Peter Yu, the Republican candidate running to replace Jared Polis as the representative of Colorado’s Second Congressional District, held a town hall at Colorado State University Oct. 4 to meet with voters and constituents.

The event, organized by the College Republicans at CSU, was a way for Peter Yu to connect with potential voters about what he wants to do as their representative.

One of his goals is to be everyone’s representative, despite their politics, Yu said.

“I get about 100 emails a week from Democratic constituents … I respond to every single one,” Yu said. “They go ‘I’ve never had a congressman respond.’” 

Yu also said he meets with many of those constituents too, so they can speak face to face.

“I had coffee just a couple months ago with a constituent … she’s a hard Democrat, never voted for a Republican in her life,” Yu said. “She was absolutely shocked that I would actually meet with her for coffee.”

After they met, Yu said she told him she would rather have a representative who is willing to work on something as opposed to having a candidate who simply has the same views.

That’s exactly what Yu said he wants to do if elected.

“That’s the kind of representative I am,” Yu said. “That’s why I climbed up the corporate ladder so fast. I literally do put everybody else first.”

Yu said he spent decades in the private sector, eventually rising to manage marketing and tourism on the West Coast for Wyndham Worldwide, the biggest hotel chain in the world with more than 8,000 locations.

From his experience in the corporate world, Yu has come to believe that its superior to the government-run agencies in most instances, using the United States Postal Service as an example, which has lost $65.1 billion since 2007, according to a K-10 form filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 2017.

“This year they lost $2.8 billion dollars, but yet they’re still in operation,” Yu said. “In the private sector, you basically have to take a certain budget … you got to actually produce something, you got to actually make profits. You can’t just fail and then expect to come back tomorrow.”

Both Peter Yu and the College Republicans said they were proud of how the event turned out, especially how many people showed up.

“I’m thrilled with how it went,” said Veronica Morin, president of the College Republicans at CSU. “I think (Yu) did an amazing job. He’s not a politician so it’s crazy to see how far he’s come being able to present his story so well.”

Peter Yu will be walking in the CSU Homecoming Parade this Friday.

Stuart Smith can be reached at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @stuartsmithnews