Kyle Faust

Kyle Faust was born in Las Vegas, Nevada. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Northern Colorado in 2019. Faust's career experience includes working as a middle school math and social studies teacher.[1]

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am a math and social studies teacher in Colorado, a graduate of the University of Northern Colorado, son of a long line of airmen and teachers, and I am also a staunch progressive.

I am pretty young, at the time of the election I will be 25, can't really get much younger to get into the U.S. House of Representatives! But that youth is a benefit. We are underrepresented in Congress. We are the ones who have to live with the results of the laws that are passed for decades, and yet Gen X, Baby Boomers, and even the Silent Generation all have more representation than Millennials and Gen-Z combined, and Millennials are entering their 40's.

Being young means I am not tied down by how things were done in the past. I can look at the processes, the laws, the ideas, and bring a fresh gaze unhampered by the false justification of "tradition" and I carry that with me even while I am running. I don't have political connections. My family is far from wealthy. But I'm trying anyway, because I believe that we as Americans are ready to charge Boldly Forward to meet the challenges that we will have to fight against for decades.

My dad is perhaps the greatest person in my life. He served 26 years in the US Air Force, and allowed me to grow up all over the world before moving to Colorado permanently in 2008, he supported me in all of my poorly thought out adventures (such as when I originally enrolled at UNC for theatre), and he is supporting me now.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

The Climate Crisis Requires Immediate Action: Time and again we see national and international policy goals fall short. A good example of this is the Paris Climate Accords. The goal is to keep warming below 1.5C to avoid the worst of the effects of the Climate Crisis. Experts say Paris doesn't go far enough, in fact many say it will not keep us below the 2C mark. That 2C mark is by the way, what scientists call "disastrous." We are talking world changing consequences, and Paris doesn't even prevent them. Instead, current policies mean the globe will warm 2.9C. Therefore, as the second largest gross emitter, the United States must be a leader here. We need policy, laws, actions. Not promises, not targets. Action.Healthcare, Labor, and Education - The Rights of Humanity: Our founding document lays out inalienable human rights. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. How can we have life without healthcare? How can we have liberty without labor protections? How can we pursue happiness without education? The United States needs to invest in the human side of our country. We need medicare for all. We need tuition free public universities and trade schools. We need improved labor rights. For too long Americans have been exploited. We own this country, we built this country, and we deserve dignity and respect. Without healthcare, without education, without better leave and living wages, we have neither dignity, nor respect.Of the people, by the people, for the people: To say Americans feel disconnected to their leadership is a bit of an understatement. But when you have cash as king, it comes as no surprise. Americans need to be put back into power. Many of the woes of this country come down to the fact that businesses have made billions of dollars exploiting us, and have spent millions of dollars to make sure they can continue. We need to overturn Citizens United. We need to crackdown on corporate meddling. I won't be taking money from corporations, because America is not for corporations. It is for us, and I want to help take it back. We are the people of the United States. We are the people who built this country, and we should run it too.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Wealth inequality is where I am the most passionate. We have to address the unprecedented hoarding of the billionaires and hundred-millionaires. No person can make that much money without exploiting everyone they can. That rubs me the wrong way. We built this country. Not the billionaires. So let's tax the billionaires. Let's use that money to fund medicare for all. Let's use that money for necessary infrastructure repairs and improvements. Let's use that money to fund education, fight the Climate Crisis, get our living wage, improve workers' quality of life. We deserve it, we made more wealth in this country than any other. The richest Americans have trillions of dollars of back taxes they owe us. The time has come for us to start collections. When they pay their fair share, when the billionaires are no longer pulling the strings of our elected leaders and pushing their own agendas above America's, then we will be ready to face all of the challenges that are facing us in the decades that lay ahead. We need to restructure how we collect taxes, we need to ban corporate funds in our political process. We need to reinvest our funds into the American people with tuition-free public university and trade schools, medicare for all, a minimum wage as a living wage, and bold action to combat the Climate Crisis. We are all in this together, and when we invest in each other and promote an equitable society, then America can stand tall, proud of what we are. That is what I aim to do.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

Well, the obvious answer would be my dad. But I think I've spoken about him enough already. So I'll pick a political figure instead.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He lead the country through some of the most challenging times it has ever been through. He had bold plans, and enacted as many as he can. He created many of the federal programs that I seek to strengthen. His leadership ensured that when all was said and done he left the country better off than when he found it. I want to do the same. I want to help as many Americans as I can, and I want to be able to leave the country in the best state it has ever been in.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Honesty, and flexibility. An elected official should not be hiding what policies they plan to support. It should be out in the open, in plain language. But that doesn't mean they should ride those beliefs until they die. I believe in life long learners. What that means is that everyone should always be expanding their knowledge and using that knowledge throughout their lives. An elected official should not be afraid to come out and say, "Hey, I learned some new information about this issue. Because of it, I think we should go this direction instead." But again: Honestly is important here. If there is new information that is changing a representative's mind, then they have to be able to share that information with their voters. Voters should be able to ride along with the official's learning process. Flexibility also means you need to be able to roll with any unexpected events. Officials need to be able to take in new information and adapt quickly, because sometimes millions of lives will be impacted by slow or poorly executed changes to a plan.

What legacy would you like to leave?

A legacy of helping people. I want to make people's lives better. I want people to remember me as someone who did everything they could. That's why I teach. That's why I am running for office.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

9/11. Though I was only four, and the memories are pretty fuzzy compared to those who are just a few years older. I was living in Rein Mein Air Force Base in Germany at the time. And I was in kindergarten at the time. I remember the base being locked down that evening. I also remember a bit of confusion later on. But the biggest impact of that event would actually come years later, when dad was deployed to Iraq. I remember being sent to meet the school counselor with another kid whose dad was also deployed. I know now the purpose was to make sure my development wasn't negatively impacted by his deployment, but at the time I just thought it was weird and moved on.

9/11 had repercussions on my family for years. My dad was lucky, he only came home with some minor PTSD regarding helicopters. Since those were used for medevacs, he just came to associate them with injured or killed servicemen. But his consistent absences, especially since his deployments always seemed to be during the holidays and my birthday really strained our relationship, especially when I was a teenager. He tried his best though, and I'm glad I eventually came around, even if it did take until college. I do my best to visit every week, have been for a few years now and I hope to continue for as long as possible. There's a family side to deploying service members, and it feels like it all gets lost sometimes. I hope to be able to change that.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

Technically my first job was a bit of gig work. My high school theatre department had some connections with the University of Wyoming. They were looking to run an anti-drunk driving radio ad based on the tragedy that struck their cross country team in 2001. I auditioned and was accepted to read some lines for the ad, and made 200 bucks for it.

But my first "real" job would have been the summer when I worked at a Jack-in-the-Box to get some money for college. I was actually convinced to apply for the job thanks to one of my friends, and I thought we would be able to work together throughout the summer. The dude quit about two weeks after I was hired! Still friends though, but I refuse to let him live that one down. Jokes aside, that job taught me a lot. The abuses that workers have to go through, the exploitation and grinding down by management. I only worked it for a summer, but that job transformed the way I look at the world, and how I interact with people. They deserve a living wage, they deserve labor protections. They deserve dignity and respect.

Should I say Faust? Probably not. But then again: He IS named Faust...

In all seriousness: Madeline from the video game "Celeste." She climbs a mountain called Mount Celeste, and during her climb confronts her anxiety and mental health struggles. She also meets a guy named Leo, who has his own struggles. It is a story of determination, confronting yourself, and growing together with your struggles to make yourself a stronger person. I admire her determination, her bravery, and her willingness to look within herself.

Do you believe that it's beneficial for representatives to have previous experience in government or politics?

Experience in politics or government? No. But every American has a duty to have knowledge of government and politics, representatives especially. Americans should be informed of what is going on, and they need to know how the system works to that if something is broken they know what went wrong and where. People don't need to be a civil servant to know that the Senate has a filibuster that can be wielded as a weapon to prevent popular legislation from being passed. But if people don't know that information, they may blame the majority party for being unwilling to pass legislation, rather than an obstructionist minority party intentionally sabotaging the will of the American people. Knowledge is key, experience is not.

What do you perceive to be the United States' greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade?

Disinformation. The internet has brought us one of the greatest tools in human history. But it has also given a permanent platform to conspiracies, lies, and grifting. Unfortunately, disinformation has woven itself so deeply into the United States that we have people living in entirely different realities. We have people who insist COVID is fake. We have people who insist vaccines are tools to control people. We have people who believe the election was stolen. We have to find ways to combat disinformation, we have to do our own due diligence to ensure we are not swayed by disinformation, and we have to make sure those who seek to spread disinformation are held accountable.

If you are not a current representative, are there certain committees that you would want to be a part of?

I'd like to be on the Education and Labor committee first and foremost. Some of America's greatest shortcomings are in these realms, and so being able to help guide and promote policy that is good for the worker and good for the students is one of my highest priorities.

But I'm also interested in Armed Services' Cyber, Innovative Technologies and Information Systems subcommittee, Energy and Commerce's Environment and Climate Change subcommittee, the Foreign Affairs committee, Transportation and Infrastructure committee, and Veterans' Affairs.

Tell us your favorite joke.

"There is a labor shortage."

The Constitution says that all bills for raising revenue must originate in the House. What role would this power play in your priorities if elected?

Tax the rich. The House has the power to apply pressure on the rest of the government to act to make sure the billionaires are paying their fair share. In order to fund everything else this country needs, we must prioritize taxing the rich.