Tim Supplitt is the chapter lead with Denver New Liberals, a local edition of the self-described “pragmatically liberal” Center for New Liberalism, an organization that aims to excite voters about center-left politics.

The 33-year-old works as a travel agent and says he’s been a life-long Democrat. He moved to the Denver area five and a half years ago and enjoys movies, sports and watching reality competition shows, including Survivor, Big Brother and The Traitors.

On the heels of the just-concluded legislative session, Colorado Politics asked Supplitt about the group’s work on legislation and in a handful of Democratic primary campaigns, in addition to its overall mission. The interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Colorado Politics: You’re the chapter lead of the Denver New Liberals, a group that describes its mission as “furthering (an) abundance agenda” in the Denver metro area, including housing, mobility, technological innovation and access to markets. How does that play out on the ground?

Tim Supplitt: The idea of the abundance agenda is hard to sum up in just a few sentences, but as simply as possible — for a while now, there’s been this idea, particularly among people on the left, but also occasionally appearing in right-wing circles, that economic growth is a bad thing. The Denver New Liberals are a part of a wider movement that very much rejects that notion. We believe that people will be better off if we fight for abundance — abundant housing, abundant clean energy, abundant jobs, etc. More often than not, artificial limits on abundance have been created by outdated government regulations — and it’s Coloradans who are suffering as a result.

Right now, there are a lot of think tanks in DC talking about this abundance agenda, but very few groups are trying to get normal people across the country involved in that conversation. The Denver New Liberals, and our national organization, the Center for New Liberalism, are trying to change that.

CP: What do the growing number of the group’s chapters around the country bring to the political discussion? How does what you’re doing differ from what the mainstream Democratic Party does?

Supplitt: The Center for New Liberalism, and chapters like ours that exist not just across the country but around the world, came about in response to the rapid rise of far-right and far-left populists that emerged after the 2016 election. We believed that populism wasn’t the right way forward for the world, and as CNL has grown over the years, chapters like the Denver New Liberals have tried to bring a more pragmatic voice to discussions around policy and politics. We aren’t afraid to call out the Democratic Party when we believe they’re taking the wrong stances on things, but we aim to do so in constructive ways, because we do believe that the Democratic Party is the future.

CP: A bill the Denver New Liberals pushed this session, House Bill 24-1378 — bipartisan legislation described as “the most pro-consumer ticketing law” in the country — made its way to the governor’s desk. What does it do, and why was it something the group got behind?

Supplitt: That bill, which was co-sponsored by the fantastic Rep. William Lindstedt, D-Broomfield, and Rep. Alex Valdez, D-Denver, does a number of things to improve consumer protections for people in Colorado who want to buy a ticket to a Nuggets game, go to a concert at Red Rocks, or go to any other ticketed event. I think the most important part of the bill, however, is the clause that requires all-in pricing — so that when you go to buy a ticket, you will always know the full price of the ticket up front, and don’t have to worry about $20 worth of fees getting tacked on at the end.

As for why we supported it — it’s pretty simple to us — Live Nation-Ticketmaster is a monopoly. Absent of the Department of Justice or FTC bringing forward a case to break up the company (which may be on the horizon), we believe that states should be pursuing legislation to curb their anti-consumer practices, and when we heard that Reps. Lindstedt and Valdez were interested in this, we were happy to get involved.

CP: What other legislation did the chapter support this session? Were there any bills that you opposed?

Supplitt: While House Bill 24-1378 was the only bill that we actively worked on this year, we were huge fans of the housing supply-oriented bills that were able to pass through the legislature this year, and many of our members wrote letters in support of some of that legislation.

CP: Your chapter has been involved in a handful of legislative primaries this cycle. How did you decide which races to work on, and how do those races look a month or so before ballots go out?

Supplitt: Fundamentally, we’re most interested in getting the people that we believe are most detrimental to Colorado’s political conversation out of office — or keeping them out if they aren’t in office yet. We’ve been primarily looking at HD6 and HD36, where Democratic Socialists of America-endorsed candidates who are more interested in making a scene than getting things done are on the ballot — and where we feel there are strong, positive, center-left candidates on the same ballot.

A few of us helped petition to get Sean Camacho on the ballot in HD6, and now, as the primaries approach, we feel he’s in a good position, so while we’ll still be helping him, our focus is on helping Michael Carter win his primary in HD36. (Editor’s note: Camacho is challenging first-term Rep. Elisabeth Epps, D-Denver, and Carter is running against Bryan Lindstrom for the open Aurora seat.)

CP: How did you get involved in politics, and what brought you to Denver New Liberals?

Supplitt: I grew up in a politically involved household. My mom was very active as a Washington state Democrat, she was even invited to Bill Clinton’s inauguration. We had Jay Inslee stay at our house during his 1996 gubernatorial campaign. To put it simply, I have been a proud Democrat my whole life. I started looking for a political home to call my own in college. I saw more and more people push themselves to the extreme. I wanted to find a home for constructive dialogue, not scapegoating “the other side” or purity testing. From this, I became aware of the New Liberals. I soon landed a job in the Denver metro area and volunteered to start the Denver chapter of the New Liberals.

CP: There’s plenty of polling and no shortage of punditry saying that Gen Z is disillusioned with politics these days and, at best, feels lukewarm about traditional liberal politicians in a crucial election year. Is that your sense? How do you motivate young voters?

Supplitt: I think it’s safe to say that young people – from Gen Z to millennials are all disillusioned – in large part because for decades now, politicians have been making huge, unworkable promises to voters to solve their problems, then are surprised when voters get upset that things aren’t changing — which, in turn, has motivated many to further turn to populist candidates on the left and right.

We think that if liberal, center-left candidates want to weather the populist tide and win elections, we just need to start being honest with people, while still focusing on pragmatic solutions to the biggest problems young people face. Rep. Jeff Jackson, a North Carolina Democrat who has blown up on TikTok for his pragmatic breakdowns of what’s happening in Congress, is a great example of the kind of young, liberal electeds that we need more of. If our electeds can just be honest and say to voters directly what’s happening, and what the realistic solutions are, young people will be receptive to that.

CP: Campus protests over the war in Gaza have taken the spotlight in recent weeks. How do members of the Denver New Liberals view these protests? Does it indicate a crack in the Democrats’ coalition?

Supplitt: There isn’t a uniform view on this issue, both among our members locally and among members of the Center for New Liberalism around the world. Everyone does agree that the blatant antisemitism that has come from protesters across the country since October has been disgusting; hence, our statement disavowing the Denver DSA last October — but there’s been frequent debate about what our stance should be beyond that, and whether or not we even should have a stance. That said, we are still strong supporters of the First Amendment, and while we may find the language being used by some of the protestors abhorrent, it is still their fundamental American right to peacefully protest.

As for whether there’s a crack in the Democratic coalition, I don’t think that’s the case. People on both sides of this issue excel at being loud online, and in person — but when you look at the polls, the current crisis isn’t even in the Top 10 issues for young people right now. It’s the issues we’re focused on, like housing and the cost of living.

CP: What’s next for the chapter?

Supplitt: In addition to our members getting involved in the upcoming primary elections, last year we received a small grant from our parent organization, the Center for New Liberalism, to run some digital ads in support of Denver Mayor Mike Johnston’s efforts to end homelessness in Denver. It’s taken us some time to get things rolling, but we’re just about ready to get that campaign off the ground. After that, when primaries are over and the general election gets underway, we’ll be focused on helping great Democrats from the New Democrat Coalition like U.S. Reps. Brittany Pettersen, Yadira Caraveo and Jason Crow win their reelection campaigns, as well as supporting other center-left candidates in their state leg races.