College Democrats and Republicans co-host forum with county commissioner candidates

El Paso County commissioners and the candidates running for a seat encouraged students to be more involved in local politics while providing insights into what they do at a forum co-hosted by the UCCS College Democrats and Republican clubs.  

Commissioner candidates Naomi Lopez, running for District 3, and Bernard Byers, running for District 2, as well as current county commissioners Holly Williams (District 1) and Longinos Gonzalez Jr. (District 4) gathered on Oct. 24 at the Hybl Sports Medicine and Performance Center to talk about who they are and discuss the responsibilities of a county commissioner.  

Gonzalez Jr. said County commissioners are responsible for setting the annual budget and allocating funds to address issues like public health, public safety, roads and infrastructure. For 2025, their budget is $498 million. This budget pays for things like county employee salaries, expansion of unincorporated areas, new county buildings and the enforcement of state mandates such as ADA regulations. 

The El Paso County Commissioner Board is comprised of five representatives from each of the five districts. The five representatives currently serving on the board are all Republicans, and a Democrat has never held a commissioner seat since the board’s founding in 1976. 

Candidates and their policies 

Naomi Lopez. Photo courtesy of her campaign website. 

Naomi Lopez, an educator and speech-language pathologist, is the Democratic nominee for District 3. At the forum, she said she emphasizes the importance of engagement from younger demographics.  

Since the Board of Commissioners hasn’t seen a Democrat in the position for 50 years, she hopes to be the diversity the board needs.  

Lopez is excited to see more political engagement from young people. While she said that getting involved in local politics can be tedious, Lopez recommends starting by streaming past commissioner meetings on the El Paso County commissioner website to get a feel for current topics of debate. 

Lopez said she has never dealt with such a massive budget but is confident that she can quickly get over the learning curve to help with what needs to be done in the county. In the next eight years, she wants to focus on finding more money in the budget to spend on wraparound services to reduce incarceration numbers, more safety within the sheriff’s department and more coordination with mental health providers.  

“One of the biggest issues that we are facing right now is that we are a growing county, and we need to think about how we are developing in a smart way [and] ensure that we have actual resources available to us,” she said.  

Bernard Byers. Photo courtesy of his campaign website. 

Bernard Byers is the Democratic nominee for District 2. He is a self-proclaimed professional volunteer who wants to be part of the solution, not the problem. “I want people to hold me accountable if I mess up. I want you to tell me things that go wrong,” he said. 

He called for more suicide prevention and mental health resources, especially for minorities and diverse groups.  

More than anything, Byers wants to talk with the community on a monthly basis, helping people with specific issues that arise. Byers supports raising Lodgers and Automobile Rental Taxes, saying that these taxes on visitors go back into the community, helping businesses and employees.  

As a Democrat, he believes that he would be a good addition to the all-Republican board, adding that he loves his Republican friends because they enlighten him and make him more well versed. In the next eight years, he hopes to see more transparency and community interaction from commissioners.  

Current Commissioners 

Longinos Gonzalez, Jr. Photo courtesy of El Paso County.

Longinos Gonzalez, Jr. has been serving as a commissioner since 2017 and is currently in his second term, which ends in January of 2025. He is not running for reelection. In his time as commissioner, Gonzalez Jr. handled issues such as land use and responsible expansion for areas like Black Forest, Falcon and Peyton. In this, he acknowledges a 300-year water rule that these expanding areas must abide by. Land use issues encompass price of housing, quality of homes and water contamination.  

Holly Williams. Photo courtesy of El Paso County.

Holly Williams has been serving as a commissioner since 2019 and is also in her second term, which will end in January of 2027. In her time as commissioner, Williams has emphasized roads as one of her priorities, especially because they have been neglected in past years. She says that roads need attention and neighborhoods with sidewalks also need maintenance to comply with ADA regulations that have been passed down from the state. 

 “For many years, we did not put a lot of extra money into our roads,” she said. “Covid gave us the Cares Act funding, which initially could not be used for roads … then about a year later, they said we could use it for roads.” 

Both current commissioners and the candidates encourage students to be involved in local politics.  

At the end of the event, President of the College Democrats Abby Kinsey, who also helped moderate the event, said “I want to emphasize how important it is for us to get involved and make our voices heard. If you’re interested in local, national or state politics, I encourage you all to get involved in the College Democrats or the College Republicans.” 

Students can find out how to get involved with the College Democrats and College Republicans on Mountain Lion Connect.