After besting five-term Republican Rep. Mike Coffman — who had previously proven to be ironclad in the 6th Congressional District — new Democratic Rep. Jason Crow in January entered Washington under a government shutdown and a caustic environment between Democrats and the White House.

Amid the chaos, Crow says he's keeping his eye on the ball, moving early to support campaign finance reform and push gun control measures while also working to end the shutdown.

The 6th District includes Aurora, Highlands Ranch, Littleton, Centennial, Brighton and the north part of Thornton, among other areas.

Crow, an Aurora resident, talked to Colorado Community Media Jan. 10 about his first priorities in Congress and his plans to engage the district's communities. Responses were lightly edited for clarity.

Has the shutdown changed your first priorities in Congress?

It's not an “either-or” — it's not about addressing the shutdown or the promises. We're doing both. On the first day of Congress, within hours, we passed an omnibus appropriations bill to reopen the government. This was not a partisan bill. Just a few months ago, it got overwhelming support from Republicans.

Since then, I've also co-sponsored (the bill) HR 1, which has three parts. A campaign finance reform component deals with ending the influence of dark money in politics — disclosing money so you're able to see who's behind some of these ads and organizations.

The second major pillar is a voting rights (component) and aims to end gerrymandering.

The third is an ethics reform, slowing the revolving door between politicians and the private sector, and preventing members of Congress from serving on corporate boards, to make sure they're focused on the work of the people when they're here.

What are the most pressing issues in CD6?

The first is that we have to open the government. There are (thousands of) Coloradans who are furloughed or working without pay. Yesterday, I held shutdown office hours, answering phones and listening to stories of people in the district, letting them know we're working hard to resolve this issue. These are our friends, neighbors, members of our communities, being held hostage by this president.

I talked about on the campaign trail: gun-violence prevention. I'm someone who grew up a hunter, and I'm a combat veteran, but I'm also a parent. I don't have to tell you, our community has been impacted a lot more than most by gun violence. HR 8 (which would close the “gun-show” loophole for background checks) was introduced two days ago.

We have to protect our “dreamers” — that issue has gone on way too long.

(Sixteen percent of) people in the district were born outside the country. We need to put family reunification in immigration at the forefront.

How do you see yourself fitting into oversight of the White House?

I was not sent to Washington to play political games. The people of Colorado uniquely don't view themselves through a political lens — they just want someone to get the job done.

But Congress undoubtedly has a really important role to serve as the check on executive branch. That's how the framers envisioned the legislative branch, and that's what I'm going to do. And the last few years, I think we saw a Congress unwilling to do that with this administration. I'm not afraid to do it when it's necessary. We still have kids separated at the border. We need to codify restrictions to make sure that doesn't happen again.

Coffman made efforts to reach out to immigrant communities. Do you feel you can emulate that?

I have my own approach to leadership. What that was over the last two years, and will continue to be, is a high degree of transparency and accessibility. I made a commitment I was going to run a grassroots campaign, be everywhere, and at end of the day, by the time Nov. 6 rolled around, we had been a part of almost 300 community events. That's from Highlands Ranch all way up to Brighton and eastern Thornton. We went to every group within the district and made our case, and we're going to continue to do that.

I made a pledge to hold town halls once every quarter. I'm going to be at events and let people know where I stand on the important issues facing this community and this country. I will hear from them and keep an open mind as well as I go forward.

You had your disagreements, but what's something you might admire Coffman for?

Coffman and I share a history of service … After the election, Mike Coffman and I went to a Veterans Day event together, stood next to each other and supported our vets, shoulder to shoulder. At the end of the day, coming off a hard-fought campaign, we were focused on supporting veterans, and I was proud to do that.