Colorado Could Be the First State to Send a Cannabis Businessman to Congress

September 05, 2017 Colorado

A very limited resource in the United States is what Colorado can lay claim to: A Congress seat that’s a weed vote. Even before he and three other representatives founded the Cannabis Caucus, Republican Jared Polis was a reliable pro-cannabis vote in Washington. And with Polis looking to run for governor, it stands to reason that his successor will be marijuana friendly. It’s just a question of how friendly.

Surely, Todd Mitchem is thinking about much more than just marijuana. A motivational speaker and author, Mitchem has just penned a tome all about changing routines called You, Disrupted. However, there is no denying that he is completely tied to cannabis. Mitchem is the founder of the app High There, the former chief revenue officer for Denver-based O.pen Vape and a marijuana entrepreneur. So what would he do in congress? Is he just a marijuana businessman who would roam the halls of the Capitol? Colorado may soon find this out.

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According to Denver’s Westword, earlier this month, Mitchem announced his candidacy for Polis’s seat. And the motivating factor that lured him to enter the race was weed. This is what he told the paper:

“I’ve done a lot for work in the [marijuana] industry, but when Trump was elected and I saw the mess around Jeff Sessions and the pushback against the industry, it just showed how much of a mess the federal government is”. Clarifying his motivation, Mitchem further added, “But what’s really motivating me isn’t just marijuana issues. It’s all these issues impacting our community. What’s affected me the most is health care. My family’s premiums have risen about $700.”

The second district of Colorado, including Boulder and the suburbs to the north and west of Denver, is what Mitchem would represent. Mitchem is running as a Libertarian, the same party that other prominent politicians who advocated for pot were affiliated to. This includes Gary Johnson, the former governor of New Mexico. With the announcement, Mitchem enters a field that’s so far uncrowded. Though it’s early, only two other candidates have officially begun runs. However, expect more candidates to enter the fray as the election isn’t until November 2018.

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According to Mitchem, running as a Libertarian can be a form of disruption. Though he is an independent, Senator Bernie Sanders ran as a democrat. Donald Trump, the real-estate tycoon, a reality television ‘star’ and the American President-for-now, is seemingly a Republican but would be challenged to identify as conservative. As pointed out by Mitchem in the press release announcing his candidacy, more than half of voters identify with neither mainstream political party. In addition to advocacy for pot, buzzwords are something you can expect from Mitchem’s campaign.

To conclude, here is a statement by Mitchem that reveals what one should expect from his campaign,

“Marijuana’s important, but it’s not the most important issue of every American, and certainly not the citizens of [Congressional District 2]. Certainly, we have bigger problems, like health care and everything from Charlottesville to the climate.”

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