Republican gubernatorial candidate Heidi Ganahl a 'mom on a mission'

Heidi Ganahl will tell you she's a "mom on a mission" to be governor of a state that she says is in a state of decline: "Homelessness is out of control, crime is skyrocketing, our kids aren't learning what they need to, and it's too darn expensive to live here."

A successful entrepreneur, founder of several charities, and the only Republican to hold statewide office in Colorado right now, Ganahl says, kids will be her top priority: "Our kids are struggling right now. We have one of the highest suicide rates in the country for kids, one of the highest drug addiction rates for kids in the country, 60% of our kids can't read, write, or do math. That's not the Colorado I grew up with."

She says she would increase school choice, make sure more money goes to teachers instead of administrators, and push for transparency in education, as well as in state spending.

She opposes a state law funding transportation projects with billions of dollars in new fees, saying they are backdoor taxes: "Let's just put it to a vote of the people of Colorado like it should have been - as tax, not fees - and they can decide if they want to fix their roads in the state, there's a simple plan that's going to honor what I think the people in Colorado and leaders in transportation say would help relieve a lot of the congestion and help us get across the state easier and then it sunsets so it's not this ongoing boondoggle. I'm going to be a governor who provides pure transparency. You can hold me to that."

But she doesn't have a backup plan if Coloradans say no to a tax increase, and they have repeatedly, which is why the legislature increased fees.

Ganahl says taxes, fees, and regulations are largely to blame for Colorado's high cost of living including its lack of affordable housing. She says she would work with local governments to reduce red tape...

She also plans to eliminate the state income tax, which makes up a third of the budget, by shrinking growth in state government and increasing revenue from other sources without raising taxes, "It doesn't mean that we're going to slash and cut agencies. It means we're going to do a hiring freeze, we're going to cut back on the vacancy funds. We're going to take a soft approach. It's going to take a while but we can get there." 

But even analysts, who say her plan is fiscally sound, question whether it's politically feasible.

Ganahl says she's not only focused on lowering costs but lowering crime. She says she would push to make fentanyl possession and auto theft felonies.  

Flyers claiming she would criminalize abortion she says are simply false, but she does oppose a new state law codifying access to abortion here, "I will not make any fundamental changes to our abortion stance in Colorado without taking it to a vote of the people of Colorado. I promise that."  

Ads suggesting she's an election denier, Ganahl says, are also false. While her running mate did once say the 2020 election was stolen, he now says it wasn't, "We all make mistakes. We all say things that we don't intend to, my goodness, especially in politics." 

Some Republicans say Ganahl made a mistake by calling herself a 'MAGA candidate' in the primary election. "I voted for Trump. I supported his policies and boy I don't think Biden is doing a good job for our country," says Ganahl, "But I'm focused on my race." 

It's a race that's been an uphill battle from the start. The last time Colorado elected a Republican governor was 20 years ago.

"I don't want to wake up in 5 or 10 years and think that I could have done something and I didn't. This state means everything to me. I want the people of Colorado to know that we will put everything on the table. We will fight so hard for our kids, for our economy, for our beautiful way of life here in Colorado."

For CBS News Colorado's profile of Colorado Governor Jared Polis, click here.