Richard Mancuso
RepublicanQ1 What advisory mechanisms will you implement to ensure that evidence and scientific findings play a crucial role in your policymaking process?
“I never answer a hypothetical question. You call 300 words a brief survey?!?! When you grow up in the streets you get your PhD before you start high school. What you learn is to separate the truth from the hype. I support and follow the science but via a strong discernment I also know when others are using their positions to enrich themselves.”
Q2 Colorado farmers are facing multiple threats, amidst water scarcity and rising prices for fertilizer and other imported materials. As agriculture is our #1 export sector, in what ways do you imagine using your role to support evidence-based advancements to protect and support our farmers and natural resources in the years ahead?
“I am a major supporter of agriculture and the farmer ! We have a governor and legislature that has made their lives miserable over the last 15 years. If you want the farmer to thrive you must listen to the farmer and not a politician who sees themselves as a leader. The farmers today not only have the practical ability but many have advanced degrees thanks to great schools like CSU . We must also take a proactive approach to better maintain our forests and keep them clean and healthy to protect our communities from wildfires.”
Q3 America has a growing AI industry, supporting cutting-edge innovation but raising issues of resource use, privacy, and economics. What is the right balance of costs and benefits for new data center construction in Colorado, and how would your policies accomplish that balance?
“AI is the new industrial revolution and we must lead the world in it or we will lose our position as a world leader. We have thousands of acres that can be used to build AI facilities and with that technology many high paying jobs will be created. My only concern is the power grid. In my opinion each AI facility has to build their own power grid and infrastructure and the power that they don’t use is sold back to the utility companies at a fair market price to help keep utility prices down for the consumers.”
Q4 Colorado has experienced a lingering measles outbreak since March of 2025. What evidence-based policies do you support to improve community and preventive health for your constituents, for infectious diseases and other threats?
“I support the measles vaccine but we are living in a shrinking world and in most cases an individual who has entered our country both legally and illegally has been the carrier. So what do we do? Years ago people were quarantined can we go back to doing that again? We cannot! Therefore we must move on and not blow things out of proportion because if we do we will lose our freedom in the name of safety!”
Q5 What are your opinions on the current state of science literacy, and how could K-12 education standards be adapted to form a better public understanding of and relationship building in science?
“As a retired teacher I hate to say this but we have already lost the race. Prior to 1979 we were number one in the world in both math and science and since the creation of the department of education we are now number 48… Something is very wrong! In Chicago with over 600 schools not one person is at grade level in math or science.
We need to recruit better teachers, eliminate many administrative positions and reduce the government bureaucracy associated with education today.”