Levi Tillemann
Levi Tillemann (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Colorado's 6th Congressional District. He lost in the Democratic primary on June 26, 2018.
Biography
Tillemann's professional experience includes serving as a technology and innovation advisor. His commentary has appeared in Slate, The New Yorker, and Fortune. He is also the author of "The Great Race: The Global Quest for the Car of the Future." He founded IRIS Engines, Inc., and was an advisor in the Energy Department during the Obama administration.
Tillemann earned his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University and earned a degree from Yale University.[1]
Elections
2018
General election
General election for U.S. House Colorado District 6
Jason Crow defeated incumbent Mike Coffman, Kat Martin, and Dan Chapin in the general election for U.S. House Colorado District 6 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Jason Crow (D) | 54.1 | 187,639 |
 | Mike Coffman (R) | 42.9 | 148,685 | |
| Kat Martin (L) | 1.7 | 5,886 | ||
 | Dan Chapin (Unaffiliated) | 1.3 | 4,607 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.0 | 5 | ||
| Total votes: 346,822 (100.00% precincts reporting) | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. House Colorado District 6
Jason Crow defeated Levi Tillemann in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Colorado District 6 on June 26, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jason Crow | 65.9 | 49,851 |
 | Levi Tillemann | 34.1 | 25,757 | |
| Total votes: 75,608 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- David Aarestad (D)
- Erik Stanger (D)
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House Colorado District 6
Incumbent Mike Coffman advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House Colorado District 6 on June 26, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Mike Coffman | 100.0 | 56,703 |
| Total votes: 56,703 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Roger Edwards (R)
Campaign finance
The table below details the campaign finance reports from the candidates in this election through March 31, 2018.[2]
Endorsements
- State Sen. Rhonda Fields (D-Colo.)[3]
- Progressive Democrats of America[4]
Polls
| Colorado's 6th Congressional District election, Crow vs. Coffman | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poll | Jason Crow | Mike Coffman | Margin of Error | Sample Size | |||||||||||||||
| End Citizens United February 15-18, 2018 | 44% | 39% | +/-3.6 | 751 | |||||||||||||||
| Note: A "0%" finding means the candidate was not a part of the poll. The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org | |||||||||||||||||||
Campaign themes
2018
Tillemann's 2018 campaign website highlighted the themes below.
A New Day in Washington
Washington is broken.
The people who run for office, the people who get elected, and the way those elected officials act once they get to Washington are all symptoms of this broken system. Today, political sound-bites, half-truths, and outright lies peddled by politicians aren’t even about fighting for a cause, they’re about scoring the next cheap political point, winning the next election or dominating the next news cycle.
This campaign is about bringing fresh ideas to Washington to fix that broken system.
This issues section is focused on those new ideas. The Democratic Party platform aligns with my core beliefs and priorities in areas ranging from women's rights, to protecting social security, to promoting equality for our LGBTQ brothers and sisters and supporting our armed forces and veterans. These progressive values are not up for debate. But there are other issues not covered by the party platform that I plan to highlight in this issues section. Some of these will take years or even decades to fully resolve. That's why we need to start working on them today.
This list isn't exhaustive and I encourage you to reach out and ask about my specific stances on topics not explicitly covered here. Regardless of the nature of the issue, I promise you this: I will pursue solutions that are guided by progressive values, the best available data and that are designed to break down the inequities of our system. We must fight for our progressive values, but we also must be open to imperfect, incremental solutions (like Obamacare, or DACA, or the Paris Climate Agreement) to help make people’s lives better now.
- I will always fight for what I believe is right
- I will be honest about my perspective on the problems we face
- I will listen to you, admit when I’m wrong, and be open to changing my opinions
- I will honestly discuss problems and provide a sober assessment of the challenges we face
- I will not treat my prospective constituents and contributors as though they can be tricked through focus-grouped sounds bites (e.g. “I plan to reaching across the aisle,” “I’m a unifier.”).
Washington is broken; We need to fix it; We need your help; Help us fix Washington today.
Guns
The problem
America's epidemic of gun deaths must be placed in context of the larger challenges confronting our community and our nation. Mike Coffman and the GOP have been silenced and neutered by the NRA. This despite the fact that these tragedies are no longer aberrations. The names of a growing list of American geographies are now used as shorthand for a defining gun massacre: Sandy Hook, Sutherland Springs, Orlando, Las Vegas, Aurora, Columbine and Parkland -- the list goes on.
This has to stop.
The scale of this rolling massacre is both deeply personal and historically unprecedented. Over the past decade we have lost more than 330,000 Americans to gun violence. In 2016, 38,000 lives were cut short; there were over 300 mass shootings. By comparison, during our 20-year involvement in Vietnam, America lost approximately 58,000 lives; as of Memorial Day 2017, America had lost almost 7,000 lives in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; And America lost 291,000 lives liberating Europe and Asia in World War II.
In the past two months, Colorado has lost multiple law enforcement officials to gun violence.
When it comes to gun safety, Washington has failed us. Our leaders have failed us. Donald Trump and the Republican Congress have failed us. Our Republican Congressman, Mike Coffman, has not only failed us, the Congressman for Aurora has distinguished himself by receiving more money from the gun lobby than any other member of the Colorado delegation. He has proactively helped lay the groundwork for these tragedies.
This has to stop, but stopping gun violence will require real, principled leadership and bold ideas. Democrats need to grow a spine and stop apologizing for working to solve this epidemic. We must stand up to the GOP, the party of the NRA. The right to bear arms must not be prioritized over our commitment to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. As Americans, we need to stand up against a culture of toxic masculinity that teaches men that the way to show strength or solve problems is to pick up a gun.
The Solution
I call on Mike Coffman to return every cent he has received from the NRA, gun manufacturers and any person or entity that lobbies against aggressive action on gun control. Their murder for profit agenda has no place within Colorado’s Congressional delegation.
I call on the Republican-controlled Congress and the Trump administration to enact a ban on assault weapons. America’s death toll from mass shootings has risen precipitously since the ban’s expiration in 2004.
I call on Congress and all state legislatures and city and county councils in the United States to enact 10 day waiting periods for the purchase of all firearms.
I call on Congress to eliminate the gun show loophole and increase interagency cooperation on background checks
I call on Congress to enact a law that disallows individuals with a record of violent crime (e.g. domestic abuse) and animal abuse from owning firearms.
I call on Congress to enact a law that disallows an individual who appears on the no fly list from purchasing a gun.
I call on Congress to appropriate funding to the Center for Disease Control to research means of combating gun violence. All restrictions on interagency data-sharing should be immediately lifted and funding for this research should be equivalent to the funding for researching automotive safety (cars and guns are each responsible for more than 30,000 deaths a year).
I call on Congress to enact a law requiring proper storage of firearms
The time has come to move beyond apologies and half measures and fight for real solutions to gun violence in our community.
Economic Inequality
In today’s economy, the wealthy are getting wealthier, the poor are getting poorer, and opportunities for the middle class to rise are disappearing before our eyes. Bad policy from Washington is combining with two fundamental trends -- consolidation and automation -- to drive economic inequality.
At its most basic, an economy is made up of two things: capital and labor. ‘Capital’ is all of the stuff (commodities like metals or corn, machines, computers, land etc.) that people rely on and ‘labor’ is the work people do (both directly for each other or to turn capital into things people will pay for).
Historically, as America’s yearly national income (the gross domestic product, or GDP) grew, gains were distributed more or less proportionately to owners of capital and labor (e.g. workers like you and me). That’s not happening any more.
Part of the reason for that is that capital used to be more evenly distributed throughout the economy. Today, it is consolidating into the hands of a small economic elite. One example of that is the shift in retail from Main Street, to big box stores, to highly centralized and consolidated (and automated) online retailers like Amazon. The result is a loss of tax revenues, consumer power and jobs in communities across the country.
At the same time, the increasing role of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics is allowing capital to compete with and squeeze labor. This trend is what I refer to as automation. Competition from robots (e.g. self checkout aisles) and computers combine with poorly designed trade policies to push down the wages of laborers. We don't yet know eventual magnitude or the intensity of that shift, but it’s already happening.
On top of all that, the wealthy are paying a much lower income tax than they have at any time since the Great Depression. The Republicans are pushing those contributions even lower. During the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s the highest earners in the U.S. paid between 70-91% income tax. Today they pay a fraction of that. U.S. deficits have ballooned in tandem with the tax cuts that resulted in these low rates for high earners.
We need to begin to develop new solutions to these challenges -- including controversial policies such as universal basic income -- to support our families and communities.
Universal Healthcare
The Problem
Even as wages have stagnated or declined for America’s middle and working class, healthcare costs have increased dramatically. One way to attack inequality and increase economic mobility is to ensure that all families have access to affordable, high quality healthcare. It is particularly important that these programs are not tied to employment. Tying healthcare to employment means that when a family loses a paycheck they also lose access to healthcare. Tying healthcare to employment also hurts entrepreneurs and small business. And it makes it harder for people to take the risk of leaving a job or starting a new business.
The Solution
A single-payer medicare or medicaid for all plan that ties insurance premiums to income is the best near-term solution for dealing with this issue. The Bernie Sanders proposal is an example of such a plan. At the same time, it is critical to accelerate the speed with which doctors and hospitals are compensated for services performed under existing government healthcare programs.
Strengthening 21st Century Unions
The Problem
The yawing chasm in wages and wealth between lower income Americans and high-income Americans has closely tracked the decline of unions. This shift is not coincidental.
The Solution
A major component of reducing economic inequality is revitalizing and renovating unions so they can defend the rights of workers in the 21st century. Levi for Colorado convened a labor council in October to discuss specifics.
Last Mile Transportation Subsidies for Pooled, Electric Transportation
The Problem
Another obstacle to economic mobility is the high cost of transportation. In Colorado, and especially the 6th Congressional district, automotive transportation is both expensive and polluting -- it’s responsible for more than 20% of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. At the same time, car ownership places a significant obstacle in the path of low-income residents toward economic mobility. As low-income urban neighborhoods gentrify and their residents are pushed into the suburbs. Car ownership has become almost mandatory because housing in the suburbs is rarely within easy walking distance of good public transit. One analysis showed that car ownership costs for a $7500 used vehicle (including loan payments) are almost $5,000/year.
The Solution
Offering low-income subsidies for shared, pooled, electric transportation on trips to and from major local mass-transit hubs (e.g. light rail) diminishes that obstacle to economic mobility, encourages utilization of our mass transit system and reduces emissions from individual drivers.
Strengthening Community Colleges and Vocational Schools
The Problem
Together with healthcare, education costs have soared. From 1995 through 2015 the average annual cost of a private university increased from just below $14,000 to just below $40,000. Public universities more than tripled in price. At the same time, there is growing concern that college education isn’t necessarily providing young Americans the skills that are in demand for the in our local economy.
The Solution
The federal government needs to provide increased funding to vocational and community colleges that focus on technical and vocational training.
Continuous lifelong vocational and technical learning/student debt (e.g. 5 months every 5 years)
As our economy continues to evolve and employment opportunities change, many people will lose their jobs. There will be an increased need for lifelong vocational learning. Accordingly, the government should institute a program that allows for 6 months tuition for mid-career technical training programs every 5-years. This program would recognize the increasingly dynamic nature of our economy and provide individuals with tools to take advantage of emerging economies.
Requiring the Rich to Pay Their Fair Share
The Problem
High-income Americans are benefiting from historically low income taxes. This is especially true when lower taxes on capital gains (compared to income) are taken into account. America’s wealthiest have reaped the fruits of American opportunity. They are richer than ever, and they are giving back less than ever.
As a technology entrepreneur and small businessman I understand the importance of rewarding people for hard work and innovation. Part of our contract is to reinvest in the institutions (schools, infrastructure, community programs and healthcare) that made our success possible.
The Solution
Part of addressing economic inequality is for the richest Americans to pay their fair share in taxes. That’s not happening today. We need to tax the inheritance of wealth and raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans.
Antitrust
The Problem
In many industries, there is a natural tendency toward consolidation. In practical terms, that means that one company, or a small number of companies, gets bigger and bigger by exploiting economies of scale or market power. The shift from a Main Street economy to big box stores and finally Amazon is just one example. Up to a certain point, this may be good for both consumers and businesses. However, some companies like Google, Amazon, and Walmart are so big that they have systemic impacts on everything from internet policy, to suppliers, to prevailing wages in the economy. This kind of consolidation may harm consumers because:
- Large corporations may use their market power to artificially raise prices for consumers
- Large corporations may use their market power to buy goods at lower prices from small businesses, effectively hurting smaller businesses and their employees
- Large corporations may use their position to block other companies from entering amarket -- stifling innovation and competition
- Large corporations may employ fewer workers or pay lower wages per unit produced
- Large corporations may concentrate economic wealth, exacerbating economic and income inequality.
- Large corporations often abuse their power to manipulate the political system. Too often, they get off scott free (as almost all of Wall Street's white collar criminals did after the 2008 financial crisis).
The Solution
We need to create policy support for small businesses that keep jobs, retail, manufacturing and farming within our communities. At the same time, we need to reexamine the impacts of economic consolidation on the entire economy -- not simply the cost of goods. Finally, we need to ensure that ALL Americans are treated equally under the law. This includes white collar criminals from powerful banks on Wall Street. The Justice Department's failure to prosecute the very bankers who plunged America into the Great Recession is a moral outrage and sends the message that you can break the law -- so long as you're wearing a suit. That's unacceptable. It's why I support Elizabeth Warren's Too Big to Jail Act to hold crooked executives accountable.
Climate
The Problem
In 2017, 1000 year floods in Texas and terrifying infernos in Los Angeles have shows us that climate change doesn’t respect political boundaries. It shouldn’t be a politicized issue. China, India, Europe and other countries around the world have committed to aggressive actions to combat climate change. America should lead the way.
The Solution
- 100% renewable electricity by 2035
- Incentives for local and rooftop solar. Local and rooftop solar strengthen local economies by providing local jobs and improving the resilience of the local electrical grid.
- Incentives for energy storage. One of the last remaining obstacles to a renewable-centered energy system is local battery storage. The federal government should incentivize local -- and especially residential -- battery storage. Doing so will drive down cost, boost U.S. battery manufacturing and create local employment.
- Develop atmospheric carbon capture and sequestration technologies. We have stretched our carbon budget to the brink of planetary disaster. One way to slow, and potentially reverse certain elements of climate change is to develop technologies to capture carbon dioxide from the air and use it for industrial purposes (e.g. building materials) or sequester it. This is the only obviously safe method of climate engineering.
- 90% electric passenger miles electric by 2040. While there will likely be certain applications in which diesel and/or natural gas remain part of our transportation system, the vast majority of passenger miles can be electrified by 2040.
- Increased funding for climate adaptation including reinforcement of our infrastructure and electrical systems as well as preservation of species that would otherwise be pushed to extinction because of climate change.
New Policy Frameworks for Artificial Intelligence
The Problem
Over the years and decades to come, robots and artificial intelligence (AI) will play a dramatically increased role in our economy, military, law enforcement and society. There are huge opportunities to improve our society and world through AI. However, these new technologies will also pose ethical, economic and philosophical challenges.
The Solution
- No killer robots: Drones and other AI-enabled devices designed for military or law-enforcement purposes must rely on a human to execute any command that would likely lead to serious injury or death.
- Robot tax: As humans are replaced by technology, companies should pay a technology adjustment fee.
- Employee/revenue taxes: Not all businesses are the same in terms of the benefits to middle class Americans. Manufacturing sectors (e.g. auto manufacturing) have back linkages that create more jobs. For example, a car is made up of 30,000 individual pieces. You need someone to design all of those pieces, someone to make them, someone to deliver them and someone to assemble them into an automobile -- not to speak of recycling them at the end of their lifetime. All of that adds up to more jobs. In contrast, industries like finance move vast quantities of money and make huge profits, but employ relatively few people. Let’s prioritize sectors (e.g. renewable energy) with the highest potential for job creation.
Revitalizing Democracy
The Problem
Another challenge of economic inequality is the outsized effect a small group of wealthy individuals has on our political process. The Citizens United v. FEC ruling which allowed for unlimited spending by corporations and private individuals to influence elections is one part of the problem. But a much bigger part is what Lawrence Lessig calls the “money primary” -- where wealthy donors decide who to support, effectively choosing who ends up on the primary ballot.
America’s cash-strapped families don’t have the resources to compete in this “money primary” that is so important in dictating outcomes in our democracy.
The Solution
Democrats and Republicans including Lessig and a number of others have proposed solutions to this problem. One of the most promising proposals is called the American Anti-Corruption Act (AACA https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Anti-Corruption_Act). I would support something like the AACA. I would, in particular, support a provision that gave each voter a $25/year voucher to contribute to qualifying political campaigns. These vouchers and contributions would be dispersed and tracked through a blockchain ledger that would provide transparency and aid in prosecution of corruption. This would give ordinary voters without the spare income to contribute to a political campaign a voice in politics. It would also allow people without large networks of wealthy friends to run for office by allowing them to fundraise within their communities.[5]
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Levi Tillemann Colorado Congress. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- United States House of Representatives
- Colorado's 6th Congressional District election, 2018
- Colorado's 6th Congressional District
Footnotes
- ↑ Levi Tillemann 2018 campaign website, "About Levi," accessed May 22, 2018
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Browse Candidates for House of Representatives," accessed May 23, 2018
- ↑ Colorado Politics, "Rhonda Fields endorses Levi Tillemann in 6th Congressional District Democratic primary," March 28, 2018
- ↑ Colorado Politics, "Progressive Democrats of America chapter endorses Democrat Levi Tillemann in 6th District primary," February 24, 2018
- ↑ Levi Tillmann 2018 campaign website, "Issues," accessed May 23, 2018
