CSU Political Review hosts conversation with mayoral candidates

Colorado State University Political Review, the political science department’s affiliate club, hosted a panel with Fort Collins mayoral candidates Oct. 9. The club welcomed current and former city council members Emily Francis, Shirley Peel and Tricia Canonico to answer a series of questions about the following topics: collaboration and leadership, housing and development and accountability and criticism.

Francis, Peel and Canonico are three of seven candidates running for mayor in the upcoming Nov. 4 regular election. This election will be the first to use ranked-choice voting in Fort Collins.

The panel was hosted by co-president of Political Review Patrick McCabe, who facilitated the discussion with pre-planned questions that were co-created with Isaac Bergeron, the financial officer for Political Review. Audience members occasionally interjected with additional questions.

“We are a nonpartisan club meant to bridge (the) community, … bringing conservatives and liberals together (to) increase civic participation,” McCabe said in his introduction.

The first topic, collaboration and leadership, posed questions about the candidates’ relationships with one another prior to and during the current election, as well as differences in their leadership styles. The three candidates served together on council after the 2021 election. Canonico currently represents District 3, Francis represents District 6 and serves as mayor pro tem, and Peel represented District 4 from 2021-23 before losing re-election to Melanie Potyondy in the 2023 election. 

Their overlapping time on council was the reason the candidates were invited, McCabe said.

“They’re supposed to be adversaries in politics,” McCabe said. “Yet, they’ve completely rejected the notion that they have to be enemies. It was really cool to see a lot of the collaborative spirit get sparked by this conversation. I wanted to model that to students.”

Throughout this section of the conversation, candidates emphasized the need to stay civil to advance the overall Fort Collins community.

“We’re seeing turmoil at … higher (levels) of government, but in Fort Collins, I think what we really lead with is stability and kindness,” Canonico said. “Our current mayor (Jeni Arndt) has been really great at setting that tone. I’m sure that whichever one of us wins will continue to carry that through.”

Canonico also noted that even despite differences in belief with Peel, they have been able to work together to better the community.

Peel discussed the importance of councilmembers having each other’s backs and of the council to trust one another.

The second set of questions then centered on housing development.

McCabe said this topic was chosen because housing has been a big concern expressed within CSU Political Review repetitively. Student audience members echoed this statement and interjected questions and stories of personal experiences, turning the panel to be more conversational.

Specifically, students asked questions about housing availability, improving the quality of life and economic situations for renters, funds for building affordable housing and about lowering prices for single-family housing.

Candidates shared various ideas on how Fort Collins could improve housing, some pointing to previous actions from city council like updates to zoning and enforcement of rent registration. Francis mentioned incorporating innovative ways to build nontraditional housing, such as 3D-printed homes, concrete homes or modular housing. 

“Our economy is based on our housing market,” Peel said. “We’ve created this trap for ourselves, and I don’t know how to (get out of it) except for some of these things we’re talking about.”

Canonico also mentioned partnering with employers and working to find incentives to build employee housing.

Candidates then addressed criticisms, including those about ideologies, characteristics and divisive issues such as the use of Hughes Stadium.

The conversation began wrapping up with discussions about transparency and public trust in the mayor’s office. For Peel, fostering public trust and maintaining transparency involves telling the public the reason she cast her vote. Francis noted that this is her third election and reminded participants that she has always run on the same values, making her votes more predictable.

“I’m sticking to what I believe in and what I think is right and what I think is best for the district I represent,” Francis said.

For Canonico, fostering public trust involves including more voices.

“I just really love Fort Collins, and this is our expectation,” Canonico said. “You know, we are going to be transparent; we’re going to be honest; we’re going to hold the public’s trust intact.”

One final interjection came from an audience member who asked about the role of campaign donations and endorsements on candidates. Candidates cited that per Fort Collins ordinance Sec. 7-135, candidates can only accept $200 from individuals and organizations toward their campaign. Peel noted that she isn’t taking endorsements.

Candidates concluded by sharing engagement opportunities to support their campaigns.

CSU student Braden Bassett, who was a first-time attendee of Political Review, shared his thoughts following the discussion and said he is planning to vote in the upcoming election.

“I voted in local elections before,” Basset said. “(The panel) seemed like a good way to get to know the people who were candidates. The chance to actually meet them was big.”