Taralyn Romero spent 25 years in health care before a layoff last April gave her a chance to consider a new direction. Ten days later, unaffiliated gubernatorial candidate Greg Lopez called with an unexpected question: Would she consider joining his ticket as a candidate for lieutenant governor? Romero, 45, initially hesitated. She has said she distrusts government, particularly large government, and had previously turned down opportunities to run for office. But after several weeks of interviews with Lopez’s team, she agreed, saying her interest in advocating for people who lack a voice outweighed her reservations. “I love to fight, and I love to fight for somebody else,” Romero said. Her political profile grew out of a dispute over land she and her fiancé bought in Kittredge in 2021. Romero said she was not told that local residents had used part of the property, including a creek, for decades. She initially allowed access, but later objected to what she described as trash, damage to vegetation and confrontations with visitors. Jefferson County commissioners backed residents’ claims to continued access and sued Romero, arguing that a prescriptive easement applied. Romero said she offered to lease the land to the county for $1 or sell it, but the proposals were not accepted. She publicized the dispute on social media, where one of her videos received 4.4 million views, according to the account of her campaign and property-rights advocacy. The lawsuit ended in an out-of-court settlement in 2023, eight months after it began. Romero gave up 30% of the land in exchange for $250,000; she said legal costs consumed her life savings. The dispute brought her national attention and led other landowners to seek her help. One of the county commissioners involved in the dispute was Lesley Dahlkemper, who is now Romero’s opponent in the general election for lieutenant governor. Dahlkemper is running with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Weiser. Romero’s background is in health care, not electoral politics. A fourth-generation Coloradan who grew up in Aurora, she joined Great West Health Care after high school, then studied at Arapahoe Community College and Regis University. She graduated from Regis in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in health care administration. Over the years, she moved from processing claims into executive work focused on people with chronic conditions and cancer. She said her work included visiting patients at home and using what she learned to develop programs. “In my entire career, I never denied a claim,” Romero said. Romero has described herself as someone who did not set out to become a politician. Democrats approached her about a potential run in 2017, she said, but she withdrew. Republicans and Libertarians later also expressed interest in recruiting her. Lopez had met Romero while visiting her property during the dispute. They lost touch, she said, until he called shortly after she was laid off. Her selection places a candidate whose public profile was built around private property rights on the same ticket as Lopez, while pairing her against a Democrat who served on the county board that sued her.