Describing himself as a “pragmatic decision-maker, not driven by an ideology,” Greenwood Village Republican Toren Mushovic, a health care executive, attorney and Navy veteran, announced Thursday he’s challenging state Rep. Jeff Bridges, the Democrat seeking a second term in one of the state’s most competitive seats, Arapahoe County’s House District 3.

Mushovic, 40, who was on active duty in the Navy until 2012, said he’s been considering for some time how to be involved in the discussion about the state’s future, but it was a conversation late last year with a colleague at the health care clinics where he works that helped nudge him to run for office.

“There’s a lot of things in Colorado I’m very worried about, and they’re all based around the economy. Over the course of the last year, I’ve been seeing how wages and the cost of living haven’t really kept in pace with each other. I’ve come across a lot of folks who have been really struggling,” he told Colorado Politics.

“In December, a woman who worked for me said she had chosen to move to Nebraska because of the cost of living and traffic, right? Those are two of our biggest concerns in Arapahoe County. How those issues will impact retaining good employees, and businesses continuing to move into the south metro Denver area – that really concerns me.”

He said he feels an urgency about tackling cost-of-living and congestion issues before they get out of control.

“This is our opportunity to either invest in our children’s future or burden them with a state drowning in debt, a crumbling infrastructure and an unsustainable cost of living to rival Los Angles and New York,” Mushovic said in a statement. He said his top concerns are promoting business-friendly regulations to encourage jobs, fixing crowded and broken roadways, working on attainable housing and what he called responsible development of Colorado’s natural resources.

As far as housing, he said in an interview that the “really watered-down,” bipartisan construction defects legislation passed last year by the Legislature didn’t go far enough.

“We haven’t seen any impact whatsoever. Granted, that takes some time, but as far as changing the litigation field, it has done nothing. Insurance companies are not insuring these projects, builders are not coming in. The little that they did, it didn’t affect the problem.” He added that he would push for stronger tort reform as one solution.

“I understand these are big challenges, but I am a results-orientated person who has focused my professional life on tackling big challenges,” he said. “I put myself through undergraduate studies and law school through the Navy ROTC program. I deployed twice in support of the Global War on Terror. I deployed to Iraq and worked with Iraqi judges to develop a strategy for prosecuting accused terrorists.”

After he got out of the Navy – he still serves as a JAG in the Reserves – Mushovic and his wife, a Colorado native, moved to Arapahoe County and started a family. They have two sons, ages 2 and 4.

A member of local boards, including Sungate Kids, a nonprofit that supports victims of child abuse, and the Greenwood Village Board of Assessment and Appeals, Mushovic is also president of his homeowners’ association. He’s been retained as legal counsel for the Arapahoe County GOP since about a year ago.

Mushovic is the chief operating officer at IMMUNOe Health and Research Centers, which includes seven facilities around the metro area that focus on treating maladies by working to improve the immune system.

“We’re an inventive, entrepreneurial health care company. Basically, we’re a clinic, but what we focus on is bringing improved outcomes at a reduced cost,” he said. “We hear the health care debate, and it’s all about who’s going to pay for health care – and that’s an important discussion, but no one’s focusing on the price of care, the price of delivery of care. The state of Colorado, as a huge payer, has a place in that. If we can attack the delivery of health care and bring that price down, that can have a big impact all around.”

Mushovic said he’d take the same approach to lawmaking.

When it comes to transportation funding, for instance, Mushovic said he prefers the proposals from Republican lawmakers this session – turning to existing funds, including additional revenue resulting from federal tax reform – rather than asking voters for a tax increase, as some Republicans supported last year. But he added that nothing’s set in stone.

“I would never rule out anything,” he said. “I think the thing about TABOR that gets lost is, the Legislature isn’t deciding on a tax increase, they’re going to the voters, and the voters are ultimately deciding. I have no problem with going to voters to make that decision. Whether I’m pushing for it or pushing against it, that might be a different thing, but I can’t think of a situation where I wouldn’t want to go to the voters for something. Whatever I think is the best for the community and House District 3 is what would guide my decision-making, but not an ideology.”

Republicans have been slow to field candidates in most of the half-dozen traditional battleground seats in the House, where Democrats hold a 37-28 majority.

In recent cycles, the race for House District 3 – encompassing Cherry Hills Village, Greenwood Village, Sheridan, Englewood, as well as parts of Centennial and Littleton – has been among the hardest-fought and sometimes among the closest in the state. According to the most recent figures available, 32 percent of active voters in the district are Democrats, 29 percent are Republican and 37 percent are unaffiliated.

Acknowledging with a chuckle that Republicans might face a headwind at the ballot box this year, Mushovic said he isn’t daunted and is confident he’ll get a fair shake from voters.

“In Colorado, we vote for the candidate and not the party – especially in Arapahoe County and HD 3. I think I have a message that would resonate with folks in HD 3, because I’m focused on the cost of living, where that is in relation to wages, and improving and increasing economic viability.”

Mushovic said he plans to argue that Bridges has been focusing on topics that aren’t that important to residents of the district, which includes some of the state’s wealthiest neighborhoods and some of its least affluent.

“I think his priorities are different than the district,” Mushovic said, pointing to a bill Bridges sponsored to give a green light to driverless cars on Colorado roads. “I don’t see any economic development coming from Jeff.”

Bridges told Colorado Politics he welcomes the chance to let voters decide.

“I’m proud to represent the district where I grew up, got my first job, and where my parents still live today,” he said in a statement Thursday morning. “On our last campaign we knocked on 70,000 doors. We heard that our neighbors are concerned about education funding, the mile-high cost of living, and preserving our Colorado way of life. I’ve taken those priorities to the Capitol, where I’ve lived my promise to keep divisive party politics out of Colorado. I look forward to deepening the relationships we’ve built with the people of HD3 over the last three years.”