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Coffman's Campaign More Inclusive As District Changes

As part of its Campaign 2014 coverage, CBS4 is profiling six candidates in three extremely close elections in Colorado. Incumbent Rep. Mike Coffman is defending his seat in Colorado's 6th congressional district against Andrew Romanoff, a former House Speaker in Colorado. Profiles of the candidates in the governor and U.S. Senate races will run in the next two weeks.

DENVER (CBS4) - Mike Coffman spent his childhood in Aurora, but the city he now represents as part of Colorado's 6th congressional district has changed so dramatically that Coffman himself has shifted his focus.

"This is my first re-election in a new district that is 40 percent new," Coffman said in a recent interview with CBS4. "And that 40 percent encompasses central and northern Aurora, which is really the heart of so many immigrant communities that I didn't have before."

In 2012, the district's boundaries were redrawn to include Aurora, and now it's divided nearly evenly between Republicans, Democrats and independents. Its ethnic and racial makeup has changed, too. Immigrants compose roughly half of the 6th -- which surrounds Denver to the east and includes portions of Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties. About 20 percent of the district's population is Hispanic.

"There are three immigrant groups that dominate Aurora," he said. "Hispanics would be the largest."

RELATED: Romanoff Hopes Economic Message Will Resonate

To connect with his constituents more, Coffman is learning Spanish.

"I think it's necessary for me to communicate to them directly and talk to the families about what their concerns are and what issues are most important to them in general, besides immigration reform," he said.

That's a reinvention of a candidate who once opposed ballots printed in Spanish and English, which he said he didn't back because of costs.

Coffman says he regularly meets with groups composed of Hispanics, Chinese-Taiwanese, Ethiopians and other communities new to the district.

"When you look at the old district, what were the biggest issues? (It was) a lot of mountain areas, a lot of public lands, a lot of agriculture and more suburban," Coffman said.

The change in constituents has made immigration reform an important issue.

He said he supports a "middle path" for immigrants seeking citizenship; he doesn't side with what he calls "activists" on the left, but he said he supports policies that keep families together, and he doesn't support changing birthright citizenship. But he said he worries about granting citizenship to criminals.

"A special path to citizenship for the adults who knowing broke the law is problematic," he said. "I think there's got to be a middle path on immigration reform. I think it's about securing our borders and enforcing our laws. I think it's about immigration policies that grow our economy."

Coffman said he doesn't back sweeping immigration reform that some in Congress push.

"It's got to be a step-by-step approach," he said, "but not one massive comprehensive bill."

Tax Code Is 'Strangling' Small Businesses

Working-class residents in Aurora and elsewhere in the 6th need assistance, he said, but it shouldn't come through a minimum wage increase.

Coffman said the state's current provision to revisit the minimum wage every year -- based on a consumer price index measurement -- should stand. A federal benchmark is not necessary, he said. The state's minimum wage is $8 an hour.

"I think there is a way to address the inequity, and I think it's through taking look at the earned income tax credit and expanding that out and making it more available to childless couples or individuals who are the working poor," he said.

Coffman said 500,000 jobs would vanish if the minimum wage were raised to $10.10 an hour nationally.

He supports reforming the tax code to spur job growth and said the country should focus on eliminating deductions and credits for corporations in exchange for lower marginal tax rates for all businesses.

"The tax code is a disaster," he said, "and when I look particularly at the corporate tax code, which I think puts the United States at a competitive disadvantage globally, there's simply too many credits and deductions available to large corporations."

He said tax policies are "strangling small businesses" that are trying to create jobs.

A Balance Needed On Environmental Regulations

Climate change has proved a difficult issue for Coffman, as he's tried to straddle a line that divides naysayers who believe humans have little effect on the environment and those who want the country to take more stringent action on emissions.

"Do I think man-made carbon emissions are significant in terms of their contribution to climate change? I don't know. I'm not scientist, but I am a policymaker," he said.

Still, he said the country needs to do something.

"What I want to make sure is that we make progress in bringing down carbon emissions because whether or not how much you think they impact climate change, it's important to do that," he said.

He said he worries that countries with little or no environmental regulations will gain an economic advantage over the United States because they can manufacture goods without restraints.

"We have to strike a balance between the environment and between jobs, and my worry is if you try to put this all on the back of the American worker, then we're going to be exporting manufacturing jobs to China to produce the same goods that would otherwise be produced here," Coffman said.

Bipartisan Leadership On Veterans Issues

Coffman has led on veterans and military affairs. He sits on the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs and on the House Armed Services Committee.

He helped both parties compromise on a bill that reforms veterans' health care. He led on a bill that speeds up construction on veterans' health care facilities, including one in Aurora, by using the Army Corps of Engineers to help with building. And his efforts have found bipartisan support.

"I'm happy to say on my subcommittee and the full committee, Democrats and Republicans have stood shoulder to shoulder with no division in support of our nation's veterans, and I'm proud of that," he said.

Coffman served in the U.S. Army and Marine Corps and saw combat in the first Gulf War and re-enlisted in 2005 to serve in Iraq as a civil affairs officer.

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