Steph Vigil
District 16 - Republican Party
How does your experience make you qualified to represent the people?
I served in this office from 2023-24 after getting elected as the underdog candidate with a non-traditional background for politics. We don't elect enough working class people to public office, and it's one of the reasons that ordinary people often get left behind in our economy. In my first term, I proved to be an effective legislator despite the lack of formal credentials associated with my humble background. I stood up to corporate lobbyists and achieved major legislative wins in housing, clean energy, workers' rights, and more.
What are your top policy priorities?
Everybody deserves safe, secure, affordable housing and reliable ways to get where they need to go. I’ll keep fighting for housing for every budget, stronger renter protections, better transit, and safer streets for drivers, cyclists, pedestrians, and transit riders alike.
I’ll also continue standing with working people, because labor is the true source of wealth. The people of HD-16 dream big and work hard, and no one here should not be too poor to live. That means strengthening collective bargaining, holding big tech accountable for their impact on our economy, and protecting worker safety and dignity on the job.
Finally, I’ll defend civil liberties and human rights. Self-determination is a basic human right and a core Colorado value. Colorado must continue protecting reproductive freedom, LGBTQ+ rights, democracy, due process, and the right of every person to live their best, authentic life in freedom and safety.
What is one issue you think is being overlooked in this race, and how would you address it?
Food security! The high cost of groceries and has become an increasingly serious problem for working families in recent years, but the poorest individuals and households have been struggling for much longer. Corporate consolidation in the food system has limited consumer choice and created food deserts. Something I'm hearing a lot from the community is a deep worry about everyone being properly fed, especially kids from poor families, older adults, people with disabilities, and those who simply can't access grocery stores, or can only afford low-quality food. I applaud initiatives like the Summer Food Service Program, and free grocery days at local nonprofits, but I think we need to dig deeper and actually improve the market itself. We should reexamine policies in our tax code, permitting, and land use rules, and find solutions that will make small, community-based groceries stores more feasible.
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