Vail Daily Voters Choose Between Tariffs and Immigration for Colorado 2nd District

Why is a Vail-based paper asking two candidates for Congress about gumballs?

That’s the literal title of one candidate’s lecture. It’s also the lens through which Christina Blunt views the entire Western Slope.

Kelley Anne Dennison sees a different problem. She sees a bill that never gets paid.

Both are running for Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District. The primary is June 30. The Vail Daily asked them five questions. The answers reveal a district split between those who want to fix the price of eggs and those who want to tear out the cartels to do it.

Let’s start with the one thing everyone agrees on: nothing is affordable.

Dennison calls it out immediately. "Affordability — I know that’s what everyone says, but they never truly tackle it."

Her diagnosis is bureaucratic buck-passing. Local governments won’t cut energy costs. State governments won’t touch production. The federal government just plays politics. She wants to address it at home. She wants solutions, not rhetoric.

Blunt agrees on the symptom. Disagrees on the cure.

"Affordability of everything," Blunt says. "Immigration is a big challenge."

She cites a lecture titled “Immigration, World Poverty, & Gumballs” by Roy Beck. The logic is stark. The world is out-birthing us. We can’t bring everyone here. We have to take out the cartels, terrorists, and gangs in their home countries. Only then can we help them prosper.

Her solution? 100% tariff-based revenue. Revoke the IRS. End all taxes.

It’s a bold, radical shift. It’s also a gamble on the adjustment period.

Housing is the local pain point. Both candidates have answers for the workers struggling to buy a home in Delta or Montrose.

Dennison points the finger at reckless spending in D.C. and foreign policies that drive up commodity prices. She wants legislation to protect Americans from this strain. Simple. Direct.

Blunt looks at the influx of people. "With the excess of illegal immigrants here, it drives up the cost of everything."

Her fix is enforcement. Strict immigration laws. Accountability for congressional money allocation. She points to El Salvador as the model. They got crime under control. Their country changed. She wants that here.

The Vail Daily’s third question focused on ICE operations. The article cuts off there. But the implication is clear.

These aren’t just theoretical debates. Residents are being detained. Families are being split. The cost of living is rising.

Dennison wants to mend the ledger. Blunt wants to secure the border.

One sees a broken system of spending. The other sees a broken system of borders.

Which one hits closer to home for the folks in the valley?

Dennison says the representatives are too busy playing politics to look back. Blunt says we’re losing our way of life to the world’s population growth.

Both are running. Both have a plan. One involves tariffs. The other involves accountability.

The voters get to choose which bill gets paid.