After Arvada small business owner Christina Carlino withdrew from the House District 27 race on July 20, a Republican vacancy committee selected Lynn Emrick to run against incumbent Democrat Brianna Titone in the upcoming general election.

The five-member vacancy committee chose Emrick after interviewing her and two other finalists at the Arvada Police station in Westwoods. The meeting was closed to the public and members of the committee were not named.

Emrick is a parent and a co-founder of Acts Academy — a private Christian school in Wheat Ridge — who lives in unincorporated Jefferson County near Arvada city limits. Emrick has not sought elected office before. 

In an email interview with the Arvada Press, Emrick said she is not pleased with the direction Colorado is heading and, if elected, would prioritize addressing affordability in HD27, promoting public safety and increasing parental educational choice and transparency within schools.

“I am a parent who feels the pain of unbalanced policies,” Emrick said in the email. “Soft on crime policies have led Colorado to be the #1 state with the most car theft and bank robberies… As a mom and community member, this is not OK!  

“I want to bring back balance and bring together unity from both sides to accomplish a greater goal for our children and ALL community members,” Emrick continued. “I am the strongest candidate because I am fighting for common sense in all areas to regain quality of life in Colorado.”

Emrick also pledged to “keep politics out” of the classroom and mentioned “sexualized content” and “gender identity vocabulary” as programs being taught without parental permission.

“Hidden club activities attendance without parent knowledge, teaching any sexualized content outside approved curriculum, teaching young children gender identity vocabulary, assignments or technology that contains controversial content that has not been approved without the parent's knowledgment (sic) is out of line within our classrooms,” Emrick said.  

“All Colorado children deserve to have reading, writing and math at the forefront of their education, we must educate our children at a competitive level to the rest of the world, as these children are our next generation,” Emrick continued. “Not only as a Coloradan, but as an American it is unacceptable to accept anything less AND our focus must be on teaching our children the basics not political agendas!”

Emrick will be running against Titone, who is seeking a third term after her initial election in 2018 and reelection in 2020. Carlino said she dropped out of the race “due to unforeseen family issues.”