Diane Mitsch Bush is her mother’s daughter.

“From the youngest age, my mom impressed on me that we’re here to make the world better for everybody,” says Bush. “She stressed volunteerism, and politics was always discussed at our dinner table.”

She said her mother’s passion is a gift she’s carried with her.

“In college, I was in the peace movement, the Women’s Movement and the environmental movement. I got a Ph.D. in sociology. I’m a nerd, a wonk, my life’s goal was to make the world better that way.”

She realized that to have a greater impact on the world, it meant running for public office.

“I ran for County Commissioner a decade ago and won twice, at a time when there were great pressures on wildlife,” she says.

Those experiences led her to her greatest challenge: Bush is the Democrat candidate for U.S. Congress, challenging incumbent Republican Rep. Scott Tipton for Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District. She has served in the Colorado House of Representatives for five years, representing District 26 from 2012 to 2017. She stepped down to take on the race against Tipton, who she feels is moving the country backward.

She says Tipton represents the current GOP, which employs the politics of division, fear-mongering, and hate, the complete opposite of her approach.

“The basic job of a representative is to listen to the people, to work for the people, not for the lobbyists,” she says. “It’s about human rights, civil rights, and basic decency.”

In an interview with Millennial Politics Podcast Host and Politics Editor Jordan Valerie Allen, Bush says there’s a lot at stake and no time to waste.

“I was 23 when Roe vs. Wade passed, so I know what it was like before. If abortion becomes illegal, it won’t stop abortions. Women will die again, because women died back then.

“For bureaucrats and white males to make those decisions for women is wrong, and we have to fight back. The states can legalize abortion, that would be over about a five or ten year period and that might be one way to fight.”

She says the Trump administration works for elites, and not the people.

“We have to build an economy that works for everyone, not just the top one percent,” says Bush. “One way is infrastructure investment. We used to invest in our people and our infrastructure. We need to invest in transportation, water infrastructure, renewables, broadband, the grid, affordable housing, just to pick a few. Not only does that create jobs immediately, but it also has positive multiplier effects. For example, once you physically connect people, you build a more connected and a healthier community.”

Bush says getting universal single-payer healthcare is not just humane, it’s good business.

“If we had single payer healthcare, we would actually save money and have a healthier population and have a more productive population,” she says.

Getting dark money out of political campaigns is another aim for Bush, who says that will go a long way to ending the thwarting of progress on science-based protections for the environment, air, water, and wildlife habitats, which will ultimately benefit climate change protections.

She calls her goal of investing in renewables and energy efficiency part of “A Green New Deal.”

“You’re creating jobs and helping to protect our environment and prevent climate change, so it’s a triple whammy,” she says. “It’s also good for future generations.”

She says working in politics has brought her in close contact with millennials and that she hears their message loud and clear about the quality and costs of education.

“Public education is the foundation of Democracy and the foundation for opportunity. The rungs have been ripped out in the past thirty or forty years and we need to put them back in,” she says. “We need a well-funded public education system, and we have a moral obligation to deal with student debt. There’s no question, we need to lower the cost of college and reduce the burden of student loan debt. Quite frankly, it’s bad for the economy and addressing that has got to be a top priority.”

She calls the current administration’s assault on human rights, civil rights, voting rights and immigration rights “un-American,” and she says she’s certain most Americans agrees.

“The vast majority of Americans are not for that kind of hatred or division. Most Americans are compassionate, kind, decent people, who really do care about other people.”