Vivian Smotherman is running to oust Sen. Cleave Simpson in Senate District 6. She has pitched herself to voters as a louder voice on key issues, such as K-12 education funding and rural health care.
Smotherman is running in a toss-up race as she takes on Simpson, who was first elected in 2020 to Senate District 35. As a result of redistricting, both candidates are running for the first time in SD6, which spans Southwest Colorado, from the San Luis Valley west to the Utah border, and from the New Mexico border north to Saguache County and parts of Montrose County.
In an unusually cordial race, Smotherman has simultaneously flanked her opponent to the left on issues such as the rights of women and the LGBTQ+ community, as she has tried to maintain a more centrist position on issues such as gun control and transitioning to renewable energy.
Smotherman is a Denver-born farmer and Navy veteran who spent 20 years in the oil and gas industry before she and her wife moved to Durango in 2021. She announced her candidacy in early 2024, saying that it was “unconscionable” that a Senate race would go uncontested.
The seat has been a subject of national interest as Democrats try not only to retain their 23-seat majority in the Senate chamber, but pick up an additional seat to give them a powerful supermajority. The district’s voters do not strongly favor either party, according to a 2021 nonpartisan analysis.
Get to know Vivian
What is your primary vehicle?
Jeep 4xe hybrid.
What was the last vacation you took?
In 2023 I took a holocaust tour of Europe, including Auschwitz and worked an archaeological dig of a Roman villa in Romania.
What book are you reading right now?
“Caesar’s Calendar” and “Holy Blood, Holy Grail.”
Other than the Herald, where is the first place you go for news in the morning?
Reddit.
If you had to live in a town outside Senate District 6, where would you live?
Most likely Steamboat Springs.
DH: What would be the first piece of legislation you would introduce if elected?
Smotherman: I’d love to put a bill through to study getting rid of TABOR (Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights). We can’t do it until we know how to do it, and I think it’s important to make sure we do it right, so that it helps the people of Colorado and doesn’t hurt them.
DH: Property taxes and assessment valuations have been a hot topic in Denver the last few years. Home values are up, as are living expenses and the cost of labor materials for local governments. Cutting taxes is good for homeowners but bad for government budgets. What, if anything, should lawmakers do next year to address the conundrum?
Smotherman: We need to look at reducing cost of housing. To do that, we have to have more units that are in the affordable level. Bringing those costs down allows every working family to have more cash available for the other things. Along with that, we have to find a way to increase people’s pay.
DH: Is there something lawmakers should do next year?
Smotherman: I think they need to focus on finding as many ways as they can to help the working class families across the state. That includes funding after school programs so that the parents can work, finding ways to fund day care so that both parents can work if they want to.
DH: You’ve said “I’m 100% against taking away women’s rights” with respect to abortion. Is there any bill proposing any level of abortion restrictions that you would support?
Smotherman: No, not a one.
About this Q+A
The Durango Herald met with opposing candidates running in contested races across Southwest Colorado. Candidates were asked similar questions on the same issues. Their answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.
DH: Your opponent talks a lot about deferring to local control as a governing philosophy. Do you agree?
Smotherman: I think it has to be a partnership. You cannot have the state Legislator just to go hands-off completely and let these communities run amok. That’s the whole point of having representation from all of these districts.
DH: What are one or two key issues where the state should play a hand in regulation, and what are a few issues that should not be handled at a state level?
Smotherman: Obviously we have issues with book bans, we have issues with school boards and we have issues with rules on how they treat children in schools. These are issues the Republican Party and the MAGAs have forced onto our populace. Because of the way it’s playing out and they’re able to infiltrate some of these school boards, like Cortez, then, yeah, the state has to come in and protect those people.
Housing is another issue. I think, again, it’s a cooperation. If you have a good program, that’s where a legislator has to step in and go, “How can I support that? That’s incredible work. How can I make sure you get more money?”
DH: What mechanism would you propose to increase K-12 funding?
Smotherman: Let’s start with that study of TABOR, because that is killing our schools. Funding is a huge issue, but under the current model, it seems like it’s going to be impossible to find that funding if we don’t address the tax problem as a whole. But I’m sure there are other things in the budget we’re going to have to look at, and that’s going to be a major difference between myself and Cleave. When I’m looking for money to cut, it’s not going to be from after-school programs, it’s not going to be from child care, it’s not going to be from mental health or substance abuse programs. It’s going to be against corporate welfare.
DH: You’ve urged a slow transition to renewable energy that incorporates the oil and gas industry as stakeholders. Did the state do an adequate job of consulting with the industry when it rewrote regulations in 2020?
Smotherman: I’ll be honest with you, I don’t know how much negotiation they had. I think there’s probably some hurt feelings on both sides. But I don’t hear a lot of grumbling overall from the big oil companies.
DH: In response to a recent question on gun control, you said you own a lot of guns.
Smotherman: I don’t want to take away your gun. Tell me how we can make our schools safe without putting more guns into our schools. That, to me, is addressing things like poverty, it’s addressing things like housing insecurity, it’s addressing things like food insecurity.
DH: Are there specific legislative proposals for gun control that you would support? Or bills that Sen. Simpson voted against that you would have backed? What are your thoughts on laws that came out of the last session mandating live-fire training for concealed carry permit applicants or regulated how firearms are stored in cars?
Smotherman: Bills that say “we want to make sure you’re storing your weapons safely,” I would vote for that, 100%.
This is where it comes down to the same arguments around why we have a license to drive a car. Nobody’s going to take your car away, but you damn well prove that you’re capable of operating that machine and operating it safely before we let you on the road with other people. Why is it so different with a firearm, which only has one purpose and that’s to kill?
DH: Will you vote for your party’s nominee for president?
Smotherman: Hell yeah. Kamala Harris is such a breath of fresh air in a time where our politics have just been going downhill for so long.
rschafir@durangoherald.com
