will publish this weekend. He wrote it after reading a Facebook post that endorsed one candidate and argued that, because the other candidates did not reflect Christian values, Christians had only one acceptable choice. Thomas said he supports that candidate himself but objected to being told his faith left him no other option. Laws carry the force of government and sometimes have moral consequences, he said, so voters understandably want moral people in office. Thomas said James Madison’s observation that men are not angels is why the founders designed a government that does not depend on virtuous people being in charge. He called a vote a prudential judgment about who will best preserve the government, cast for an official voters can remove at the next election. A vote does not commit anyone to defend everything a candidate says or does, he said, and pastors, like politicians, are capable of falling.

Thomas pointed to two of Jesus’s disciples: Matthew, who collected taxes for the Roman government, and Simon the Zealot, whose movement opposed the Roman occupation of Israel and treated Jews who worked for Rome as traitors. The Bible records no disagreement between them, which Thomas said shows that Jesus unites people more than any political belief can. A ballot has no power to save anyone, he said, and using the Bible to justify a particular vote damages the church’s standing at a time when Colorado needs more people in its churches. He closed by noting that Christians are called to be the salt of the earth, and that salt slows decay. Believers should pray for discernment, he said, and vote for the candidate who will best slow the decay of government.

“Our governor is not our pastor.”

Allen Thomas, Author and Federalist Papers Instructor

Ballot Questions Worded ‘Without Raising Taxes’ Ask to Keep Revenue Above TABOR’s Limit

Start listening at 60:57 – Hour 2

Teddy Collins, owner of Spartan Defense Armory & Training and the Republican nominee for Colorado Senate District 4, said voters who want to do good often approve tax increases because of how the questions are worded, and that a yes vote on a tax increase decides for every other taxpayer how their money will be spent. He told voters to read past any ballot question that promises to act “without raising taxes,” because, he said, such questions generally let the government keep more of taxpayers’ money. Allen Thomas added that a TABOR refund returns money the state collected beyond its limit, so keeping it amounts to a tax increase.

Kim Monson said the Colorado Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, Article X, Section 20 of the Colorado Constitution, drew efforts to get around it almost as soon as voters adopted it in 1992. A local question that cites Article X, Section 20 or says “notwithstanding any revenue limits” is asking to keep revenue above the limit, she said, and a question that promises to act “without raising taxes” while extending a tax set to expire is a tax increase. Those are the three warning signs she has set out for local ballot questions, and she and Cain urged a no vote on Proposition NN. Collins also urged Republicans to return their ballots, which must reach county clerks by 7 p.m. on November 3. It is too late to mail a ballot, so voters should use a drop box or vote in person.

“Anything that says without raising taxes is a tax increase.”

Teddy Collins, Owner, Spartan Defense Armory & Training

Protect Kids Colorado Placed Propositions 133, 134, and 135 on the November 3 Ballot

Start listening at 71:53 – Hour 2

Cain, founder of Task Force Freedom Northern Colorado, urged yes votes on the three Protect Kids Colorado measures. Proposition 133 would make trafficking a child for sex punishable by life in prison without parole, and Cain compared it to California’s three-strikes law as voters’ answer to judges and prosecutors who hand down light sentences. Teddy Collins said current state law allows probation for the crime. Rep. Scott Bottoms carried the same penalty in House Bill 26-1082, which the House Judiciary Committee postponed indefinitely on a 7-4 vote on February 10.

Proposition 134 would sort school sports teams by biological sex. Kim Monson said opponents have told parents that schools would have to inspect children’s bodies, and Collins answered that a birth certificate settles eligibility and costs nothing, while Kim Monson noted that student athletes already get sports physicals from their own doctors. Cain said Colorado schools already push gender ideology on young children and pointed to House Bill 19-1192, the 2019 law requiring Colorado public schools to teach the history and contributions of minority groups, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, in history and civil government classes. On Proposition 135, which would bar surgeries on minors to change their sex characteristics, Cain said a person can make that decision at 18. Cain closed with a plea for every voter to get off the sidelines and cast a ballot.

“Our founding fathers gave us this option so that we don’t fight.”

Cain, Founder, Task Force Freedom Northern Colorado

Independent Gathered 2,212 Signatures in Three Days to Reach the 1st District Ballot

Start listening at 99:23 – Hour 2

Shimon Blau, a Denver physician and small business owner, is running as an independent in Colorado’s 1st Congressional District against Democrat Melat Kiros, who defeated Rep. Diana DeGette in the June 30 primary. Blau said he had never planned to run for office and entered the race because Kiros’s win alarmed him. A late independent candidate had to be a registered unaffiliated voter and collect 1,500 valid signatures, and Blau had three days to do it. He set up signing stations and announced them on social media, and election officials accepted 1,918 of the 2,212 signatures he submitted, Colorado Politics reported.

Blau said he entered the race out of concern over Kiros’s socialism, and he urged voters to read the platform of the Democratic Socialists of America, whose candidate she is. He grew up in Denver’s Sloan’s Lake neighborhood and said the city has moved toward extremes. As a physician he wants to fix what is broken in health care, and as a small business owner he wants to keep employers in Denver. He is asking Republicans, unaffiliated voters, and Democrats who feel their nominee does not represent them for their votes. His campaign delivers free yard signs through blauforcongress.com.

“There’s nothing more American than being independent.”

Shimon Blau, Independent Candidate, Colorado’s 1st Congressional District

See Proposition 133 in the 2026 Colorado Voter's Guide →

See Proposition 134 in the 2026 Colorado Voter's Guide →

See Proposition 135 in the 2026 Colorado Voter's Guide →

See Proposition NN in the 2026 Colorado Voter's Guide →