Colorado’s General Assembly is also known as the state legislature. There are two chambers in the bicameral General Assembly – the House of Representatives (House) and the Senate. There are 65 geographic House districts, and voters in these districts elect one Representative per district. There are 35 Senate districts, and voters in these districts elect one Senator per district.

Briefly, the largest role of a legislator is to deal with state laws, and that’s why they’re often called lawmakers. Each legislator sponsors bills of their own, while the entire General Assembly typically sees give or take 600 bills per year. In short, legislators debate bills in committees or in their chambers, and they can support, amend, or defeat the bills. They also “represent” their district, and good legislators should take input from people living in their district plus provide outreach to their constituents.

Representatives are elected to two-year terms, and can only serve four two-year terms before being term-limited. Senators are elected to four-year terms, and can only serve two four-year terms before being term limited. It is possible for legislators to serve in the other chamber, whether they were term-limited in one chamber or if they just decide to run for a different seat. In theory, one legislator could serve 16 years in the General Assembly if they win enough elections to both the House and Senate.

This year, I am only writing about the two House races in districts that have parts of the City of Boulder, plus one Senate race that includes western Boulder County.

 

Colorado House District 10

House District 10 is almost completely in the City of Boulder, mostly east of Broadway.

Colorado House District 10 is almost completely within City of Boulder boundaries, for the most part east of Broadway. This district didn’t change a lot with last year’s redistricting, but check your voter registration if you’re not sure of your current district. The party registration breakdown is 51.4% Democratic, 40.8% unaffiliated, 6.3% Republican, and 1.5% minor party, according to the Colorado Independent Redistricting Commission in 2021. Only two candidates are running for this seat in 2022, so the candidate earning a simple majority of voters casting votes in this race will win.

 

Junie Joseph, Democrat

Junie Joseph

Junie Joseph, a current Boulder City Council member, won a mid-August Boulder County Democratic Party vacancy committee election for the party’s House District 10 nomination, after the incumbent Rep. Edie Hooton decided to withdraw from her candidacy for re-election.

Joseph made her first run for elected office in 2019, winning a four-year term on Boulder City Council and earning more than 17,000 votes. She served for a year as Boulder’s Mayor Pro Tem.

She immigrated to the U.S. from Haiti in her teens, and eventually earned a law degree from the University of Colorado. She’s worked or interned in national and international positions, including: South Africa with the indigenous Khoe-San; the United Nations’ Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva; the Council on Native American Affairs in the Obama administration; and the UN in the Central African Republic helping to protect the rights of women and children. She was elected to Boulder City Council in 2019, and served as Mayor Pro Tem. Today, she is in private practice as a family law attorney.

Read her position webpage at https://www.junie4colorado.com/more for more information, but a few of her top issues include:

  • Corporate polluters should be held accountable for the emissions they create and the effects of those emissions on our community.
  • Focusing on the intersection of transportation and housing in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and transitioning us to a clean and sustainable future.
  • Stop thinking that prisons and incarceration are the solutions to problems like drug addiction and mental illness.
  • End for-profit prisons and get rid of the cash bail system.
  • Provide funding for teacher training and accountability for cultural competence, as well as recruitment of teachers whose diversity matches the diversity of our students.
  • Gun violence is an epidemic, so end easy access to guns across the state in the interest of public safety.
  • Free access to abortion for all, regardless of class or income level.

Campaign Website: https://www.junie4colorado.com/about

 

Bill DeOreo, Republican

Bill DeOreo

Bill DeOreo, an engineer, has lived in Boulder since 1976. After graduating from Boston University with a Biology degree, he moved to Colorado in 1972. He lived and worked on the West Slope as a surveyor and engineer, including having surveyed the route for I-70 over Vail Pass. In 1974 and 1978 he received engineering degrees from the University of Colorado-Boulder in Civil/Environmental Engineering, and since then has worked mainly on water and energy problems in Colorado, the U.S., and internationally. He recently visited India on behalf of the U. S. State Department as part of its visiting expert program to discuss water problems with Indian colleagues.

He has served a five-year term with two different City of Boulder citizen advisory boards: the Open Space Board of Trustees and the Water Resources Advisory Board.

According to his website, he was “registered as a Democrat until the response of the Democratic Party to the COVID crisis forced him to rethink his affiliation.”

His top issues include:

  • Promoting advanced nuclear technology to generate electricity
  • Require health emergency orders to be ratified by 2/3 of the General Assembly
  • Nullify the Colorado Reproductive Health Equity Act (HB 22-1279)
  • Criminalize teachers or medical providers who encourage or give information to any minor about gender modification, unless it’s at the request of the parents based on an incontrovertible medical condition.
  • Requiring the Colorado Attorney General to file a lawsuit with other states demanding that the federal government only spend money that is appropriated by Congress.
  • Ensuring that only living citizens, residing in the State, vote, and that no one is allowed to harvest ballots. Would prefer paper ballot voting on Election Day over our current system of all-mail elections.
  • Supporting the right of law abiding citizens to have concealed carry permits, and local sheriffs providing firearms training to citizens.

Campaign Website: https://www.bill4hd10.org/

 

Richard’s Take

Vote Joseph. She has impressive worldwide experience and has served for nearly two years in elected office, though I very frankly might have preferred a Democratic candidate with more time spent living in Colorado, since Colorado is a very large and diverse state. This is not meant to be directly to Joseph because I trust she gets what I’m about to say, and it’s geared more toward a broader segment of HD 10 residents – while one role of a Representative is to represent the prevailing views of a district, another is to govern an entire state – and that means ranchers and miners and Colorado Springs as well as progressives.

However, Joseph would bring several personal dimensions to the House that some of the Democratic candidates in her vacancy committee election wouldn’t have, including her international experience and having been born and raised outside of the U.S. Boulder voters might remember that KC Becker had only been on Council for several years before winning a vacancy committee election of her own, and she went on to have an amazing career in the legislature, including being elected by her peers as Speaker of the House. Time will tell, but I have no doubt about Joseph’s determination and work ethic, plus she is an attorney running for a job in which her primary role at the statehouse would be working on our laws.

DeOreo has some impressive professional experience plus about 10 years as a member of City of Boulder boards and commissions. Unfortunately for him, HD 10 is overwhelmingly Democratic, plus a number of his platform positions are far, far (really far) away from what most Boulder voters would support. He might fare better in another district, but that’s not what this year’s race is about.

 

Colorado House District 49

HD 49 includes most of the land mass of Larimer County and western Boulder County.

After last year’s redistricting, most Boulder residents who were in House District 13 are now in House District 49. However, most of the rest of what is now HD49 is different from the old HD13 due to redistricting. The new district basically spans Clear Creek County, Gilpin County, western Boulder County mostly west of Broadway, and rural Larimer County basically west of the major cities along Highway 287 (Berthoud, Loveland, Ft. Collins).

The current party registration split for this district is 41.9% unaffiliated, 36.4% Democratic, 20.1% Republican, and 1.7% minor party, according to Colorado Independent Redistricting Commission data. Candidates can win this seat by finishing first in the race, and it’s not necessary to reach 50% or better.

Judy Amabile, Democratic

Judy Amabile is running for her second term in the House, having represented House District 13 for the past two years. She has a master’s in business administration from CU-Boulder, and co-founded the Polar Bottle water bottle company about 25 years ago. Like many Boulder-area Democratic candidates, she’s a supporter of climate action, and she released her own climate plan before her 2020 election that included support for carbon pricing, more renewables, and greater energy efficiency, available at https://judyamabile.com/climate-plan/. She supports bolstering Colorado’s mental health system, and it’s both a policy position and personal since one of her sons has what she describes as a “serious mental illness.”

With two years under her belt in the statehouse, Amabile has a bill sponsorship and voting record voters can turn to for more information about her interests. Readers can find every bill she’s sponsored at https://leg.colorado.gov/legislators/judy-amabile, but here is a short sample:

  • HB 22-1303: Part of the state’s problem with treating people experiencing behavioral health issues is a lack of facilities. This bill requires the creation of at least 16 inpatient beds at the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Fort Logan, and at least 125 beds statewide.
  • HB 22-1111: How to deal with insurance and insurers was a big challenge for many families after the Marshall Fire. This bill requires insurers to provide additional time and flexibility in rebuilding or replacing an insured residence and its contents, additional living expense coverage, building code upgrade costs, and a way to directly contact the insurer.
  • HB 21-1298: Under the so-called “Charleston loophole,” people might have been able to get a gun without passing a background check if the check took too long. This bill closes the loophole in Colorado, and says the Colorado Bureau of Investigation must deny a gun purchase if the purchaser had been convicted for certain criminal offenses.

Amabile is currently a member of the following House committees: Business Affairs and Labor; Public & Behavioral Health & Human Services; and State, Civic, Military & Veterans Affairs.

Campaign Website: https://judyamabile.com

 

Katie Lehr, Republican

Katie Lehr

Katie Lehr has a Boulder address but her home is just west of city limits. She is an entrepreneur who currently owns with her husband a general contractor business Jamey Valentine Construction, Inc., which does custom home building and remodeling. She earned a bachelor of arts degree in economics from William and Mary, and a master of business administration degree (MBA) from the University of Colorado-Boulder. Lehr won the 2022 Republican Party primary for HD49 over John Caldwell by 56.8% to 43.2%, to qualify for the November general election ballot.

Her top issues include:

  • Crime: Lehr’s website includes a number of pictures of local homeless encampments. She says recent criminal justice reform policies have contributed to skyrocketing crime rates, and believes what she calls a “permanent criminal class” is negatively impacting public spaces.
  • Inflation and Affordability: She said the cost of living is becoming out of reach for all but the wealthiest in Colorado, with green energy policies helping to drive up the cost of energy and open space acquisition affecting the cost of housing.
  • Business: She believes Colorado has become “downright hostile to business,” despite the tax contributions businesses pay.
  • Education: She supports the right of parents to determine how their children are educated, and says the public schools have been taken over by the “hard left.”
  • Abortion: Lehr says Colorado’s Reproductive Health Equity Act (HB 22-1279) will turn Colorado into an “abortion tourism state.”

Voters might be interested to know that Lehr went on the Kim Monson show podcast in January 2021, and told the host that she was at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. https://soundcloud.com/thekimmonsonshow/1-15-21katie-lehr-on-the-scene-eye-witness-in-washington-jan-6th

Campaign Website: https://katieforhd49.com/

 

Daniel Lutz, Libertarian

Daniel Lutz lives in Idaho Springs. According to his website he spent eight years in the United States Marines as a Combat Engineer and Public Affairs, and left the Marines with an Honorable Discharge in ’13 at the rank of Sergeant. His website did not list a current job or profession. It did say he ran for a position with the Clear Creek County Special Health Board.

As of early September his “Issues” page listed three top objectives: using state funds to support firefighters; financial accountability in government; and a full voice for every resident of the district.

Campaign Website: https://www.lutzfor49.org/

 

Richard’s Take

Vote Amabile. She’s done a high-quality job in office, knows how to represent rural interests since much of HD 13 was rural, and can represent business interests since she is a long-time business owner. She has taken her interest in behavioral health issues and turned it into real legislation in the interest of better treatment for those who need it. She is a quick study and will continue to grow in the job.

Lehr had the right to go to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 as a peaceful protestor, but this protest not unpredictably turned ugly, and I have a right to consider this a hard deal-breaker. The rally was to protest the results of a legitimate election at best, and I can’t support having a 1/6 attendee in the statehouse representing much of Boulder. I don’t agree with most of her policy positions and would imagine most voters in the City of Boulder wouldn’t either, but HD 49 is a very largely rural district with more unaffiliated voters than Democrats, so the debate and overall discourse in this race should be interesting.

 

Colorado Senate District 15

Senate District 15 includes much of the land mass of Larimer County and western Boulder County.

After last year’s redistricting, Senate District 15 primarily spans western Boulder County and most of Larimer County except for Ft. Collins and Berthoud. It might be interesting for Boulder County residents to know that much of this new district was part of Senate District 18 until last year, including Allenspark, Eldorado Springs, Nederland, Jamestown, and Ward.

The current voter registration split stands at 43.7% Unaffiliated, 28.8% Republican, 25.7% Democratic, and 1.8% minor party, according to the Colorado Independent Redistricting Commission. Since only two people are running this year, the candidate earning a simple majority of voters casting a vote in this race would win.

 

Rob Woodward, Republican

Rob Woodward

Senator Rob Woodward of Loveland is the incumbent in Senate District 15. Woodward graduated from Colorado State University in 1990 and subsequently moved to Chicago to work in corporate finance while earning his M.B.A. He moved to New York to help launch an investment banking company, and eventually returned to Colorado in 1995. He defeated Democratic candidate Rebecca Cranston in the 2018 SD 15 election by 53.1% to 46.9%.

He is currently on the following committees: Legislative Audit, Statutory Revision, and Senate Business, Labor and Technology.

Readers can find any of the bills Woodward has sponsored at https://leg.colorado.gov/legislators/rob-woodward, but here’s a small sample of bills he sponsored that were signed into law.

  • SB 22-032: The bill requires the Department of Revenue to collect information from relevant retailers that use the state’s sales and use tax simplification system (SUTS) and make that information available to local taxing jurisdictions.
  • SB 22-118: This bill was designed to encourage geothermal energy systems by adding geothermal to statutory provisions that under current law apply to solar energy systems.

Here is a sample of Woodward’s policy stances:

  • Education: He supports allocating education funding so larger percentages go to teachers and less to administrators. According to his website, from 1992 to 2014, overall education spending increased 15%, but teacher pay decreased 11%. Meanwhile, between 2011 and 2017, the number of K-12 “administrators” skyrocketed 34%.
  • Transportation: Woodward supports higher state General Fund spending for roads and bridges, instead of “treating it as an afterthought.”
  • Housing: He supports getting more housing units online, including bolstering manufactured homes, helping the private sector access more resources and capital, and utilizing partnerships like those with local Housing Authorities and Habitat for Humanity.
  • Small Business: Woodward says small business should not suffer from having to “play by the same rules as large multinational corporations like Amazon and Walmart,” and supports policy that can help level the playing field.

Campaign Website: https://woodwardforcolorado.com/

 

Janice Marchman, Democratic

Janice Marchman

Janice Marchman of Loveland is running for Senate District 15 as a Democrat. She’s a systems engineer and former Vice President of the Thompson School Board. She attended Georgia Tech and earned an Industrial & Systems engineering degree. She worked for six years as an engineer in California, and has been teaching in Loveland for five years. She currently teaches middle school math at Lucile Erwin Middle School, and served on the Thomson Valley School Board for three years between 2010-2013.

Here is a short sample of her policy positions:

  • Education: She supports greater funding for K-12 education, noting that Colorado ranks 41st in per-pupil funding, 43rd on education spending, and 50th in teacher wage competitiveness.
  • Environment: She supports combatting the worsening drought that our state has been enduring for years, protecting our urban and rural communities from the devastation of wildfires, and ensuring our natural treasures can be enjoyed for generations to come.
  • Small Business: With far too few feeling relief from federal action, she believes it is time to enact local polices that will truly benefit the middle and working class. This includes economic recovery for small businesses, the fundamental right for workers to participate in unions, and the ability to access well-earned paid sick & family leave
  • Reproductive Rights: Marchman said all people have the right to seek medical care without interference or threat from the state. The treatments and healthcare advice that women seek should remain between themselves and their doctors.
  • Voting: She said she will protect voting rights and reliability to make sure voters continue to have faith in the electoral system, and will always fight for policies that improve the accessibility of voting while opposing any laws that restrict that fundamental right.

Campaign Website: https://www.janiceforcolorado.com/

Richard’s Take

I am admittedly less familiar with the candidates in this race and the entire land mass of Senate District 15 than I am with the two House districts that include parts of the City of Boulder. As a Democrat, I tend to identify more with Marchman’s general positions than with Woodward’s, so I would probably vote Marchman if I could.

Boulder-area voters and those who support campaigns might want to consider that the political balance of the Senate could change from Democratic majorities to Republican control if only a handful of seats flip. Also, areas in western Boulder County that have generally experienced Democratic representation for many years might be handed over to Republican representation in the Senate if Woodward wins.

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