Members of the state legislature spend a lot of time at the Capitol building in Denver, but they’d better also represent their constituents in their districts if they hope to get re-elected!

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, propose amendments, or oppose 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 include parts of the City of Boulder, plus one Senate race that includes western Boulder County.

House District 10

House District 10

Colorado House District 10 is almost completely within City of Boulder boundaries, for the most part east of Broadway (see map).

At the time of redistricting in 2021, the Colorado Independent Redistricting Commission reported that the party registration breakdown in HD-10 was 51.4% Democratic, 40.8% unaffiliated, 6.3% Republican, and 1.5% minor party. Readers should assume that by 2026 these numbers have changed somewhat.

Junie Joseph, Democratic

Junie Joseph, the incumbent House District 10 Representative, is currently completing her second full two-year term in the House. She made her first run for elected office in 2019, winning a four-year term on Boulder City Council. This term included serving for a year as Boulder’s Mayor Pro Tem. Joseph became the HD10 Representative by winning a 2022 Boulder County Democratic Party vacancy committee election for the party’s HD10 nomination, and then winning the November general election by about 88%-12%. She won again in 2024 by about 84%-16%, and ran in the 2026 Democratic primary unopposed to become the nominee for this year’s election.

Joseph immigrated to the U.S. from Haiti in her teens, eventually earning a law degree from the University of Colorado and working in private practice as a family law attorney. 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.

Junie Joseph

While serving as a Representative, Joseph has been the Vice Chair of the House Finance Committee, as well as a member of the House Appropriations, Energy and Environment, and Legal Services committees. She has also served as a co-chair of the Aerospace and Defense Caucus, and as a member of the Child Welfare System Study Committee and the American Indian Affairs Committee.

Legislators must pay attention to a very wide range of issues, but Joseph has given focus to issues of equity, family law, climate and environment, and protecting the rights of underprivileged or disadvantaged communities. For a short sample of bills for which she was the lead House sponsor that have been signed into law:

  • HB 26-1139: The bill created new standards for companies that use artificial intelligence in health care services, including but not limited to insurance companies and health benefit managers.
  • HB 25-1030: This bill requires a list of entities that update building codes to meet ADA accessibility standards in the International Building Code.
  • HB 24-1170: This bill established a fairly lengthy “bill of rights” for Colorado youth who are detained in youth services facilities. The list of rights includes: access to health care services and/or behavioral health services as needed; the right to refuse pharmaceuticals; gender-affirming care; access to legal representation and ombudsman services; freedom of expression and appearance; and access to education and/or vocational coursework.
  • HB 23-1134: The bill requires insurers that cover replacing gas appliances to also cover electric appliances, but only up to the cost of the original gas appliance. Homeowners have to cover the rest, including new wiring or breakers if needed.

Follow The Money: As of Oct. 9, the Joseph campaign had reported $44,916.63 in monetary contributions, and $263.56 in non-monetary contributions.

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

Richard’s Take

Vote Joseph. She’s running unopposed, she’s an attorney, she’s a hard worker who spends time with people in her district, and I have no reason to urge people not to vote in this race at all. So, to save time that’s all I’ll say here.

House District 49

House District 49

House District 49 basically spans Clear Creek County, Gilpin County, western Boulder County mostly west of Broadway in the City of Boulder, and rural Larimer County basically west of the major cities along Highway 287 (Berthoud, Loveland, Ft. Collins).

At the time of redistricting in 2021, the Colorado Independent Redistricting Commission reported that the voter registration split was 41.9% unaffiliated, 36.4% Democratic, 20.1% Republican, and 1.7% minor party. Readers should assume that by 2026 these numbers changed somewhat.

Lesley Smith, Democratic

Lesley Smith is the current incumbent in HD-49, and is completing her first full two-year term after winning by about 80%-20% in her 2024 election. Before serving in the state House, she served a full six-year term as an at-large (statewide) member of the University of Colorado Board of Regents. While with the Regents, she served on the Gender Equity Task Force for the Boulder campus’ Athletic Department, and she led the search for the CU President (currently Todd Saliman) after former President Mark Kennedy left the position. She also served with the Regents’ Governance and University Affairs committees, as well as the CU liaison to the Auraria Higher Education Center.

Smith has a degree in Aquatic Biology from the University of California-Santa Barbara and a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland. She worked for thirty years as a scientist and educator at the University of Colorado, and was elected to the Boulder Valley School District Board of Education (school board), serving for eight years. She has also served on the City of Boulder’s Water Resources Advisory Board (WRAB).

Lesley Smith

While serving as a legislator, Smith has been a member of the House Agriculture, Water & Natural Resources Committee and the House Energy and Environment Committee.

For a brief sample of Smith’s top policy positions:

  • Environment: Smith supports moving toward 100% renewable energy, electrifying all state-owned buildings, and focusing on improving air quality.
  • Education: She wants to improve public education funding in Colorado, but without doing so “on the back of higher ed.” (NOTE: there are protections in place for K-12 such as the state’s Amendment 23, but higher education has no such protections).
  • Affordability: She said on her website that she would consider allowing rent control, tenant protections, and without a lot of detail doing more to make healthcare affordable for all Coloradans.
  • Reproductive Rights: She said she will always protect a woman’s right to choose.

For a short sample of bills for which she was the lead House sponsor that have been signed into law:

  • HB 26-1225: Requires public utilities with more than 500,000 customers to convene a working group to accelerate distributed electrical generation interconnection.
  • HB 25-1113: Helps Colorado save water by expanding current laws regarding the use of nonfunctional grass turf in new developments.

Follow The Money: As of Oct. 9, the Smith campaign had reported $27,417.27 in contributions.

Campaign website: https://www.lesleyforco.com/

Michael Sheperek, Republican

Michael Sheperek

Michael Sheperek is making his first run for office in 2026. He earned degrees in biology and electrical engineering at CU-Boulder, and has worked for Texas Instruments and other semiconductor companies. According to his website, he specialized in designing analog front-end chips to read and write data on magnetic media, and has been named on more than 40 patents. He grew up on the Western Slope of Colorado, but today lives in Larimer County north of Longmont. He holds a commercial pilot’s license.

As of late August 2026, his website was relatively light when it comes to detailed policy positions, but for a few top pieces of information about his campaign:

  • He’s unhappy with Colorado being a “one-party state.” It is accurate that Democrats currently control the state House, the Senate, the Governor’s office, and all state constitutional offices.
  • He notes that the state budget has doubled, while property and health insurance costs have “skyrocketed.”
  • Sheperek wants to protect private property rights and TABOR.
  • He wants to protect the environment and support law enforcement.

Follow The Money: As of Oct. 9, the Sheperek campaign had reported $6,472.22 in contributions.

Campaign website: https://sheperekforcolorado.com/

Richard’s Take:

Vote Smith. She’s had a long and distinguished career as a public servant, and she’s had hands-on experience in many of the top issues facing Colorado today. This includes science, water and environmental issues, public education (both K-12 and higher education) – and now she’s spent two full years in the statehouse to gain insight into many more relevant issues.

Chances are decent that conservative readers might vote for Sheperek. While he’s got nice professional credentials, he hasn’t served in the public sector and his website doesn’t go very far beyond mentioning mostly conservative broad principles. I can’t endorse him for this race and he can’t match Smith’s relevant credentials, but will give him respect for running.

Senate District 15

Senate District 15 primarily spans western and northern Boulder County and most of Larimer County except for Ft. Collins and Berthoud (see map).

Senate District 15

At the time of redistricting in 2021, the Colorado Independent Redistricting Committee reported that the SD-15 voter registration split stood at 43.7% Unaffiliated, 28.8% Republican, 25.7% Democratic, and 1.8% minor party. Readers should assume that by 2026 these numbers changed somewhat.

The 2026 race is a rematch between Janice Marchman and Rob Woodward. Woodward was the incumbent in 2022 when Marchman first ran, and she won by a relatively narrow margin of 1,014 votes.

Janice Marchman

Janice Marchman of Loveland is the current HD-15 incumbent, having nearly finished her first four-year term after defeating incumbent Rob Woodward by about 51%-49%.

Marchman is 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, Colorado for five years. She taught middle school math at Lucile Erwin Middle School, and served on the Thomson Valley School Board for three years between 2010-2013.

Janice Marchman

She is the current Chair of the Senate Water Resources and Agricultural Review Committee; Vice Chair of Senate Education, Senate Finance, and Technology committees; and a member of the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee.

Marchman’s top policy positions include:

  • Education: She supports greater investments in teacher pay, school infrastructure, and vocational/trade education.
  • Reproductive Rights: She pledges to “stand against any bill that seeks to strip our reproductive freedoms away from us.”
  • Affordability: Marchman supports creating more affordable housing, capping prices on life-saving medication like insulin, and limiting healthcare costs.
  • Environment: She supports wildfire mitigation and education efforts, workforce development for the clean energy sector, and monitoring energy infrastructure in part to protect against shutdowns.

For a short sample of bills for which she was the lead Senate sponsor that have been signed into law:

  • SB 26-185: Enhanced attention to security measures in the state Office of Information Technology, through auditing, reporting, and other means.
  • SB 25-045: Preliminary work toward a statewide universal healthcare system, including requiring new draft legislation and reporting deadlines.
  • SB 24-162: Required the state to develop best practices for local education providers to effectively respond to reports of harassment or discrimination.
  • SB 23-004: Allowed school-based therapists who are not licensed by the state Department of Education but hold a Colorado license for their profession to work in coordination with licensed special service providers to coordinate mental health supports for students.

Follow The Money: As of Oct. 9, the Marchman campaign had reported $221,931.30 in monetary contributions, and $1,228.81 in non-monetary contributions.

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

Rob Woodward, Republican

Rob Woodward

Rob Woodward of Loveland served as the Senator of HD-15 from 2019-2023. 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%.

While serving in the Senate, Woodward was on the following committees: Legislative Audit, Statutory Revision, and Senate Business, Labor and Technology.

For a few of Woodward’s top policy positions:

  • Education: He supports school choice and making sure education dollars go to the classroom as opposed to being tied up in administration.
  • Public Safety: He supports a greater emphasis on laws that “put the needs of victims and families over offenders,” and supports tougher laws on fentanyl.
  • Affordability: His website says some of the state’s affordability challenges are because of a “burdensome regulatory environment.” He supports addressing housing needs, but “while respecting local control.” He would reduce tax burdens on businesses.
  • Firearms: He said he will always support the 2nd Amendment so law-abiding residents can protect themselves, especially in rural areas like parts of SD-15 where it might take time for law enforcement to respond.

Readers can find any of the bills Woodward has sponsored at https://leg.colorado.gov/legislators/rob-woodward, but here are a couple 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.

Follow The Money: As of Oct. 9, the Woodward campaign had reported $155,661.63 in contributions.

Campaign website: https://woodwardforcolorado.com/

Richard’s Take

I’ll recommend voting for Marchman but must emphasize that I don’t live in HD-15. I find Marchman’s policy positions far more in line with mine. It seems to me that one could make the case that both candidates offer fairly traditional policy positions based on which party they belong to. For a very reduced example – Marchman lists her support for a woman’s right to choose while Woodward supports the 2nd Amendment. Both candidates have four years of experience in the Senate, and I have no reason to question the competence or honesty of either of them, so my expectation is that many voters might decide simply based on the old “left vs. right,” and the two candidates are pretty distinct on many issues according to alignment with their political party.