DENVER — U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse has gotten used to playing defense.

During the first half of Donald Trump’s second presidency, the Democratic congressman from Lafayette has spearheaded efforts to prevent the administration from selling off public lands, closing scientific research centers in Boulder, and blocking oversight of immigration detention facilities.

Now, as Democrats hope to win back the House in next month’s midterm elections, Neguse is preparing to step up that fight with newfound majority powers.

“My job as a representative is to fight and protect and defend our great state,” he told The Denver Post in an interview this month.

Neguse, 42, is all but assured to win his fifth term in Congress in the deep-blue 2nd Congressional District, which includes Boulder and Fort Collins along the Front Range, as well as Vail, Steamboat Springs, Granby and Idaho Springs in the mountains, and rural swaths of northern Colorado.

Two years ago, he won the district by 40 points, and the Cook Political Report rates the seat as a solid Democratic stronghold that is not likely to be contested.

Neguse’s Republican opponent this year, Kelley Dennison, is an Estes Park massage therapist who has never run for political office. She did not respond to interview requests from the Post.

Libertarian Gaylon Kent is also on the ballot.

Dennison, in response to an earlier questionnaire from the Post, defended the president’s right to enforce immigration laws. Congress, she wrote, can only control the purse strings.

She said her priorities if elected to Congress would be expanding the state’s energy sector, promoting small businesses and the “protection and glorification of Colorado’s natural beauty.”

“Colorado deserves to be a rich state; we need minerals now more than we ever have,” Dennison wrote. “However, it is imperative we preserve the beauty of our state; all the wealth in the world isn’t worth living on a pile of ashes.”

Neguse, the first Eritrean American elected to Congress and Colorado's first Black member of Congress, has become a rising star in the Democratic Party, with political observers speculating about his future ambitions. He currently serves as the assistant Democratic leader of the House, the fourth-highest position in the party's leadership.

He told the Post that he hopes to continue in leadership if he wins reelection.

In interviews, the congressman has touted his "vigorous oversight" on the House Judiciary and Natural Resources committees. Neguse served as the lead sponsor on several bills designed to protect public lands and waters — though the legislation never progressed in the Republican-controlled body.

He also led opposition to the Trump administration's attempts to dismantle the renowned National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder. A federal judge in June blocked the move, saying the closure appeared to be politically motivated.

Neguse promised to continue to oppose the president's immigration crackdown. He and a dozen other Democratic lawmakers filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, alleging they were violating federal law by preventing members of Congress from conducting oversight at detention centers. A federal judge in February ordered the agency to allow these unannounced visits.

If his party retakes the House, Neguse said he will "use every tool available" to prevent the Trump administration from opening a second immigration detention facility in Colorado.

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